Native Anthro Blog

Working in cultural resource management is all about managing expectations. Practitioners expect a specific outcome or way of doing things without knowing how to gauge any level of success. We measure one another by subjective, undisclosed parameters and determine whether an archaeologist is bad or good. This archaeologist gets it, and this one does not. But we never can vocalize, nor have we tried to define what differentiates the two unilaterally. This is a dangerous system because you never know when your head might end up on a pike.Some practitioners call it a gut instinct. Others create their subjective parameters...

Beaders block is a real thing and can strike without warning. Here are some tips that I use to help me when in a slump. 1) Don't cruise social media for inspiration. There are a lot of reasons I don't cruise through social media (mainly Facebook and Instagram) for creative inspiration.  I find social media a total killer to creativity. Why? It is not a true and accurate reflection of the creative process. It is the end result of a bunch of processes. Often times those photos are doctored or the result of countless hours of work that you never...

"The colonized does not seek merely to enrich himself with the colonizer’s virtues. In the name of what he hopes to become, he sets his mind on impoverishing himself, tearing himself away from his true self. The crushing of the colonized is included among the colonizer’s values. As soon as the colonized adopts those values, he similarly adopts his own condemnation. In order to free himself, at least so he believes, he agrees to destroy himself." -Albert Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized (1957) In 2021, after the Kamloops 215 hit newsstands, my mind went to Fort Simcoe Indian Boarding School...

It is easier to see things when you look back in time. I wished someone like me had offered insight when I began this journey. Maybe I could have avoided some headaches, heartaches, and heartburn. If you are Native and looking to start a career in archaeology and/or anthropology, these are my words for you. Take them or leave them.  1) Be prepared to work harder than everyone else in your field. People will assume you don't know what you are doing; you are the DEI hire and only see things through a specific lens.  You couldn't possibly be an impartial scientist in the field. That...

Since coming out with Commodity Food Label clothing and accessories 5-6 years ago, I have received many, many comments of shame and protest. These comments all basically say the same thing. That I have glorified commodity foods and that I have honored colonization. All of the negative, hateful comments have not gone unnoticed and I have not addressed them until now.   A few years ago, I was interviewed by a certain news source about commodity foods and my collection of Commod Food Labels. It was a fairly new business then, and I was stoked to get the word out about this line and...