Translating Tribal Values

Tribal governments in the Southwest employ a number of individuals to help with the preservation of tribal values and places. In this chapter, Theresa Pasqual, former director of Acoma Pueblo’s Historic Preservation Office and an Acoma tribal member, talks about her professional pathway, how Acoma has worked with other tribes to protect traditional cultural properties (TCPs), the challenges that tribes face in implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and how tribal values can be incorporated into the preservation process. Based on her long experience, she emphasizes the importance of stewardship, listening, and collaboration—with the latter including collaboration between tribes as well as with archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians. She also provides insights into the process for the recent successful nomination of Mount Taylor to the New Mexico Register of Cultural Historic Properties, the largest such property currently on the register.