American Indian Culture and Research Journal

INTRODUCTION The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico have been the subjects of a specific kind of mythologizing since the Spanish colonists arrived in the sixteenth century, but particularly so since the 1920s. There have been two distinct and often parallel aspects of this image-making. One is promulgated by social scientists in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, and history. The other is touted by entrepreneurs of tourism and popular culture. Among social scientists, New Mexico early became a ”living laboratory.” Among entrepreneurs and state boosters, New Mexico became a “living backdrop.” In both instances, however, the interpretations were and are dominated by outsiders (non-Pueblo) who seek, for their own affirmation, a primitive and exotic humanscape. In their imagining about the exotic and the primitive, these outside observers draw on their own preconceptions and experiences to selectively appropriate elements of the mystical and mythical "Indian." The consequent image is a subjective interpretation, the purpose of which is to corroborate the outsider's viewpoint, and not least to gain money and prestige.