sNAPAshots: Tony Chavarria

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Transcript

Interviewer 0:00
[On Screen image] sNAPAshots Logo. Welcome to sNAPAshots: conversations with professional, practicing, and applied anthropologists.

0:12
[On Screen Image] Tony Chavarria Headshot. [On Screen Text] Tony Chavarria, Curator of Ethnology, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.

Interviewer 0:19
[Onscreen text] Do you recall a moment that changed the way you practice anthropology?

Tony Chavarria 0:22
I first started taking coursework, and I was in a field school for Anthropology, I I remember, like, talking to my dad about it, because that was really something that not a lot of native people did, and certainly not a lot of what Pueblo people did. And because of the there was this connotation, you know, that archeologists, you know, basically were you know gravediggers, and that was something that is certainly that, that you don’t do as a Pueblo person. And so I remember, like, just kind of talking to him about that. And he just basically was telling me that, that if I you know what I’m doing, what I’m doing, you know, with a sense of a good heart, are with with a positive nature, and I don’t look for graves or to do that, and to take my own personal precautions, you know that that that I should be okay, but to always seek guidance. You know in the sense, always seek guidance from both those who are living and those who are past. My professor, Ruben Mendoza, he was very, very, very accommodating about that, certainly at that time. Maybe not every professor would be, but he was, he would be, would put me in units where he felt it was unlikely that we would strike, you know, a burial, or anything like that. And luckily, we were in like these rock shelters out in the hog backs [On Screen Text: “Hogbacks” are prominent ridges formed by tilted rock layers] of outside of Denver, where the there’s not, there’s not a lot of, like, a long term occupation. So it was fairly unlikely, and so, that. But he was always like a super accommodating if you thought, ever thought we were getting anything close to something like that, he would give me the option of moving further away, you know, or, you know, enough to avoid it as well. And then he will talk to the other students as well about these sensitivities. Because, you know, this is only, gosh, just literally a few years, like, three years post passage of NAGPRA, and so that’s still being, you know, like, you know, still being debated and and there’s still, like, this earlier mindset about it kind of carried that with me ever since, about trying to be as I feel that I’m a conduit as well. In a sense, I’m a conduit between Native people, Pueblo people, and the museums. And it’s a, it’s less of a less of a change now, because certainly back then, it was a very different mindsets and but now with as we’re now, What? What? What? Certainly almost 30 years into NAGPRA and the the establishment of Tribal Historic Preservation offices in many communities, that it’s a there’s more of a of a shared body of knowledge. And I think that’s a continuing now, but back then, I kind of really saw myself as like a conduit, trying to get each other to understand the other and and if my mom, she was always just like, happy with whatever I did, that that one, that I was employed and that I was earning a living, and that I was happy with what I was doing. And so I think she was always that was her main concern for me, whereas my dad, also, he certainly had concerns about my other well being, you know, certainly you know beyond the beyond physical, you know, but also spiritual, you know, and mental as well.

Interviewer 3:45
[On Screen Text] How has the Anthropological midset enhanced your contribution to your workplace?

Tony Chavarria 3:47
I’ve always felt that, particularly for like, native people who are raised in, especially in like, in a traditional community, or in a traditional way, that sometimes they’re kind of like de facto anthropologists that they they have to they’re, raised in one culture, and then yet, at the same time, they have to learn how to navigate in another culture, you know, and and be able to, like kind of understand that. And they, the way they do that is by generally participant observation, you know. And that’s certainly how I got through school, how I got through college, is by doing that so that that you’re, you’re, you’ve always kind of like, kind of like, got these anthropological practices kind of almost ingrained, and then you learn it, like the formal way, you know, as you go through school. But you’ve kind of like, always been kind of like doing something similar, you know, in your own personal and private life, like, as they say, you know, with uh, with this position, there’s a great deal of responsibility and that you have to be able to navigate many different waters, and some of them can be treacherous, and some can be calm, and sometimes it can turn, you know, very quickly. And. That you have to be able to talk to people without letting, you know sometimes, if you have very, a private or a certainly strong feelings about something, but that that what’s the most important thing is be able to communicate with people, and you know, again, which is what anthropology tries to do, is being able to let people understand, you know, in a sense the world, or understand ourselves. And that’s what I was, like, we’re trying to do, is let make people understand. Is, one is what I’m what I’m doing. Why am I doing it? You know, and also let people understand like, Why do like native people are going to have this perspective? Or what are what sometimes, what are these negative perceptions they had, maybe of anthropology, archeology, and how we can both, in a sense, maybe learn from each other, but also that, you know that it’s, it’s a new [perspective].

