Customer Reviews

Wiyaxayxt / Wiyaakaaawn / As Days Go by: Our History, Our Land, Our Peoplethe Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla

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I have long argued that American Indians and tribal governments have to tell their own histories. They also have to research and record information about their histories, cultures, and traditions. Native people cannot and should not rely on non-Indian scholars to do this important work.

One value of tribes acquiring more assets in the modern day is that they can now devote time and resources to this type of historical and cultural research and development. A perfect example of what I am talking about is a 2006 book co-published by the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon.

The book is entitled <em>wiyaxayxt * as days go by * wiyaakaa?awn, Our History, Our Land, and Our People: The Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla</em>. It was published in 2006 by the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute and the Oregon Historical Society Press, in cooperation with the University of Washington Press.

The book was authorized by the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla Tribes and is written by tribal citizens and selected non-Indians. It is an important and powerful book about their history, culture, and future. It also recounts the amazing story of their modern-day resurgence and the many successes they have created while working to protect and develop their rights and their reservation homeland.

I highly recommend this book for everyone.

I've not enough praise for the collaborative effort represented in Wiyaxayst/Wiyaakaa'awn = As days go by... . The facts, legends, stories and remembrances carry weight not found in studies by non-tribal people, and every participant is to be commended. The explanation of the spiritual connection of Indians to the land, of the Whitman killings and subsequent hangings, of treaty talks and wars, so matched the conclusions I had reached after years of study and thought that I adopted this book as one I trusted and would rely upon. The Intermediary: William Craig Among the Nez Perces Everyone -- Indians, non-Indians, government employees, northwesterners and citizens of the world -- should read this book.

This excellent research and presentation is the subject of many deep discussions on not just the history and future of the Umatilla, but also works as a keystone and outline for discussing other native Americans whether as tribes, federations, or simply as local communities and individuals. In looking for compelling research on native Americans in eastern Washington state, I was drawn towards this publication by the reviews and the preview from the local library. I simply couldn't put it down. It is not so much that any new information is discovered here. It is that the new research is very well integrated with existing papers and presented within a very good framework that keeps the conversation open-ended. With a quiet yet insistent focus on, let us say, the recovery of history and of community as it is important in our identity, this book of history is an excellent primer on the future.