2008 Woodie Awards
Supporting Santa Fe's Tesuque Nation
Mark Fuller
Issue date: 9/30/05 Section: News
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Officials in Santa Fe, New Mexico are trying to build a civic center on historic Native American land. Professor of English and Women's Studies Sarah Wider is trying to stop them.
Recently, she has been trekking around campus trying to raise awareness about an issue very near and dear to her: the destruction of Tesuque Pueblo lands.
Wider has been speaking to classes and groups on various occasions, including a Brown Bag lunch last week and one in which she collected signatures for a petition against the desecration of historic territory.
The problem began recently when the government of Santa Fe approved a new $54-million civic center. The center would cover a 72,000-square foot plot of land and include a 600-space underground parking garage. The issue lies in the location.
The civic center is intended for a site which envelops the ancient pueblo ("town") of the Tesuque Nation. The ancestral home of the Tesuque contains more than just memory ¬- it is the burial site of its former inhabitants, with bones dating back to 1350 and 1400 A.D. With the support of archeologists and other advocates, Tesuque Governor Mark Mitchell has loudly objected to this plan, explaining that construction would destroy the nation's ancient home and tribal burial sites.
Since leading her first study group to Santa Fe in 2001, Wider, who is originally from New Mexico and teaches contemporary Native American literature, has had a close relationship with the Tesuque Pueblo Indians. The Tesuque are a small nation of approximately 800 people, located 10 miles to the north of Santa Fe. For several years the extended study program "Continuity in Pueblo Communities" has brought Colgate students into the lives of the Tesuque people, and vice versa.
"Colgate has an ongoing relationship with the Tesuque," Wider said. "When I led my first group in 2001, 9/11 happened and we had several students from New York. The people at the Pueblo gave us a home, and such great support. Now I'm doing everything I can to help them."
Recently, she has been trekking around campus trying to raise awareness about an issue very near and dear to her: the destruction of Tesuque Pueblo lands.
Wider has been speaking to classes and groups on various occasions, including a Brown Bag lunch last week and one in which she collected signatures for a petition against the desecration of historic territory.
The problem began recently when the government of Santa Fe approved a new $54-million civic center. The center would cover a 72,000-square foot plot of land and include a 600-space underground parking garage. The issue lies in the location.
The civic center is intended for a site which envelops the ancient pueblo ("town") of the Tesuque Nation. The ancestral home of the Tesuque contains more than just memory ¬- it is the burial site of its former inhabitants, with bones dating back to 1350 and 1400 A.D. With the support of archeologists and other advocates, Tesuque Governor Mark Mitchell has loudly objected to this plan, explaining that construction would destroy the nation's ancient home and tribal burial sites.
Since leading her first study group to Santa Fe in 2001, Wider, who is originally from New Mexico and teaches contemporary Native American literature, has had a close relationship with the Tesuque Pueblo Indians. The Tesuque are a small nation of approximately 800 people, located 10 miles to the north of Santa Fe. For several years the extended study program "Continuity in Pueblo Communities" has brought Colgate students into the lives of the Tesuque people, and vice versa.
"Colgate has an ongoing relationship with the Tesuque," Wider said. "When I led my first group in 2001, 9/11 happened and we had several students from New York. The people at the Pueblo gave us a home, and such great support. Now I'm doing everything I can to help them."