{"id":5100,"date":"2020-11-06T15:39:44","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T20:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=5100"},"modified":"2026-03-30T10:22:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T14:22:42","slug":"keeper-of-her-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/fall-2020\/keeper-of-her-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeper of Her Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Keeper of Her Culture<\/h1><\/div><\/div>
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While still an undergraduate, Leah Hopkins \u201920 became the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology\u2019s first community engagement specialist. Her job: Collaborate with academic institutions, create educational programming, and raise the profile of Indigenous and tribal communities. A big job? Yes. But also one Hopkins has, in fact, been doing for almost 20 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Marybeth Reilly-McGreen <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Tak\u00f4y \u201cCold weather\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A story told out of season disturbs the order of things. A harvest story, for instance, shouldn\u2019t be told in the spring if you believe that many things\u2014plants and animals, for instance\u2014are sentient and malleable. This is what Leah Hopkins \u201920, a member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, the Algonquian people native to Rhode Island, was taught as a child. Winter is the time for stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why, 溏心vlog免费B站 English professor Martha Elena Rojas explains to her class one day in the fall of 2019, they will not be following the dictates of her syllabus on that particular day. The class, \u201cWhat Cheer: Indigeneity and Settler Colonialism,\u201d surveys literature of Colonial America through the lens of critical race theory, specifically examining settler colonialism, the conquering and subjugation of Native people by settlers, as a structure rather than an event. The class was to read \u201cMoshup,\u201d a creation story, but it was fall. Leah Hopkins \u201920, a member of the Narragansett Indian tribe and a student in the class, brought this to Rojas\u2019 attention. Hopkins calls herself an educator, but the term seems inadequate given the scope of her work. <\/p>\n\n\n

Tak\u00f4y<\/h1>\n\n

\u201cCold weather\u201d
A story told out of season disturbs the order of things<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Hopkins occupies a unique space in academia and society: She is a bridge between two cultures, tasked with keeping the customs and traditions of her people alive while also diffusing that heritage to a wider, non-Indigenous group. The lesson on creation stories was one of many contributions Hopkins would make to Rojas\u2019 class over the course of the semester. And as the semester progressed, some students came to understand they were benefitting from the wisdom of two dedicated scholars: Rojas and Hopkins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But not every student appreciated that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One student, part of a group presenting on the Narragansett leader Canonicus, stumbled in the pronunciation of his name. \u201cI\u2019m not even going to try,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rojas used the moment to explain to the undergraduates that scholarship\u2014and human decency\u2014demands that students pronounce a name correctly. Hopkins, for whom the leader in question is an ancestral relation, is pragmatic. \u201cIt\u2019s a common occurrence,\u201d she reflects. \u201cWe do what we can to change it. \u201cIt\u2019s a 400-year-old battle.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Unchemokauhett\u00edttea \u201cLet us discourse.\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rojas recalls Hopkins, an anthropology major, being a star student when they met in 2008. So it was a big surprise when she left 溏心vlog免费B站. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopkins occupies a unique space in academia and society: She is a bridge between two cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe disappeared from my class one day, and I didn\u2019t have a conversation with her about why. English 396, \u2018The Literature of the Sea,\u2019 at the time I was teaching it was more traditionally structured, and I was transforming what had once been a very male, very white canon.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rojas began adding African-American and Black writers and women writers to her syllabi\u2014writers such as Olaudah Equiano, Phillis Wheatley, Colson Whitehead, Rachel Carson, and NourbeSe Philip. \u201cAnd Leah asked me why there weren\u2019t any Indigenous writers on the syllabus given that we\u2019re at the 溏心vlog免费B站. It was a lightbulb moment,\u201d Rojas says. \u201cI told her, \u2018There is no good reason.\u2019 She left the class shortly after that conversation. She had been an excellent student. I felt like I had failed her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI spent the next few years educating myself, trying to figure out what Narragansett or Wampanoag texts I could include. Who was doing the work in oceanic Indigenous studies?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then Hopkins returned to 溏心vlog免费B站 in the spring of 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI started school in 2008 and I stepped away for a while because I was working at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center full time,\u201d Hopkins says. \u201cI was on that museum trajectory, and I honestly thought, \u2018Why do I need this?\u2019 I didn\u2019t drop out of school so much as I just kind of stopped taking classes for a while, because in my mind I was really like, \u2018Why do I need this degree? I\u2019m already in the field,\u2019 and then my husband was like, \u2018Just finish, just get it done. You\u2019re almost there.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n

