Emory Sekaquaptewa
University of Arizona, Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology
Gary Nabhan
Northern Arizona University, Center for Sustainable Environments
Kelley Hays-Gilpin
Northern Arizona University, Anthropology and the Museum of Northern Arizona
The Art and Soul of Hopi Farming
Three scholars collaborate to present the key beliefs, practices, and metaphors that have supported millennia of successful Hopi farming in the high dry desert of northern Arizona. Ancient artifacts, contemporary visual arts, and linguistic metaphors in song and prayer express concepts of sustainability, reciprocity, biodiversity, hard work, and humility. We will show how images of the flowery world of abundance, corn, and human effort pervade the iconography of pottery and mural painting for over a thousand years.
