title: Two Paiute Autobiographies (Steward)
aliases: [Steward 1934, Two Paiute Autobiographies]
tags: [resource]
kind: Ethnography
author: Julian H. Steward
year: 1934
summary: Two recorded life histories of Owens Valley Paiute individuals, told in their own words and published by Steward in 1934.

Two Paiute Autobiographies (Steward)

Two Paiute Autobiographies (1934) presents the recorded life histories of two Owens Valley Paiute people, gathered by Julian H. Steward. Where his Ethnography describes the culture from the outside, these autobiographies offer something rarer: first-person accounts of individual lives, work, and belief.

The two subjects are Sam Newland and Jack Stewart, both Owens Valley Paiute men close to a hundred years old when Steward recorded them, who had reached adulthood before settlers came into the valley in 1861. Steward describes choosing them partly for contrast: he paints Newland as a man whose life mirrors everyday Paiute experience, and Stewart as a vivid, self-assured figure who casts himself as a distinguished hunter and visionary.

Read the autobiographies

The full text of each life history is reproduced here, transcribed from Steward's original publication. Because these are first-person Nüümü accounts, the two narratives are gated to signed-in members.

Steward's introduction (1934)

The autobiographies presented in this paper were obtained as part of an ethnographic study of the Owens valley Paiute¹ of eastern California made for the Department of Anthropology, University of California, during about three months in the summers of 1927 and 1928.

It seemed that first-hand narratives of the lives of these two men, who are close to one hundred years of age and had, therefore, reached maturity before the coming of the white man into Owens valley in 1861,² would give insight into dynamic aspects of Paiute life which would supplement the more categorical material of the ethnographic account and contribute subjective data indicating psychological attitudes and social values implicit in the culture. For not only does a formal summary of a culture fail to indicate traits which are so subjective as seldom to be revealed in overt behavior; it also standardizes so as to minimize the importance of individual variations.

The biographies reveal extraordinary individual differences, personalities more unlike, though exposed to the same meager cultural conditioning influences, being difficult to imagine. Sam Newland, a simple, prosaic fellow, was less than mediocre in such pursuits as bring social recognition to a Paiute—hunting and gambling. If he possessed any outstanding ability, it was fleetness of foot to get himself away from trouble with which he could not cope. His autobiography is therefore a rehearsal of events familiar to any Paiute Indian and is of value in depicting the culture in actual operation.

Jack Stewart, on the contrary, represents himself as a remarkably virile and distinguished man who has achieved those values upon which a Paiute Indian places importance. His success results from tremendous physical vigor, manifest even in his old age, much sheer luck, and a vast amount of self-confidence born of innumerable visions. His colorful life is in sharp contrast to that of Sam, who admitted that he was a poor hunter, never had luck, and had failed to secure any blessing from a vision. Jack was, in the opinion of himself and his tribesmen, an ideally successful Indian. He was a good hunter, but generous with his game; he was powerful and courageous, but not bloodthirsty; he was a good gambler, kindly, and very much a lady's man. That he foreswore doctoring probably saved him from grief. That he was no war hero was a matter of indifference to his associates, and his failure to amass wealth was of no consequence. He succeeded in those things which are highly appraised in Paiute culture.

Biographical supernatural experiences are of the greatest importance in a comprehension of the religion of a people who lack all ritualized religious behavior—except in the shaman—and whose religion is to be viewed through the subjective experiences of the individual. The relation of a Paiute to his supernatural is essentially individualistic, the "powers" favoring some, neglecting others. The Paiute obtained his supernatural aid always unsought, in contrast to members of those tribes which used some means to induce it. The only cultural pattern stamped on the mind of the learning child was that he might expect some phenomenon of nature to appear in a dream and offer him assistance. Whether this came at all, and what particular form it assumed, were determined by the individual and his experience.

The data presented in Jack's life demonstrate primarily this importance of the vision. Unlike Sam, he is evidently of a mind predisposed to hallucinations, interpreted as supernatural communications. The validity of his father's hunting instructions are tested by a vision quite as effectively, apparently, as by reality. The time for his first real hunt is revealed to him in a dream. Success in hunting, fighting, traveling, and even in gambling are assured him by his power, Birch mountain, which was always ready to assist him and, on one occasion, even called him back from the coast. It is not surprising that this visionary twice received the power to doctor, once from his mountain, once from a deer. Whatever the occasion, in fact, supernatural assistance was at hand. The "power," however, never appeared upon the scene to perform physical feats, but gave a promise which was invariably fulfilled. It said, "You shall get well," though the connecting links between the edict and the subsequent recovery are not apparent. In these visions kinesthetic imagery seems to have been most vivid. Although expectation or wishful thinking coupled with a suggestible mentality doubtless accounts for their frequency, Jack never took means to induce them. Prayers were answered once his mountain had adopted him, but the mountain's original appearance was unsought.

Sam Newland lived at pitana patü, now Bishop, but formerly the site of greatest Indian concentration. Jack Stewart lived at tovowahamatü, now Big Pine, another important Indian community. Both served as informants. Although they were glad to relate their lives, slight incoherences resulting from old age and the inevitable difficulties of an interpreter robbed their accounts of much directness and subtlety. They were questioned only when necessary, however, because those facts were chiefly desired which they themselves regarded as important and significant.

Citation

Steward, Julian H. 1934. Two Paiute Autobiographies. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 33(5): 423–438. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Source: ucp033-006.pdf