Unchemokauhett\u00edttea<\/h1>\n\n

\u201cLet us discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cAnd my mom and dad wanted me to finish, and I took a couple of classes here and there, and then I had my son in 2016,\u201d Hopkins says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arrival of a child might cause some to postpone a return to school. Not Hopkins. Motherhood compelled her to finish. \u201cAnd when I returned, that\u2019s when I really developed my love for continuing education.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for a second time, Hopkins enrolled in Rojas\u2019 \u201cThe Literature of the Sea\u201d course. Rojas and Hilda Llorens, associate professor of anthropology, were instrumental in what would prove to be her triumphant return to 溏心vlog免费B站, Hopkins says. As for Rojas, Hopkins’ second act proved an opportunity to do something unique with “The Literature of the Sea” course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was delighted when she called back years later to say that she was returning to 溏心vlog免费B站. That moment of her return was a happy convergence,\u201d Rojas says. \u201cLeah\u2019s question had stayed with me. I needed to be open to it, to hear it, and not just explain it away. She was returning to the class as I was implementing the changes she had prompted me to consider.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round two found the pair transcending the usual professor-student relationship. They became friends and collaborators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the last 18 months of her college career, Leah was a gift to me, still a student but possessing the knowledge and confidence of a colleague. We could have frank conversations and there would be moments when I told her, \u2018You will be the expert in the room.\u2019 It was an acknowledgement and an open invitation for her to deliver what were essentially mini-lectures in the class,\u201d Rojas says. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
Leah Hopkins wears earrings created by her husband, Jonathan Perry. Perry is an Aquinnah Wampanoag speaker, singer, actor, and artist, and a traditional Wampanoag boatbuilder. Like Hopkins, the focus of his work is educating the public about Wampanoag history, culture, art, and traditions. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Postscript: Hopkins won the prestigious 2019 Rumowicz Maritime Essay Contest for an essay written for Rojas\u2019 class, titled \u201cThe \u2018Savage\u2019 and the \u2018Leviathan\u2019: The Commodification of the Bodies of Indigenous Men and Whales in the Mid-nineteenth Century.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Sauncksqu\u00fbaog. \u201cQueens\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is a sunny Friday afternoon in June 2019, and Hopkins is having coffee and checking her phone with the frequency of a teenager. She is awaiting word as to whether she will be offered the position of community engagement specialist at the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University in Providence. There is serious competition and Hopkins is not yet done with her undergraduate degree. If she gets the position, it will mean a full-time job and coursework, come the fall, as well as the demands that come with a precocious 3-year-old. <\/p>\n\n\n

Sauncksqu\u00fbaog<\/h1>\n\n

\u201cQueens\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Hopkins is not too worried, though. She is the product of a strong heritage. One of her heroes, Queen Weetamoo, was a Pocasset Wampanoag sachem and ally of Metacomet, also known as King Philip. Weetamoo led 300 troops into battle during King Philip\u2019s War. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe whole idea of American feminism is relatively new, but Indigenous feminism has existed for millennia,\u201d Hopkins observes. \u201cThe word for \u2018woman\u2019 in our language literally translates to \u2018one with final say.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people talk about Indigenous male leaders who spoke on behalf of their communities, these men, these decisions, weren\u2019t just off-the-cuff. They were decisions made with the consent of the elder women and the clan mothers of our communities, because that\u2019s just how we functioned.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What held hundreds of years ago again holds today. The female elders of her community are integral to the governance of its members, Hopkins notes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo I think what would be of value for academia and institutions is to value Indigenous women. That\u2019s where all the knowledge is. I shouldn\u2019t say all the knowledge because that negates men. But that\u2019s where a lot of knowledge is held. And I\u2019m not saying, \u2018Listen to me because I\u2019m a woman,\u2019 but there\u2019s a lot to be learned by listening to women. So I hope to use my position as an Indigenous woman to bring light to our history and our knowledge and our voice.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She got the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Indigenous artists welcome non-Native collectors of authentic Indigenous jewelry and designs. The best guarantee of quality and authenticity is to buy from the artist directly, Hopkins says. Hopkins\u2019 cuffs were made by her sister-in-law, jewelry-maker Elizabeth James-Perry. The cuffs feature hundreds of wampum beads.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

On her feet, Hopkins wears moccasins embellished with traditional beadwork, which is an embroidery technique with glass beads. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

