Testimony for Hopi Tribe

Little Colorado River Adjudication Trial, November 26, 2018. Front row: Alverna Poneoma (Sipaulovi Village Hopi Tribal Council [HTC] Representative); Violet Sinquah (Shungopavi Village Community Member); Rosa Honanie (Sipaulovi Village HTC Representative);  Dorma Sinquah (Executive Director Hopi Tribe); Romalita Laban (Managing Editor Hopi Tutuveni);  Colin Campbell (Hopi Tribe’s attorney). Middle row: Bruce Fredericks (Upper Moencopi Village HTC Representative); Albert T. Sinquah (First Mesa Consolidated Villages HTC Representative); Bruce Talawyma (Chief of Staff Hopi Chairman’s Office); Timothy Nuvangyaoma (Hopi Tribal Chairman). Top row: Theresa A. Lomakema (Hopi Tribal Secretary); Clifford Qotsaquahu (Bacavi Village HTC Representative); Peter Whiteley (Expert Witness for Hopi Tribe).
Photo by Romalita Laban, Hopi Tutuveni

On November 26, 2018, Curator Peter Whiteley testified in Maricopa County Superior Court, Arizona, for the Hopi Tribe in a case to determine water rights in the Little Colorado River watershed. Based on field interviews with many Hopi elders and archival research, beginning in 1992, Whiteley presented two expert reports on:

a) the significance of water in Hopi traditional culture and society throughout Hopitutskwa, the area of aboriginal Hopi lands;

b) the history of Hopi water usages throughout Hopitutskwa since 1540 (court testimony focused on the period since 1846, when the United States proclaimed sovereignty over the area).

Hopi lands, sites, and waters.
© AMNH

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