Captive Cousins: Hoomothya, Wassaja, and a Lifetime of Unwellness

Abstract

This article explores the lives and experiences of two Yavapai first cousins during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One of these men was very well known (Wassaja, or Carlos Montezuma), while the other was less so (Hoomothya, or Mike Burns). While both secured American citizenship and a degree of success in mainstream American society, their lives were also plagued by bitter disappointments and personal turmoil. Using the Yavapai concept of nagock hona umi—a Yavapai term meaning unwellness in an individual—the article demonstrates how and why these two Yavapai cousins experienced profound, lifelong unwellness. This unwellness began in childhood, when both were captured by enemies and ripped from their families, and it remained untreated throughout their lives. This article serves as an invitation to scholars to utilize Indigenous methodologies originating from Indigenous communities to better understand how they experienced—and continue to experience—colonialism, genocide, assimilation policies, citizenship and liberalism, and life in the “modern” world.