The Nine Lives of Cherum, the Pai Tokumhet

and is. "The majority of ethnological reports on North American Indian cultures that were written by American-trained ethnologists during the period 1910-40 were couched in the 'ethnographic present' and purported to describe the 'aboriginal' cultures of various Indian groups."2 That is, anthropologists having a "normative" perception of culture pattern essentially ignored historical changes in Native American cultures and behaviors.' This ahistorical presentation of static culture characterized classic theoretical formulations as well as ethnographies of specific groups, including the Walapais and Havasupais.4 Ethnohistorical studies of cultural change during four decades have demonstrated that no "traditional ethnographic present" ever existed.' Yet studies continue to be published presenting data in an "ethnographic present" that ignores preceding key events that shaped the defectively depicted situation.6 As J. A. Paredes recently pointed out, moreover, the fallacy of the "ethnographic present" is but a single step removed from the racist fallacy that anthropological pioneer Franz Boas began refuting more than a century ago.7 Cherum's quite varied life experiences emphasize how key events occurring in the course of Native-newcomer interactions rapidly and significantly change the cultures and behaviors of both groups.8