The Hopi, who have maintained many of their ancient practices while deftly navigating the dramatic changes of the last 500 years, are among the world’s most fascinating and most studied peoples. This seminar will introduce participants to the archaeology, anthropology, and history of the Hopi people, answer questions, and dispel myths. Migration is the central theme of Hopi oral tradition and archaeological evidence lends strong support to the notion that Hopi ancestors migrated through many parts of the US Southwest and were key players in large-scale social transformations. This course will focus on three related topics: the Hopi people as an ethnolinguistic community composed of many different social groups; Hopi claims of affiliation with many different archaeological cultures (e.g., Anasazi, Mogollon, Hohokam); and correlations between archaeological evidence of ancient events in the US Southwest and Hopi oral accounts of their past.
