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The Portal Case: Authenticity, Tourism, Traditions, and the Law
- Utah State University Press
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The Portal Case: Authenticity, Tourism, Traditions, and the Law Deirdre Evans-Pritchard The analysis ofbasicfollelore concepts is not merelyan intellectualexercise demonstrated in the university classroom or scholarly article. Important issues outside the academy hinge on concepts analyzed and debated by folklorists. In Deirdre EvansPritchard 's description of "the Portal case," a number of these concepts and issues emerge: What is an ethnicgroup and how is membership within it determined? What is the nature ofthe relationship betwee,ra producer, the techniques ofproduction, and the object produced? What are the effects when select folk practices are "legitimized" or "endorsed" by officiallegal, cultural, or educational institutions? What is meant by "tradition" and "authenticity" and how do these terms apply to displays for tourists? What roles,;fany, shouldfollelorists play when such issues emerge;n public discussion, debate, and policy? For another interesting example ofthe relationship offolklore to public issues see Samuelson (1982). Santa Fe, New Mexico, attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year because of its picturesque plaza, its historic role as aSpanish imperial capital, its nearby Indian pueblos, its wealth of museums, and its cultural events-and its ski slopes. It has an image as an Old World haven where one can meet the American Other, the unassimilated Native American culture. Perhaps the closest most visitors will get to real Indians is by strolling along the Portal of the Palace of the Governors, the oldest public building in the United States and now part of the Museum of New Mexico. Here, under this covered walkway spanning one side of the central plaza, the Indians display and sell their wares: jewelry, pottery, sand paintings, food, and occasionally other handicrafts. Sitting with their backs to the stuccoed adobe palace wall, they arrange their wares neatly on blankets in front of them. On a busy day 50 or so Indians and myriad tourists are crammed into this long corridor. The Indians, mostly from the nearby pueblos but also from the Navaho, Zuni, and Hopi reservations and further afield, are there every day in the summer. Many even brave the cold winter days and sit huddled in rugs. For the Indian, selling under the Portal is a financial necessity; for the visitors, the Portal provides comfortable surroundings to see and buy genuine Indian crafts from genuine Indian craftsmen, apparently without the distancing factor of middlemen.l Reproduced by permission of the American Folklore Society, from Journal of American FolklorelOO , no. 397(1987):287-96. Not for further reproduction. 43 Deirdre Evans-Pritchard The presence of the Indians under the Portal is a customary part of the traditional life of Santa Fe. Local people have proudly described this, saying, "The Indians on the Plaza have gained such a reputation that they have become a world-famous landmark in Santa Fe" and "The Indians are the largest drawing card in the city. It's the Indians people come to see ... " and "The Indians have been there ever since I was a boy. It's right for them to be there." 2 So people were surprised, and many shocked, when this custom was challenged in the law courts. In 1976, some Anglo and Hispanic craftsmen and traders were selling from stalls on the sidewalk in front ofSanta Fe's Museum of Fine Arts. The Museum of New Mexico, the authority administering all state museums, objected to the presence of these vendors. After much argument, the museum evicted them with the support of city authorities who cited a municipal ordinance that street vendors must sell 500 feet away from established businesses and stores selling similar me.rchandise. When the vendors pointed out that the municipal ordinance was not being enforced at the adjacent Portal, the city authorities answered that the Indians under the Portal were on Museum of New Mexico property. When the vendors argued that they too should be allowed to sell at the Portal, they were told that the museum permitted only Indians to sell there. The proceedings received extensive media coverage, contrasting the vendors' complaints of unfairness with Indian claims that "Indian tradition and culture would be eroded if Indians were not allowed to sell their wares in the Plaza area" and if non-Indians were allowed to sell their goods next to the Indians.3 At the time, the museum's Indian-only policy for the Portal was not officially formulated. Indians and others had been using the portal as a marketplace for at least a hundred years. After the Museum of New Mexico was created...