4. Np\u00e9peyup n\u00e1wwot. \u201cI have long been here.\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is late September, mid-afternoon at a living history event, a 17th-century encampment, at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Ledyard, Connecticut. Hopkins, her husband, Jonathan Perry, and their son, Tristan, are dressed in traditional period clothing of the 17th century. Hopkins and Perry are demonstrating Indigenous meal preparation: She is adding spices to a pot of squash and beans; he is dressing venison with maple sugar and garlic. The pair has worked together often over the years, often with Tristan in tow. Only 3 years old, Tristan has declared he, too, will give tours at museums, like his parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope to use my position as an Indigenous woman to bring light to our history and our knowledge and our voice.\u201d
\u2014Leah Hopkins<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do this at home,\u201d Hopkins tells her small audience as she stirs the contents of the small pot. There is no irony in her tone but it does underscore the fact that people are paying close attention to a mundane activity Hopkins and Perry will likely repeat later that evening, without an audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a lull, Hopkins shares how she came to work in museums. \u201cIn 2008, I had a high school internship here. My mom was friends with the director of public programs, Trudie Lamb-Richmond, and she took me under her wing. I really liked the public education aspect. I spent time studying exhibits. I moved up to the position of educator. Then I became an education planning coordinator for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head in Aquinnah, Massachusetts.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A family of four\u2014husband, wife, and two adolescent sons\u2014arrives, pausing the conversation. After Hopkins introduces her family, the woman smiles at Tristan and asks, \u201cWhere is your bow and arrow?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

Np\u00e9peyup n\u00e1wwot<\/h1>\n\n

\u201cI have long been here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Turning to Hopkins, she asks, \u201cWhat is his Indian name?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t share our Native names. We keep those private,\u201d Hopkins replies. The woman presses the issue. Hopkins is gracious but steadfast. The answer is a firm no. Finally, the family moves on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a tough ending to the day but by no means unusual. Hopkins and her husband are physically striking. They wear their hair long and, in Jonathan\u2019s case, braided. They draw attention. Sometimes it\u2019s unwanted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAutomatically we become ambassadors for all Native people throughout Turtle Island\u2014North America,\u201d Hopkins says. \u201cFor me it becomes exhausting when I\u2019m having dinner at a Thai restaurant with my husband\u2014and it usually happens to my husband, I think, because not many people are used to seeing a man with long braids. But when you\u2019re sitting down to a private meal and people just come up and ask, \u2018Are you Native American?\u2019 And you say, \u2018Yes,\u2019 and then the litany of questions starts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo if you want to talk about responsible museum curation, you need to talk about 400 years of history first.\u201d
\u2014Leah<\/em> Hopkins<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMeanwhile you\u2019re being polite and you\u2019re talking to them but your food\u2019s getting cold. We\u2019ve had that happen quite a few times.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cold pad thai is one thing, but then there\u2019s also translation exhaustion\u2014the term refers to the scaffolding Indigenous people often must provide when in conversation with non-Indigenous people. An example: To understand why an Indigenous person might take umbrage in a discussion about civil rights, it would help to first know that they weren\u2019t granted the rights afforded to citizens of the United States until the Nationality Act of 1940, and were prohibited from practicing their religion until 1978. That\u2019s not a typo. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act was ratified in 1978. In casual and, sometimes, academic conversation, it falls to the Indigenous person to provide the historical framework for a contemporary conversation to begin to take place, Hopkins explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes in academia or in daily life, you have to set the stage of colonization before you can get to your point\u2014what it is you really want to talk about,\u201d Hopkins says. \u201cSo if you want to talk about, for instance, responsible museum curation, you need to talk about 400 years of history first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Leah
Hopkins’ work as the Haffenreffer Museum’s first community engagement specialist will ensure local Indigenous people’s visibility and cultural continuity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Hopkins can handle translation exhaustion. It\u2019s part of the job. She worries for Tristan, though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m 29 and I\u2019ve worked since I was a young child to educate the public about Native people, to educate mostly non-Native people, because those are the people who really need that education,\u201d Hopkins says. \u201cI work to enhance and uplift our communities and obviously I\u2019m always learning, and I\u2019ll continue to learn and I\u2019ll continue to share what I\u2019ve learned, but I already see the microaggressions toward my son. He is constantly told what a pretty girl he is because of his long hair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a strong little spirit, but I still want him to be able to grow up and not have to be an ambassador for Native people if he doesn\u2019t want to be. Obviously, he can do whatever he wants. I hope he will never encounter somebody who dresses up as a Native person for Halloween. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to break his little heart, you know, by explaining that this is how we\u2019re represented. That we\u2019re caricatures.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s to be translation exhaustion, Hopkins will bear the burden in the hopes of creating a different experience for her son. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can continue to educate people for the rest of my life, and I absolutely will. I want to make Native people want to work with museums and to make museums want to work with Native communities,\u201d she says. \u201cThis is what I was meant to do.\u201d \u2022 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Author’s note: The Indigenous language used in the headings of this story is taken from Roger Williams\u2019 A Key Into the Language of America<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos: Nora Lewis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leah Hopkins \u201920 is the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology\u2019s first community engagement specialist. Teaching people about Indigenous history and culture isn\u2019t just her job, it\u2019s her mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[199],"tags":[161,49,242,241,239,240],"class_list":["post-5100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2020","tag-anthropology","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-haffenreffer-museum","tag-indigenous","tag-leah-hopkins","tag-martha-elena-rojas","architecture-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5100"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18619,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5100\/revisions\/18619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}