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6: Feminist Utopia
- University of New Mexico Press
- Chapter
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145 CHAPTER SIX Feminist Utopia LongafterFranzBoas’sstudentslefttheSouthwest,anewgenerationof feministscholarsrediscoveredPuebloIndians,exploringthelivesofthe femaleanthropologistswhohadstudiedthem,anddeconstructingtheromantic imageryofPuebloculturethattheFredHarveyCompanyandtheSantaFe Railroadhadoncepopularized.Feministanthropologists,literarycritics,and historianshavefoundinspirationalrolemodelsamongtheirfemalepredecessors ,andgristfortheirgenderedcritiqueofAmericansociety.Intheirretelling ,theartisticandliterary“construction”oftheSouthwestasanAmerican paradisewasinterlacedwithsexism,exploitation,domination,and,worstof all,“Orientalism”—amongpostmodernacademiccriticstheultimateterm ofscholarlydenigrationandcontempt. Withinthepasttwodecades,Puebloculturehasbecomeavirtualcottage industryoffeministscholarship.Searchingforthesourcesoftheirown feministheritage,scholarshaveturnedforinspirationtothelivesofthe“restless andrebellious”womenwhoforgedtheirprofessionalreputationsinthe pueblosafterWorldWarI.“Inourquest,”writesanthropologistNancyParezo candidly,“wearesearchingforourlegendaryheroines.”Groundedincontemporary feministcriticism,theirscholarshipseekstoreclaimaneglected feministpast.1 Itis,simultaneously,ascathingindictmentofAmericancorporatecapitalism forpackaging,marketing,andselling(therefore,exploiting)Pueblo IndianstoAmericanswhowereyearningtorecapturealostageofinnocence 146 CHAPTER SIX andvirtue.Accordingly,thepartnershipbetweentheSantaFeRailroadand theFredHarveyCompanyinthedevelopmentoftheSouthwestasamajor touristattractionbecomes“awayofincorporatingyetcontainingtheother ...[thatwas]centraltotherhetoricofempire.”Itproducedapatternof “ahistoricalrepresentations”ofpueblolife,whose“imagingwaspartofthe continuingcampaigntomake‘hostile’nativesmanageableandsafefortourists .”Withprofitablecommissionsawaitingthem,paintersandphotographers becamecollaboratorswho“aestheticizedthecolonialistgazewhileenhancing therailroad’sbusiness.”Their“feminizationoftheother,”whichelevated Pueblowomenandtheirpotstoiconicstatusamongnostalgic(yetrapacious) Americans,exemplifiedaprocessofWestern(patriarchal)culturalconquest thatdemeanedwomenintheguiseofromanticizingtheirlives.ToAmericans frightenedbythepaceofsocialchange,whatbetteralternativeto“masculine” industrializationattheturnofthelastcentury“thanredearthshapedinto ‘pleasingshapes’bythe‘warmhands’ofPueblowomen”?2 Embeddedinthisgenderedcritiqueisaquestionposedbyanthropologist BarbaraTedlock,whohaslivedamongtheZuniIndiansforlongstretches since1968.InTheBeautifulandtheDangerous,herdialogueswithZunis,she revealshow“Ifellinlovewiththebeautyofthehighdesertandthenative peoplesoftheAmericanSouthwest.”Thosefeelingspromptedhertoinquire: “Whycannot[female]ethnographersmaketheprofessionalpersonal?”Why shouldnotethnographicwritingbecome“theproductofamultivocalpostmodern feministdiscipline”inwhich“theprecisenatureoftheinteraction betweenSelfandOther”isdirectlyconfronted?Inhercallforafeminist ethnography,Tedlockimagines“anexplicitlyfeminineenvironmentforthe ethnographic encounter.” Instead of an “outdoor male adventurer,” like Cushing,“pitchinghistentamongthenatives,”whynotadopttheBenedict model,with“twowomenseatedatakitchentablechatting”?3 Withthekitchentable,avenerablesymboloffemaledomesticity,elevated asanhonoredfeministshrine,Parezowonderswhytheworkoffemaleanthropologists (otherthanBenedictandMead)hassorarelybeencitedby(male) scholars.“Wasitbecausetheywerewomen?”sheasks.Despitethereputation ofanthropologyasa“welcoming”disciplineforwomen,shedescribesthe femalescholarswhoprecededheras“amarginalizedgroupwithoutarecognized voice,”trappedinascientificdisciplinethatwas“phallocentricinintent andoutcome.”Andyet,sheobserves,“themoreonelearnstoreadbetweenthe linesofofficialdiscourseandacceptedhistory,themoreonediscovershow [44.192.53.34] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 12:18 GMT) 147 FEMINIST UTOPIA muchwomenhavecontributedtoourunderstandingofanthropology.”There was“somethingabouttheSouthwestasaplace,asanidea,andasalocalefor anthropologicalresearch,”sheinsists,thatmadeitattractivetowomen—and stilldoes.Wasit,shewondered,“aplacewhere[women]couldthriveandcreate newidentitiesforthemselves”?Thequestion,whichallbutanswersitself, goesalongwaytowardexplainingwhyanewgenerationoffeministscholars hasreaffirmed...