The Beautiful and the Dangerous: Encounters with the Zuni Indians [Paperback]

Barbara Tedlock (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0826323421 | ISBN-13: 978-0826323422

Based on over twenty years' research at Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico, this honest and respectful book takes us into the heart of one Zuni family and allows us to witness the world through its members' eyes. We see the joys of love, marriage, and childbirth and the tragedies of illness, alcoholism, and death. We rediscover the Southwestern landscape, its plants and wildlife, in light of traditional Zuni teachings. The Beautiful and the Dangerous was originally published in 1992, and is now available only from UNM Press.

"Literature as fine and sensitive as the storytelling of Matthiessen and Chatwin."--George E. Marcus, professor of anthropology, Rice University

"Deftly weaves together a range of life-story narratives, legends, myths, and male and female voices. . . . The writing sparkles with the visual acuity of a painter's eye, and it has a bold honesty about the experience of being in the field, achieving an integration of image and text that is totally new to ethnography."--Ruth Behar, professor of anthropology, University of Michigan

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For more than two decades, Tedlock ( Teachings from the American Earth ), an anthropologist, and her husband made sporadic visits to their adopted family on the Zuni Indian Reservation of western New Mexico. Here she records legends, songs, ceremonies and folk medicine practices and vividly captures the daily life of this agrarian and matriarchal tribe. The focus zooms in on Hapiya and his wife Tola and their sons and daughters, as they try to maintain balance between the old way and the intrusions of technology and outside culture. The Apollo space mission, for instance, wreaks havoc on the Zuni religion and its gods of the sun and moon. The book powerfully portrays the tribe's visceral and mystic nature. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Tedlock first visited the Zuni Reservation, located in western New Mexico, in the late 1960s. She and her husband, Dennis, both anthropologists, spent time there in the 1970s doing fieldwork and research. Tedlock's book is not an ethnography but rather a description of the process of participant observation and its rewards and pitfalls. She shares much information about the Zuni, but most of all this is the story of her personal journey from outsider to Zuni family member. The spirit and humor of the Zunis she knew are very appealing. Tedlock gets at the heart of Zuni life through her many experiences: a trip to a Zunis-only bar, participating in the Shalako ceremony, cooking with Zuni women. Highly recommended.
- Gwen Gregory, U.S. Courts Lib., Phoenix
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826323421
• ISBN-13: 978-0826323422
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #501,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Alternative Ethnography, September 6, 2001

By 

Michael Spivey, Ph.D. (Kean a horror movie fan from Wagram ,NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beautiful and the Dangerous: Encounters with the Zuni Indians (Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading Tedlock's work. The writing reverses the notion of "participant observation" to the "observation of participation." Instead of a removed, monological account, we are offered a polyphony of voices, including the authors. In fact, the ethnography reads much like a novel; however, these are real people with real stories to tell. The text offers a rich and evocative account of the Zuni people and their experiences in the borderzone between the past and present. Tedlock's work and writing strategies were central to the writing of my own ethnographic account of a Southeastern Native American Tribe in search of a visible past--the Pee Dee of South Carolina (Title: Native Americans in the Carolina Borderlands: A Critical Ethnography, Carolinas Press, 2000). Tedlock's ethnography is a must read for those on the verge of engaging ethnography, no matter the methodological bent, and students and academics interested in Native American Studies, Cultural Studies, Cultural Anthropology, and alternative ethnography.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, truthful writing, January 9, 2005

By 

Shaman - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beautiful and the Dangerous: Dialogues with the Zuni Indians (Paperback)

This is a beautifully written, honest, book about a young woman ethnographer coming of age. She first went to Zuni Pueblo as a young woman painter with her anthropologist husband and fell in love with the people and place. As a result she went on to get graduate degrees in Ethnomusicology and Anthropology herself and began working with the Maya in Guatemala. Since then she has written a book on women shamans worldwide: The Woman in the Shaman's Body. These books are worth the time to read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Ethnographic Writing, January 9, 2005

By 

Shaman - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beautiful and the Dangerous: Encounters with the Zuni Indians (Paperback)

This book is an example of the new attention ethnographers are paying to writing. Not only is it wonderfully written but it is an honest account of Zuni lives today. Tedlock went to the pueblo with her husband Dennis Tedlock (author of the "Popol Vuh" and the "Rabinal Achi") as a painter and after a number of visits and encouragement from Zuni women she decided to become an ethnographer. During her graduate education she also did work in Guatemala, see her classic book "Time and the Highland Maya." There is now a new book about to appear "The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine." I've seen the advanced copy and it is fabulous! All these books are must reads for young documentary writers and spiritually alive women and men today!