Mapping with/in: hearing power in Yokuts landscapes at the beginning of the twentieth century

Abstract

The unpublished field notes on Native American Yokuts cultures andlanguages taken by linguist and ethnologist John P. Harrington in1914–1942, now kept at the Smithsonian Institution, are analysedin the framework of Edward S. Caseýs concept of mapping with/in. The Yokuts’ process of mapping tripni places (powerful places)with/in their ancestral territories during the early twentiethcentury is discussed, paying particular attention to the role ofhearing and sound. Moreover, in these archival materials, Yokutstribal members relate with different bodies of water in anabsorptive and porous way, with sound being part of a complexhaptic and multi-sensory process. By listening to the testimoniesof the Yokuts tribal members who collaborated with Harrington,we argue that sound perception, song, and the sense of hearingplayed a key role in the process of mapping tripni