Post by Okwes on Feb 23, 2007 22:39:18 GMT -5
John Mohawk dies at age 61
Seneca was leading intellectual of Haudenosaunee perspective
(December 15, 2006) � Iroquois people across New York state and
southern Canada are in mourning this week for the man considered the
leading Haudenosaunee intellectual of his age. John C. Mohawk, 61, a
professor at the University of Buffalo and member of the Seneca Nation
of Indians, died Sunday. The cause of death was not immediately
available. Officials at Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor
canceled a holiday event scheduled for this weekend so local people
could travel to the Cattaraugus Reservation for Mohawk's funeral on
Saturday. At a meeting Wednesday in Caledonia, Ontario, Canada, on
indigenous land rights conflicts, participants paused for the news of
Mohawk's death, said Rick Hill, a Tuscarora artist and museum curator
who taught with Mohawk for 20 years. "He was a one-man think tank," Hill
said.
Jose Barreiro, a former editor of Indian Country Today, described Mohawk
as "the major intellectual and strategic force behind the surge of
Haudenosaunee activism of the past 30 years," in a tribute to appear in
the national weekly newspaper's next issue. G. Peter Jemison, site
manager of Ganondagan, said his first thought on hearing of his cousin's
death was "there goes all that knowledge."
Mohawk was a prolific writer of books and articles and frequently spoke
on Iroquois history, including in the Rochester area. He came to
national attention in the Indian Rights Movement by editing the
newspaper Akwesasne Notes in the 1970s and 1980s. Hill said young Native
Americans eagerly awaited each issue when Mohawk was at the helm.
"John became a national voice saying, basically, we don't have to take
this any longer. We do have rights and we should stand up for
ourselves," Hill said. But Mohawk was neither a firebrand nor
ivory-tower academic.
"His intellect was his great gift and he exercised it well, but he also
put it into practice," Hill said. "When people across our territory
needed to understand what happened and why it happened and what were the
consequences, John was the guy to call." Mohawk was on the forefront of
some volatile Native American rights issues, friends noted. He was a
member of the lease settlement team in the Southern Tier city of
Salamanca, where white residents had paid as little as a dollar a year
to lease Seneca land before a federally imposed lease of 99 years
expired in the early 1990s. Mohawk represented the Iroquois confederacy
at negotiations over the 1990 armed conflict at Oka, the Mohawk
community near Montreal. "He always spoke with passion backed up by
facts," said Robert Venables, a Cornell University professor. "As a
person, he was very generous and a wonderful colleague." Jemison said
Mohawk could reach any kind of audience, sometimes broaching issues that
could offend the politics of some listeners, but using reason and humor
to connect with them. "The rare combination of his two-world view is
going to be hard to come by again," said Robert Odawi Porter, a Seneca
and dean at Syracuse University College of Law. Porter said he began
teaching at Mohawk's suggestion. Mohawk was raised by parents steeped in
the Longhouse tradition � the oral religious, philosophical and
political code of the Haudenosaunee people, who are known as Iroquois to
outsiders. But his academic achievements and literary gifts were a rare
accomplishment for a Native American coming to age when formal education
was used, as Porter said, "to destroy us," referring to educational
philosophy of assimilating Indians. Mohawk also used his traditional
knowledge and resources to start a business promoting Iroquois white
corn, sharing the former staple of the Native American diet with
aficionados of the "slow food" movement. Mohawk's wife, Yvonne
Dion-Buffalo, died in 2005. He is survived by a son, a stepson and a
stepdaughter.
Seneca was leading intellectual of Haudenosaunee perspective
(December 15, 2006) � Iroquois people across New York state and
southern Canada are in mourning this week for the man considered the
leading Haudenosaunee intellectual of his age. John C. Mohawk, 61, a
professor at the University of Buffalo and member of the Seneca Nation
of Indians, died Sunday. The cause of death was not immediately
available. Officials at Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor
canceled a holiday event scheduled for this weekend so local people
could travel to the Cattaraugus Reservation for Mohawk's funeral on
Saturday. At a meeting Wednesday in Caledonia, Ontario, Canada, on
indigenous land rights conflicts, participants paused for the news of
Mohawk's death, said Rick Hill, a Tuscarora artist and museum curator
who taught with Mohawk for 20 years. "He was a one-man think tank," Hill
said.
Jose Barreiro, a former editor of Indian Country Today, described Mohawk
as "the major intellectual and strategic force behind the surge of
Haudenosaunee activism of the past 30 years," in a tribute to appear in
the national weekly newspaper's next issue. G. Peter Jemison, site
manager of Ganondagan, said his first thought on hearing of his cousin's
death was "there goes all that knowledge."
Mohawk was a prolific writer of books and articles and frequently spoke
on Iroquois history, including in the Rochester area. He came to
national attention in the Indian Rights Movement by editing the
newspaper Akwesasne Notes in the 1970s and 1980s. Hill said young Native
Americans eagerly awaited each issue when Mohawk was at the helm.
"John became a national voice saying, basically, we don't have to take
this any longer. We do have rights and we should stand up for
ourselves," Hill said. But Mohawk was neither a firebrand nor
ivory-tower academic.
"His intellect was his great gift and he exercised it well, but he also
put it into practice," Hill said. "When people across our territory
needed to understand what happened and why it happened and what were the
consequences, John was the guy to call." Mohawk was on the forefront of
some volatile Native American rights issues, friends noted. He was a
member of the lease settlement team in the Southern Tier city of
Salamanca, where white residents had paid as little as a dollar a year
to lease Seneca land before a federally imposed lease of 99 years
expired in the early 1990s. Mohawk represented the Iroquois confederacy
at negotiations over the 1990 armed conflict at Oka, the Mohawk
community near Montreal. "He always spoke with passion backed up by
facts," said Robert Venables, a Cornell University professor. "As a
person, he was very generous and a wonderful colleague." Jemison said
Mohawk could reach any kind of audience, sometimes broaching issues that
could offend the politics of some listeners, but using reason and humor
to connect with them. "The rare combination of his two-world view is
going to be hard to come by again," said Robert Odawi Porter, a Seneca
and dean at Syracuse University College of Law. Porter said he began
teaching at Mohawk's suggestion. Mohawk was raised by parents steeped in
the Longhouse tradition � the oral religious, philosophical and
political code of the Haudenosaunee people, who are known as Iroquois to
outsiders. But his academic achievements and literary gifts were a rare
accomplishment for a Native American coming to age when formal education
was used, as Porter said, "to destroy us," referring to educational
philosophy of assimilating Indians. Mohawk also used his traditional
knowledge and resources to start a business promoting Iroquois white
corn, sharing the former staple of the Native American diet with
aficionados of the "slow food" movement. Mohawk's wife, Yvonne
Dion-Buffalo, died in 2005. He is survived by a son, a stepson and a
stepdaughter.