Re-indigenizing California
Brian Tripp, (1945-2022), was a renowned Karuk artist and ceremonial leader, pictured here at an event in Eureka, California on October 4, 2018 where he received the “California Living Heritage Award” from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. California I CAN received a NEH CARES grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2020 to help preserve the archives of California Indian Contemporary Artists. California I CAN was honored to be able to use this grant to collaborate with Brian Tripp, Susan Gehr (Karuk), Brittany Britton (Hupa), and Mark D. Johnson for two years before Brian’s passing in May 2022 in order to facilitate the preservation of his important personal archives at California Polytechnic State University, Humboldt.
Photo by Sam Armanino.
What can non-Indians learn from Native people? Plenty! Those who lived on this land for over 12,000 years accumulated both practical knowledge and embedded wisdom, and absorbing what we can of that can alter how we interpret the world, how we understand our place in it, and how we conduct our daily lives. This is not to say that pre-contact California was Utopia, or that we should (or even can) abandon the modern world and “go native.” That said, there is so much to be learned. In recent years, mainstream society has shown signs of opening up to selected Native beliefs and practices. Indian land management techniques, especially the use of fire to keep the fuel load down and keep the land healthy, seem to be gaining a foothold in various parts of the state. But that’s only the beginning. Deeply woven into Native cultures are attitudes, ways of seeing the world and connecting to it that affect all aspects of life—political, social, economic, educational. We are planning events, a conference, and various publications that we feel will be transformative for those who partake and, to the extent to which we can work these lessons into our institutions, may lead to a better life for everyone.