Images and Power

Polly Schaafsmas book on rock art and ethics is a thin volume but it packs in a lot of heavy food for thought. this is an in-depth discussion of some of the most complex and contentious issues facing those who study, manage, or have an interest in rock art. The work is strongly and passionately argued and is sure to stimulate debate, the whole point of the Springer series. (Jack W. Brink, Great Plains Research, Vol. 25 (1), 2015)

As a Research Associate with the Museum of New Mexico, Polly Schaafsma has been engaged in rock art research since the early 1960s in the American Southwest. The pioneering descriptive and organizational efforts in the initial decades of rock art studies have matured to investigations involving world views, cosmology and meaning in the imagery. Her research has involved rock art from the Archaic hunter-gatherers to the Proto-historic and historic rock art of Pueblos, Navajos and Apaches with whom she has collaborated on several occasions. In the 1980s, she served on several committees in conjunction with members of nearby Pueblos in regard to the establishment of Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque and the subsequent issues surrounding outside impacts on the Monument. Recently as a member of the Cosmo group with the Santa Fe Institute, she has explored extensively issues and iconographies of New World cosmologies and the traditions shared by maize-based horticulturalists throughout.

1.Introduction Is it art? 2. Ethics, Worldviews and Ways of Knowing Cultural Landscapes, Cultural Spaces Judeo-Christian vs. American Indian Perspectives on Time and Space 3. The Interpretation Game Some History Strategies for Rock Art Interpretation Goals and Confusions: Conflicting Paradigms Robbing the Non-material Past: Case Studies: Shamanism, Warfare Re-inventing the Past: Change, Desired Knowledge and Identity 4. The Use and Re-Use of Imagery 5. Discussion 6. Conclusions