The Great (x4) Granddaughter of a Karuk Tribal Shaman — and a Healer-in-Training
给23岁的贝拉·霍夫曼, Indigenous heritage means “knowing that you’ve come from a line of people who have overcome.”
心理学专业 贝拉·霍夫曼 23年，一切都与遗产有关. 她认为自己是一长串治疗师中的一员, beginning with her father’s great-great-great-grandfather, who was the shaman for the Karuk tribe in Northern California. 从她母亲那里, 谁是波多黎各原住民, Hoffman experienced a mixture of homeopathic and modern medicine, 等量的芦荟和止痛药. “I guess it's just in my blood, natural medicine,她说。.
当她描述她的家庭和她在其中的地位时, Hoffman emphatically taps her lavender nails against our table outside Cafe Louis. 感恩节假期前的星期四, 校园里气氛低沉。, with most students traveling or furiously finishing up homework. 黄昏的光线斜照在空旷的四边形上. Hoffman has three papers to write, she tells me, but doesn’t seem too worried. 她抽出时间和我谈谈.
She is also looking toward graduation from Saint Mary’s in the spring. Her plans: medical school and a career advocating for robust Indigenous healthcare. She’s also looking for ways to combine Indigenous traditions and modern medical discoveries, 她说. “I really want to be able to mesh the two of them together, 能够治愈整个人的心灵, body, 灵魂, 和精神.”
宇宙中心的河流
Hoffman was five when she visited her Karuk homeland for the first time. She remembers her family buckling into their RV and making the long trek from California’s Central Valley, 了我, and deep into the forested Klamath Mountains straddling the Oregon border—nearly two hours from the nearest major town. When they finally arrived, Hoffman’s father brought her to a vantage point. “就是这样，”他张开双臂宣布.
这里的景色十分壮观. 人类的存在? She saw a single church, one grocery store, and not much else. “我当时想，‘哦，这么小!’”
“我真的希望能够治愈整个人,贝拉·霍夫曼说, “精神, body, 灵魂, 和精神. ”
The fact that Hoffman’s tribe has any land at all is a testament to her ancestors' resolve. 了几千年, 卡鲁克人住在克拉马斯河沿岸, fishing salmon and farming tobacco; according to their traditions, 这条河是宇宙的中心. It was certainly the center of theirs: 350 miles from the nearest Spanish mission, the Karuk people largely avoided settler interactions until the Gold Rush. 19世纪50年代, colonizing miners and homesteaders descended on the river basin, 通过破坏条约和暴力驱逐部落. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Klamath Forest Reserve, effectively stripping the Karuk tribe of any claim to their homeland.
没有官方保留, Karuk leaders have spent decades fundraising and buying back 1,661英亩的土地.0400万英亩. 最近, the Karuk and their neighboring tribes scored a landmark victory when it comes to restoring the place they call home: four hydroelectric dams will be removed from the Klamath, allowing the salmon population to rebound and the tribes to reclaim and heal the river.
“回头看看你从哪里来”
Hoffman grew up outside of Sacramento, where she attended Catholic schools her whole life. When it came time to apply for college, she was drawn to Saint Mary’s stunning location. “我真的很喜欢在荒野里的感觉, 但它离文明并不太远,她说。. As someone who grew up camping at “all the national parks west of the Mississippi,” Hoffman knew she wanted to be near plenty of trees and water. 圣玛丽学校符合这个要求.
In autumn 2019, Hoffman began her studies at Saint Mary’s. That same year Maya Diaz-Villalta ’22 and a number of other students formed the Native American and Indigenous Student Association (NAISA). 但随着大流行和随后的远程学习, Hoffman didn’t get involved in the club until Spring 2022. At the time, 她说, “I was really digging for where I came from. 在COVID之后，我想每个人都感到非常失落.”
At NAISA, she immediately felt at home—“grounded,她说。.
现在, 作为nasa的宣传经理, Hoffman is working to create that same community space for others, 不管他们是否认为自己是土著人. The club regularly hosts events that raise awareness of Indigenous issues and experiences, 就像筛选 收集, the award-winning documentary about Native American efforts for food sovereignty, and a recent presentation on Native trauma and resilience by Dr. 卡琳娜L. 沃尔特斯, a member of the Choctaw Nation and co-director of the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute at the University of Washington.
“Find the ways your ancestors moved and coped and fought through hard times.”
The on-campus response to NAISA’s efforts has been positive, Hoffman says. “人们真的很乐于接受.”
Hoffman and the other NAISA officers are also pushing for Saint Mary’s to adopt a formal land acknowledgment, one that recognizes that the college sits on unceded Saclan land. Hoffman sees it as “a small step toward acknowledging the people who have lost so much.”
When she considers Indigenous Heritage Month and what it means to her, Hoffman returns to legacy: the people that came before her. 她鼓励其他土著人也这样做.
“回顾一下你的祖辈, finding the ways your ancestors moved and coped and fought through hard times,她说。. “Know that you’ve come from a line of people who have been able to overcome.”
Learn more about the Native American and Indigenous Student Association.
海登摆架子 is a Staff Writer with Saint Mary's Office of Marketing and Communications. 写信给他: hjr1@notablepath.net.