N. Scott Momaday and the Buffalo Trust
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Kiowa Indian N. Scott Momaday runs a nonprofit organization working to preserve Native cultures
- By Kenneth R. Fletcher
- Smithsonian magazine, January 2009, Subscribe
Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday, a Kiowa Indian from Oklahoma, operates the Buffalo Trust, a nonprofit organization working to perserve Native cultures. He often lectures at the Museum of the American Indian. He spoke with Kenneth R. Fletcher.
What aspects of Native American culture inspire your work?
The respect for the natural world is certainly one of them. Also, a keen sense for aesthetics. My father was a painter and he taught art. He once said to me, "I never knew an Indian child who could not draw."
The spiritual connection to the land and an attachment to landscape and nature is also important. The spiritual reality of the Indian world is very evident, very highly developed. I think it affects the life of every Indian person in one way or another. I write about the spirituality of the native world.
You grew up during the depression and lived in many places among many different tribes, including the Kiowa, the Navajo and the Apache. How has that defined you?
I have a pretty good knowledge of the Indian world by virtue of living on several different reservations and being exposed to several different cultures and languages. It was all a very good thing for my imagination and it gave me a subject. I’ve written a lot about Native American peoples and landscapes and I was just fortunate to have the kind of upbringing that I did.
What are the goals of the Buffalo Trust?
We now have more Indians living in urban communities than on reservations. It’s that detachment from the land that weakens their hold on the traditional world. The Buffalo Trust is building a campground in southwestern Oklahoma where young Indian people can come and be exposed to the teachings of elders. I’m hoping to see more hands-on training in traditional arts and crafts—for instance, young people learning to tan a buffalo hide, construct a tepee and prepare traditional medicines and foods.
Your work also stresses the importance of oral traditions. What place does that have in Indian culture?
Indians are marvelous storytellers. In some ways, that oral tradition is stronger than the written tradition. Seeing Hamlet performed on stage is an example of oral tradition at its core. You experience the sound of the language, the gestures of the actors, the inflections and the silences. Like Shakespeare, the Indian has a lot to teach the rest of us about language in its essence.
How does your work try to reconcile the influence of outside cultures on Native American cultures?
In much of my writing I have focused upon that contact between the white world and the Indian world. It’s something that we’ve had to deal with it for a long time. In its early stages it was a hardship on Indian people. They were a defeated nation so they had to overcome a devastation of the spirit. But they are survivors, they are here with us today stronger than ever. it. We have many more Indian college graduates now and people in the professions. There’s a long way to go, but I think we are well on the way.
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Comments (7)
I just watched the series "The West" by Ken Burns. I was totally mesmerized by Scott Momaday. His beautiful voice, impecable diction kept me enthralled throughout. I have never read any of his books, but I will now.
Posted by Ella Johnson on July 31,2012 | 09:00 PM
I would like to get in touch with Professor Momaday.
I am the old woman who translated his House made of Dawn to Spanish. I am a librarian (M.L.S.) with an additional Ph.D.
in Hispanic Languages and Literature. I am a native Spanish speaking living for most of my life in the United States.
When I was asked for information about Native American authors, I gave a new editorial firm in Spain information about, how a woman college professor married to a Native American, started introducing Native American authors in her college literature classes. That information included names of authors, among others N. Scott Momaday. The editorial become interested in his Pulitzer Prize novel House made of Dawn. I was curious and since we have it in our library, I got it and started reading it. I was fascinated by it. My librarian research showed me that the novel have been translated into many European languages:
French, Italian, German, Russian, Polish, Czchoslovakian.
The translation to Spanish was overdue; specially since the novel has so much interaction with the Hispanic world: characters, names, phrases... I have translated different things: poetry, articles, documents; in both directions Spanish to English, and viceversa. I miss consulting with the author. I miss his opinion. This is very important to me. Would you, please, pass this lengthy comment to N. Scott Momaday.
My deep appreciation,
Amelia Salinero
Posted by Amelia Salinero on April 17,2012 | 11:22 AM
I read House Made of Dawn when I moved to New Mexico this past summer. My daughter now has a project in her New Mexico History class to interview a New Mexican folklorist. She said the only one she could find was dead. I loved the folklore in Momday's work. I'm wondering if he would do an interview with my daughter for her assignment. Does anyone know how to get in touch with him? She can interview him through email. Any ideas on how to get his email address? Please reply to Sheridan Barnes at ceridwan@gmail.com. Thank you to whomever may see this and respond!
Posted by Sheridan Barnes on April 19,2011 | 01:25 AM
Great work, Scott, stay well and keep at it! Al
Posted by al kuhn on June 7,2010 | 01:09 PM
I'm Portuguese: I began a PhD on Momaday in 1998. Unfortunetely, I lost my job and could not afford the university fees. Now I have a job, but no time. One day I'll bo back to my thesis, I promise! Momaday is one of my favourite writers. His uses language in a way that seems so natural (in the sense that he follows nature). He paints with words, he (re)creates both his and the Indian world,and at the same time he fits into the contemporary world.
Posted by Filomena Martins on January 7,2010 | 07:19 PM
Momaday is an amazing writer, btw. Anyone interested should check out The Way to Rainy Mountain, or In the Bear's House.
Posted by LM on November 17,2009 | 12:54 PM
I commend you for your work (and your books). Having been born and raised in Arizona and New Mexico the native cultures were always present. I studied Native American culture independently. My husband worked at Fort Hall in Idaho and we camped with a group of tribal members who were attempting to maintain some of the traditional culture. I am not as knowledgable about contempory cultures. I do know that Native Americans are a forgotten minority in many places with discrimination in many forms. Again, I commend your work.
Posted by Sue Sharp on April 22,2009 | 06:08 PM