Interviewer 5:45
[On Screen Text] What is the one thing about the practice of anthropology that nobody told you as a student?

Tony Chavarria 5:48
It certainly started going when I was going to the AAA conferences. But anything I thought that looked interesting. I went to it even though it was like way out of my area, because I realized that, because you never knew what you were going to get out of order to pick up from it, and over time it certainly you become a known commodity to people, but you, but also you just, you just gain these, share these experiences from people that then that they’ll, they’ll, they’ll help you, like both your your cohort, your colleagues and then your elders, if you will, that everyone has something to offer to you, and then even today. Now, sometimes it can take a while, but you realize that now, I certainly realize that those even entering are younger than you can also help you continue to grow and expand. And I think that is something that that sometimes isn’t expanded upon in schooling. There are things that I do now that when I first started, I was just too incredibly self-conscious, you know, like to, like to speak to, you know, to people to ask questions, but you then, then you kind of like, learn. You know, that’s only way you can to learn, to grow, is to do that. I remember one of my first conferences, they had this young professionals mixer, and I went to it, and I was just like, too shy, too self conscious. I couldn’t go in. So I remember, like, so I remember leaving, and I just felt like, well, wait a minute, what’s wrong and what’s wrong? Why do I, why am I acting this way? But, but over time, then, you know, it kind of realizes, well, you know, because you know, no one’s judging you, and if they are, who cares? Basically, you’re just going in, and then you’re, you know, meeting people, saying hi, having some snacks, and then, because, then that’s how you’re going to, like, find other people who you know are on your wavelength. And so that’s something that that, I think just kind of comes, comes with practice.

Interviewer 7:43
[On Screen Text] What advice would you give to future anthropologists seeking roles in professional, practicing, and applied fields?

Tony Chavarria 7:54
You know, we always have this belief, generally, that you know that there’s a right to knowledge. You know that all knowledge is to be known. But in some cultures, and that’s not the case, that knowledge, again, has a responsibility, that you have to be able to earn that that right to know that knowledge. And so that’s something that’s sometimes going to be quite different. And I consider certainly see that here when people come and they see some of the like the dances, like it’s for the feast days out here in New Mexico, and they realize that, yeah, there’s this way people have been engaging, that it’s, this isn’t a performance. This is actually, it is, it’s, it’s a, it’s a rite. It’s something that people do and have, can have done and will continue to do, because it’s their way of, basically seeking balance in the universes, which is something that we all kind of do in one way or the other, and that that is something like that anthropology can help go through, as well as seeing how balance is achieved in different ways. And in anthropology, that you can do so many things, you know. Like, I said, just, you know, like, I said, yeah, just keep an eye out there, like, on these, on the expos, looking at the other videos that you can find people that have a background in anthropology in the most unexpected places. And that’s happened to me before, something that that you’ll you’ll find everywhere. And so I think that just, you know, and find, so find your place within it. Ruben Mendoza, who just recently retired from Cal State, Monterey Bay, and he was a an archeologist, but also had done a lot of work in, you know, in cultural as well. And so he really kind of showed me that you could have these varying interests and still make them be able to work in a career that you want to do and in the also, you pointed out that it’s not always about you know, like, you know, like, how much you’ll make, whatever, too, but as long as you like, you’re happy or that you’re that, if you you “follow the intellectual pursuit”, as he put it, that you know that there’ll be something that will engage you like for the rest of your life.

Credits 10:06
PRODUCED BY Niel Tashima Cathleen Crain Joshua Liggett DIRECTED BY Reshama Damle EDITED BY Whitney Margaritis MUSIC VIA PIXABAY: “Goodnight LoFi Crazy Chill” by FASSOUNDS, “Around the world of LoFi Chill” by SNOOZYBEATS ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE VIA PEXELS BY: Courtney Dumas, Los Muertos Crew, Luis Soliz, RDNE Stock Project

Interviewer 10:06
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10:16
[On Screen Text] Many Thanks to NAPA’s Governing Council for supporting sNAPAshots. NAPA is a section of the Anthropological Association.

Volunteer Plug 10:25
[On Screen Images] Starbursts with the words: Social Media, Organization, Promotions, and Events. [On Screen Text] Want to volunteer with NAPA? We’d love to hear from YOU! Contact: ntashima@ltgassociates.com

AAP Plug 10:37
[On Screen Text] Stay connected with 40 Years of The Annals of Anthropological Practice. [On Screen Image] AAP Cover Page. [On Screen Text] https://practicinganthropology.org/communicate/submit-to-the-annals/

Interviewer 10:48
sNAPAshots

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