Wampum Literacy and Communal Collaboration

In their capacity as signs, as texts conveying messages, Haudenosaunee wampum belts are generally regarded as at least mainly mnemonic, drawing on conventional representational patterns in their designs but depending on human... [ view full abstract ]

In their capacity as signs, as texts conveying messages, Haudenosaunee wampum belts are generally regarded as at least mainly mnemonic, drawing on conventional representational patterns in their designs but depending on human memory for the preservation of their particular meaning. Wampum literacy is therefore highly susceptible to erosion and requires consistent, interpersonal requickening. An individual wampum reader must periodically rehearse wampum messages, and must also share them with other people, in order for the messages to outlast the individual reader. Because wampum literacy depends on such repeated communal performances, the health and vitality of the community—the very qualities brought under siege in colonialism’s assault on indigenous lifeways—deeply affect the prevalence and robustness of wampum literacy. In the many decades before repatriation secured the return of wampum belts from the white museums that held them captive, wampum literacy declined, although efforts have been made since repatriation to revitalize the place of wampum in Haudenosaunee culture.

Given how deeply entrenched wampum literacy is in community interaction and interpersonal performance, scholarship on wampum literacy would seem to lend itself naturally to community collaboration. Skilled wampum readers in Haudenosaunee communities hold vital knowledge about the belts, and academics have research skills that can help to unearth cultural information lost to indigenous communities in the pre-repatriation era. However, Haudenosaunee communities can be understandably resistant to intellectually extractive academic research that recapitulates the logic of colonialism. Building productive, trusting partnerships takes time—time that academic schedules of evaluation do not generally encourage.