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ELDORADO PRESS CARTOON
Wherever in the world he is, Gary changes his appearance, language, religion and lifestyle, but he’s always Gary. |
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AMONG THE PIMAS OF AMERICA
The work of author Fulvio Bernardini – the focus of a recent extended documentary on Rai 3 filmed by Daniele Torresan – continues the life of Father Kino, completing the narrative route of the Jesuit from Segno in the Val di Non. Many historical figures feature in his work, among others Father Juan Salvatierra, Juan Matheo Manje, El Coro, the Piman Chief, and Father FrancescoSaeta, who was killed during an Indian revolt at Caborca. The work contains eight maps and itineraries detailing Kino’s explorations in Lower California and Mexico as well as a wealth of information on the events of his life. The seeds of this substantial work are starting to reap their rewards in America, too. Indeed, 20,000 copies of both works will be printed in Spanish in comic form, on behalf of the city of Magdalena de Kino, in the state of Sonora in Mexico. The city is twinned with the Segno community in Trentino’s Val di Non valley, which, as we know, is the birthplace of Father Kino. The publication of these stories – devoted to the historical events of the missionary who lived amongst the Piman Indians in 17th Century America – in comic-strip form has been backed by the Mayor of Magdalena, Adriana Hoyos Rodriguez, and the Cultural Institute of Sonora to promote the story of the great Jesuit to schoolchildren and people from nearby regions.
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The comics will be launched this May in Magdalena on the occasion of the XII International Cultural Festival “Eusebio Francisco Kino” 2009. The process of promoting Kino through comic-form has sparked a further project to translate the two parts of his story into English, andtherefore also involve children from the states of Arizona and California. In Mexico, the Eldorado project is an international studio publishing comics with the aim of promoting culture, history and personal roots amongst young people from its own communities. One of the books  consulted for the comic version of Kino’s life was Un Trentino nell’America del ‘600 (A Man from Trentino in 17th Century America) by Angela Maria Marchetti (published in 1996 by San Paolo). The book contains 176 pages brimming with events, interesting facts and historical documents about the Jesuit from Trentino which encompasses a period of time from the discovery of America to the events of the 20th Century.
KINO’S INDIANS
According to the descriptions of researcher Herbert Eugene Bolton, Kino arrived in Pimería Alta in 1687 (present-day northern Sonora and southern Arizona) finding it occupied by several ethnic Indian groups of the Piman nation inhabiting the Gila and Salt River Valleys. The San Pedro and Santa Cruz Valleys were inhabited by the Sobaipuris, a tribe that is now extinct with the exception of certain inherited characteristics present in the Papago and Pima tribes. To the west of the Sobaipuris lived the Papago or Papabotes and to the extreme north west, along the lower Gila and Colorado Rivers, lived the Yuman, Yuma, Cocomaricopa, Cocopa and the Quiquima tribes. The events of Kino’s life have particularly strong connections with the Pima Indians, whose true name is actually O’odham…
(Dott.ssa Dolores del Carmen Monreal)
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Fulvio Bernardini - Fulber Creazioni Trento
Via San Vito, 145 Cognola 38100 Trento- Italia
Tel. e Fax 0461 980303 ¬ cell. 348 2617560
E-mail: trentopolis@fulber.it- sito web: www.fulber.it |
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I, DESCENDANT OF O’ODHAM
I feel great emotion and pride when I think of my O’odham origins because I recognise myself very clearly in their adventures even though I did not live amongst their community. I say this because, many years ago, they began researching Mexican descendents so as to protect their “Nation”. The enquiry allowed us to return to our roots, which in turn awakened a powerful sense of belonging. The final result allowed the nation of O’odham to keep the (much reduced) portion of land conceded by the United States as compensation for collaboration in defence against the Apache tribe. The Apaches, enemies of all other non-indigineous civilisations, destroyed everything built with the sole purpose of “learning to survive using progress alternatives already tested by other peoples”. Kino taught the people of Pimería to take good care of their own territorial borders, defend them with dignity and tend them by planting crops in land reclaimed from deserts, which, turned into farmland, would maintain the entire population and prevent children from dying of hunger. “Thoughtless use of arms makes the nativesflee andtake refuge in the mountain. Peaceful and gentle methods, such as dialogue, together with Christian charity will instead help many to do as they are taught and asked», wrote Kino in his diary Favores Celestiales which chronicles contact with the natives through effective exchanges that depended also on knowledge of the other’s language. Language is the true soul of culture, and is therefore the mode of communication thatunites hearts andminds despite all their differences. This is a notion that is also extremely relevant in today’s world. The pride I experienced at finding my roots in natives Father Kino met stems from this connection of his; and historical sources documenting this connection might still be useful today to understand “existential but also essential” reasons to search for a peaceful and united coexistence between nations.
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