Rousing a Curiosity in Hewitt’s Iroquois Cosmologies

F A L L 2 0 1 3 W I C A Z O S A R E V I E W Through my research on the work of John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt, I found myself in a unique position to challenge current thinking in the field, champion J. N. B. Hewitt, and rethink the cosmologies of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). For too long creation has been reduced to a narrative of Skywoman’s descent into a watercovered world, where she and the twins of creation would come to rest and reside on the Turtle’s back. This narrative has many variations throughout the northeastern woodland indigenous peoples. In this essay, I intend to challenge accepted thinking that reduced this narrative to nine plot points, as William Fenton did in his research. Further, I intend to demonstrate why we must now scour the Hewitt texts in order to excite a discourse about where and how these narratives differ and thus demonstrate distinctive cultural interpretations illustrating the uniqueness of each individual Haudenosaunee nation. By revisiting Hewitt’s works on the cosmologies, new theories and interpretations can be developed and discussed. Hewitt was of Tuscarora descent, and a lifelong scholar of the Haudenosaunee. Today, Haudenosaunee scholars are scouring understudied texts and archives and recovering new information for the purpose of stimulating dialogues in our own communities and with one another. Hewitt published his work on the cosmologies in two parts— one in 1903, and the second in 1928. Although Hewitt is acknowledged as an authority, he remains largely absent from contemporary conversations Rousing a Curiosity in hewitt’s iroquois Cosmologies