Sterling Fluharty and Dr. David J. Whittaker

Tom Polacca was a Hopi-Tewa in Arizona who was known for his leadership, progressive ideas, political involvement, and conversion to the Mormon Church. My intent was to research the life of him and his descendants, examining primary and secondary sources, as well as collecting oral history from descendants still living in Arizona. I expected to find a faith-promoting story of a man and his family’s quest for progress and truth. What happened, though, was a learning experience I had not anticipated.

As I poured over the many sources that deal with Tom, I recorded all that I could find. As my notes grew larger, I noticed repetitious details and discrepancies between accounts. My initial quest for understanding his life centered largely on compiling these recorded and disputed details. Out my research efforts emerged a partial picture of Tom which sketched the major events of his life and the contacts he made with others. Having not yet conducted interviews with his descendants, my information was from a largely outside perspective.

Notwithstanding the one-sided nature of my research, I felt confident that I was gathering most of what was known about Tom. My reasoning was that written sources would be the foundation of my report, while interviews with his descendants would serve to verify details or add occasional anecdotes. Up to this point, I felt confident about the progress I was making.

Satisfied thus far with my research, I worked with a friend to prepare for the oral history interviews. We talked with historians who had interviewed before and started the process of obtaining approval. In the midst of this process, I traveled with my friend to meet the Polacca descendants on the Hopi reservation in Arizona. Hoping to make acquaintances and gain their trust, I went with an open mind and hoping to learn, but knowing that serious interviewing would come later, possibly on a second trip.

My friend and I made the trip to the Hopi reservation one weekend this summer. We talked all the way there and back, recalling experiences from our former missionary efforts nearby and discussing the people we had loved serving. We arrived and were invited to stay in the home of Tom’s grandson. Our weekend was filled with many activities. We attended a traditional corn boy dance, attended church, and visited with many people. Although this experience reminded me of my mission, it was for me a time to listen and learn rather than to teach.

While there, I was reminded of the spirituality of Native people that persists despite the many challenges they face. I saw poverty in material things but contentment with the joys of life and family. On my mission I had recognized the paradox of their situation—such as living in two worlds, tension between traditions and Anglo culture, or the difficulty of being a Hopi Mormon—but it wasn’t until my recent observations that I perceived more completely the complexity of their situation. I saw too a community of people different in focus from those I knew back home. Less emphasis was placed on the achievements of individuals, and tales of the past were often spoke in terms of the collective experiences of the people or the traditions and experiences that had unified them. As I listened to the stories of some, I began to rethink my attempts to portray and interpret their past.

Thinking back, I can see more clearly now that no story of the Hopis (or Hopi-Tewas in Tom’s case), could be told as simply as I had planned. My brief stay among the Hopis reminded me of this fact that I had suspected but never quite realized. I saw that Hopi perspective was critical in telling stories of the past in the right way. To omit such was arrogant and unproductive. Yet to acknowledge their unique culture was only the beginning in retelling their past. It was complicated by the fact that my Hopi acquaintances and I were racially different, yet Hopi Mormons and I had religious, cultural, or even ethnic similarities. Our commonality was what had interested me in researching this history, but as I would come to see, it was in the dichotomies that most of my problems with researching Hopi Mormons surfaced.

My attempt to gain approval for interviewing Hopis was a learning experience in the ways in which identity and knowledge have been contested and appropriated. Some Mormon historians I talked to felt that I had sufficient rights to interview Hopi Mormons because I was talking to fellow Mormons about their experiences. However, as I learned, Hopi research policy operates on different principles. And since one of its aims is to only allow research that directly benefits Hopis or serves tribal aims, I realized that my chances of gaining approval to interview Hopis were rather slim. In examining the position of both sides, I found it interesting that at stake were issues of to whom history and knowledge belonged. Needless to say, my research has been postponed by this unanticipated development.

I have not given up my desire to research and write about the Polacca family. My intentions have been tempered by my convictions to be morally responsible to all the groups I write about. My friend and I will cultivate our friendships with the Polaccas and other Native American Mormons, and seek to reciprocate the goodwill they have shown us. For now I intend to continue my studies in Native American and Mormon history. I am learning to respect the values of both Native Americans and Mormons, and I hope to find a way to do history that is mutually beneficial. Undoubtedly, I will find common ground and similarities that may serve as starting points in such stories. But as long as the relationship remains colonial—that is, Mormons and others appropriating the traditions, religion, and stories of Native Americans for their own purposes—the problems will remain in researching and writing. Shedding my ethnocentrism has been a helpful start, but I realize that it is not enough. My hope is continue to seek out histories that illustrate the contributions that both Native Americans and Mormons have made, while being sensitive to the issues which have divided them in the past. This grant has been greatly appreciated in helping me to learn these lessons and accomplish these aims.