They Came, They Claimed, They Named, and We Blame: Art Education in Negotiation and Conflict.

Colonialism occurs when a group of privileged people procures and exploits resources for their own gain without regard for the people or culture of the land wherein those assets lie (Fanon, 1967; Tuhiwai Smith, 2005). This particular story begins over 2,000 years ago when the Original People built outdoor structures in a place that is now known as Newark, Ohio. Mounds are one form of these structures and occur in various shapes, from simple circles and images of animals to complex structures such as the Octagon Earthworks, which consists of a 50-acre octagon connected to a 20-acre circle by two parallel walls. A rounded rectangular Observatory Mound stands along the outer rim of the circle at a point opposite of the octagonal enclosure. These earthworks stand as a testament to the architectural and engineering genius of the American Indian culture(s) of that time. A quasi-state organization, The Ohio Historical Society (OHS), which receives 70% of its operational funds from the State of Ohio, is the deed holder of the Octagon Mound. The OHS leases the land to Moundbuilder's Country Club for $7,000 a year. The country club advertises their colonial hold on the land on their website, "The golf course at Moundbuilders is unlike any other in the world. It is designed around famous Prehistoric Native American Earthworks that come into playon eleven of the holes" (http:// www.moundbuilderscc.com). Discovering, documenting, and classifying a culture, object, or space confirms difference and reconfirms a colonialist's agenda (Fanon, 1967; Tuhiwai Smith, 2005).They came, they saw, they claimed, they named, and they maintain.Oxford archaeologist Chris Scarre, in his book The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World (1999), lists the Newark Earthworks as one of only three sites in North America that qualify as a wonder of the world.The other two sites are Cahokia in Illinois and Chaco Canyon in Nageezi, New Mexico.Cahokia is the largest mound complex north of Mexico and is a state park. Chaco Canyon is a National Park and is known for its architecture, engineering, and sun and moon clocks. The Octagon Mound is known for its architecture and being the only documented earthen lunar calendar in the world. It is now a golf course for a private country club with around 200 members. In history books and documentaries about mounds, much is stated about Cahokia and other mound sites in the United States, but little is noted about the Octagon site compared to these other sites. In 1998, six people, Native and non-Native, gathered to discuss this situation. At the end of a 2-hour meeting, they had formed an ad hoc committee for the purpose of gaining access to the Octagon site. On that day, the story expanded beyond the imposed colonial, mythical, and romantic oppression and became a Native, academic, and colonial trilogy of narratives, negotiations, and political posturing. In this article, I explore the academic. Native, and colonial narratives, which reveal racial and cultural attitudes, positioning, and fractions.MethodologyThe trilogy of narratives - Native, academic, and colonial - has been collected through observations and personal participation in meetings, events, and programs that began at the lunch where the ad hoc group was founded and have continued to the present time. I use the term narrative to define data that reveals culture, values, beliefs, stories, and histories (Witherell & Noddings, 1991).The narratives are shared portraits, oral and written, about events and people. Portraiture, as defined in this study, is a tool of data representation that offers a collection of detailed stories told in an attempt to illuminate a more general phenomenon, capturing the insider's views (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1997). As a case study, the use of portraiture to represent data has the potential to capture the multiplicity of asking, telling, writing, and reading stories. Hence, as a locally situated creation, portraiture reveals the cultural values that structure and integrates individuals' experiences and representations. …