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Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute)
The term Paiute (pronounced "PY-yoot") has European origin, but the Southern Paiute call themselves Nuwuvi or Nunguwu, meaning "the people."
Aboriginal Lands:
Nuwuvi aboriginal lands are located in the southwest Great Basin, in the area bordered by the San Juan and Colorado Rivers. Their homelands are a unique and diverse landscape of that includes the Colorado Plateaus, canyon country, and the Mojave desert (D'Azevedo and Sturtevant 1986). Parts of Nuwuvi aboriginal territory include what are now Zion National Park, Yosemite National Park, Pipe Spring National Monument, Escalante Grand Stair Case National Monument, and the Arizona Strip (Stoffle et al. 2009).
Specific regions and landscapes within Nuwuvi lands are contained in an area called Puaxant Tuvip, which has been translated as "power land." The Nuwuvi recognize a specific location within these lands where they were created. At the time of their creation they were given a spiritual responsibility to be stewards of these lands (Stoffle et al 1997).
Language:
The Nuwuvi language belongs to the Southern Numic subgroup of the Uto-Aztecan family and is closely related to the Ute language (D'Azevedo and Sturtevant 1986). Many older people still speak Nuwuvi, but children are no longer learning it as their first language. Nuwuvi tribes continue efforts to maintain their language by recording it and developing programs to teach the younger generation (Davis 1994).
Traditional Culture:
Modern Nuwuvi people no longer make the traditional clothing and houses of their ancestors, but their traditional community organization, kinship, language, rituals, and storytelling continues to distinguish them from other people.
Clothing: Traditionally, the Nuwuvi commonly wore a double apron made of animal skins or vegetable fiber. They made sandals or moccasins of bark, yucca, or sometimes rawhide. Women wore basket caps and men wore skin caps. Men tied their hair back and added eagle down or feathers for special occasions (D'Azevedo and Sturtevant 1986).
Housing: The Nuwuvi traditionally constructed shades and windbreaks for summer shelter and conical houses for the winter. In some areas Nuwuvi people lived in caves during the wintertime (D'Azevedo and Sturtevant 1986).
Art: The Nuwuvi are well-known for their traditional basketry. Baskets can be cone-shaped for carrying, fan-shaped for winnowing, or coated with pinon pitch for a water jug (D'Azevedo and Sturtevant 1986).
A group of Nuwuvi people recently created an award-winning film about their sacred Salt Songs (Asi Huviav Puruakain). The Salt Song Trail: Bringing Creation Back Together tells the story of how the Nuwuvi people use Salt Songs for healing, memorial, and cultural revitalization (Cultural Conservancy).
Economy: The Nuwuvi traditionally grew crops using a sophisticated irrigation system. They also fished, hunted, and gathered. Today, reservation economies are centered around ranching, fishing, subsistence farming, and tourism. Tribal government is also a major employer. The tribal governments are pursuing economic development opportunities so that Nuwuvi people can continue living on their reservations (Davis 1994).
History:
Euro-American settlers displaced the Nuwuvi from their land and diminished their resources. Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) started coming into Northern Utah in 1847, displacing the Nuwuvi from their most valuable territory. Their herds, which included tens of thousands of animals, devastated the Arizona Strip north of the Grand Canyon. Around the same time the 1849 gold rush brought miners into Nuwuvi lands. Mining, timbering, and other activities damaged the environment and diminished their resources. By the end of the 19th century, the Nuwuvi had been forced off most of their land by the Mormon farmers in Utah, ranchers in California and Nevada, and Navajos that were being displaced from their own lands (Tiller 1995). The Nuwuvi population had been decimated by diseases brought by the settlers. They sought refuge in the region of Kanab Creek north of the Colorado River (Stoffle et al. 1997).
Reservations were established for the Nuwuvi during the early 20th century, but the future of the tribes was not guaranteed. During the 1950s, the United States government began terminating American Indian tribes. Paiute tribes of Utah and Arizona were dissolved in 1954 and lost their reservations (Knack 1978). The United States government has re-recognized the Utah tribes, but has not restored all of their original reservation lands.
Present Land Base:
The lands that have belonged to the Nuwuvi since time immemorial continue to be an important part of their culture. A Nuwuvi elder said,
"The river there is like our veins. Some are like the small streams and tributaries that run into the river there, so the same things; it's like blood - it's the veins of the world. . . . This story has been carried down from generation to generation. It's been given to them by the old people. . . . It would be given to the new generation, too" (Stoffle et al. 1994:1).
Today the Nuwuvi live on 13 reservations in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. Nearly half of the Nuwuvi population live off-reservation. Some tribes that were terminated by the U.S. government are still trying to get their lands back for a reservation (Tiller 1995).
Additional Reading
Southern Paiute
Ute and Southern Paiute
Nevada Indians
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Pueblo languages
Snohomish
Natchez Mississippi
Hiawatha
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