Monthly Archives: August 2013

Trickster names

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

Naming has power. Studying framing, propaganda and public relations—and watching Mad Men—helps strip the artifice created when naming things. Corn syrup becomes corn sugar.

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Rosie Red Top

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

My indatsay, John, shows me a sepia photograph of his family at their home on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The place bears the indelicate name of Stinking Water Creek. Relatives stare at the camera while a white-haired elder sits on … Continue reading →

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The dirt on relatives

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

My relatives fought with their Oglala brothers and ended up splitting into separate bands. We tore away after Bull Bear argued with Old Smoke. The story is that Bull Bear threw dirt in Smoke’s face, and they considered our band … Continue reading →

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Crazy Horse: Tiyospaye

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

Larry McMurtry—who wrote Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment—penned a biography of Crazy Horse that proved a solid summer read. McMurtry writes about my relatives in the book Crazy Horse (Penguin-Viking, 1999). He says Crazy Horse … Continue reading →

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Being Tonto

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

Finally got up the nerve to see The Lone Ranger. The movie earned jibes from Indian Country and was slammed by the critics all summer. My Facebook pals panned the film so I figure I can’t critique it without viewing … Continue reading →

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Real Science. Really.

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

The mummy exhibit is billed as Real Science. Calling the Mummies of the World display Real Science legitimizes the practice of stuffing dead people under glass and taking them on the road for show-and-tell. Never occurred to me it would … Continue reading →

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Mummies: what’s sacred? Private?

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

Seems museums have dodged flak for placing dead folks on display. And the current iteration of mummy-memorabilia is no exception.

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Groping for meaning in science

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

My colleagues and I have been groping with the idea of Native Science. One reason is our earnest attempt to legitimize American Indian perspectives–whether it’s science, story-telling, art or language.

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Belief+Doubt=Sanity

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

Artist Barbara Kruger plays with words. Her installation at the Hirschhorn Museum in Washington DC invites you to think: it’s called Belief+Doubt. Plastered on the museum walls and archways are bold words colored in red, white and black. Turns of … Continue reading →

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Dirt in my shoes

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Cynthia Coleman Emery

How did I start on this path? Dirt in my shoes. I’m speaking about my research at a meeting attended by communication and journalism researchers and teachers. Each of us on the panel is describing what we can learn from … Continue reading →

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