Author: Tim Seiter
I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Clements Department of History at Southern Methodist University. I have written about Spanish presidial soldiers in my past, and I am now writing a history of the Karankawa peoples of Texas.
“Nayina Wana Ayapah (We Are Still Here)”
Chiara Beaumont, The Karankawa Tribe of Texas
Chiara Beaumont gave this talk in November 2023 at the Gulf South Historical Association conference in Natchez, Mississippi. She was part of a panel that included myself (Tim Seiter), Peter Moore, and Leila Blackbird. Without notes of any sort, Chiara finished her speech and my jaw was on the ground. Without a doubt, it was the best talk I have ever heard at a history conference. Funnily enough, less than a dozen people actually witnessed it in person.
Fortunately, Chiara’s mother Nání Tūūk Hōhk (“She Brings Together”) recorded the talk. And thanks to the efforts of Peter Moore and especially Michael Garcia at Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi who transcribed the audio, a version of Chiara’s talk appears below. Of note, I made slight grammatical and sentence structure changes to help with readability.
Continue reading ““Nayina Wana Ayapah (We Are Still Here)””The Karankawa Want You to Know They’re Still Here
Written by Stephen Harrigan for Texas Monthly
Emerging from a long history of oppression, slanderous folklore, and rumors of extinction, the Gulf Coast people are finding a place for themselves in the twenty-first century. Read the complete story on TexasMonthly.com.
Karankawa Statement
Ha’ah’hey
Since the beginning of time, the Karankawa Peoples have operated as separate clans, with the commonality of environment and language. There were no larger governing bodies, there was no official unification of the different clans, there was no “consistent” organizing… until the 21st century.
Now, in contemporary times, the Karankawa have gathered as direct lineal descendants of our Karankawa ancestors, who are passionate about the future of our people, our prosperity, the maintenance and revitalization of our culture, and our general welfare.
We are individuals from different clans working hard to unify, with tremendous success AND difficulties along the way.
One of the difficulties we face as contemporary peoples is that the generational trauma of colonialism, genocide, and displacement still affect us, not just in our own personal lives but our community. This trauma can be seen in fragmentation of our peoples.
We are still here. And so too are those of us who go their own way. The Karankawa are few, but strong, and though we do our best to unify as one people, there will always be Karankawa that go their own path.
No matter how far they go, we acknowledge that these people will never go so far that they will not be Karankawa. We are connected, through thick and thin.
We have said before that we are a peaceful people. We do not seek to control nor understand our Karankawa relatives, but accept them, and move forward. Hopefully, together.
Where there is one voice who claims to represent many, we invite you to sit and listen and decide the path you want to walk. Ours is one of peace, unification of our people, and stewardship for our ancestral and contemporary homelands.
Plah Bewwus
Nayi awa ka
Karankawa Tribe of Texas Reconnection Meeting
Karankawa Tribe of Texas E’wee Hoh’k 2024
Karankawa Tribe of Texas E’Wee Hoh’k, March 22-24, Livingston Gathering
Karankawa Tribe of Texas Reconnection Meeting
Karankawa Tribe of Texas Reconnection Statement
Official Karankawa Reconnection Statement
Saturday, January 28, 2023
On behalf of the Karankawa Tribe of Texas peoples, our Five Rivers Council met to discuss a recent increase in questions about potentially reconnecting with additional relatives. Plah bewwus (Thank you) for taking the time to receive our below message:
We have recently received many requests from multiple people wishing to find out more about their Indigeneity and, specifically, wondering about whether they are of Karankawa descent. Most of the inquiries come to the www.karankawas.com website; however, others reach us through other social media (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), emails, and in-person requests. Please know we see you and we hear you. We greatly empathize with the longing to learn more about your ancestry. Some of us have always known about our Karankawa ancestry through official records dating back centuries and others through oral history generationally passed down through our family. Each method reconnected us to the Karankawa Tribe of Texas relatives we are today.
We highly encourage everyone to start your individual searches by conducting a family genealogy trace to better understand where your families can trace your ancestors. While we most definitely do not subscribe to any sort of quantum blood theory, we have found that DNA testing helps to at least identify regions and timeframes of your ancestry, so we encourage you to consider making that investment especially if your oral history sources are in the spirit world. While we are very much interested in helping to reconnect all Indigenous relatives, we are simply unable to provide you answers that only your family can provide. We are, though, always happy to connect with you after you’ve completed the initial stage of your search. Once it becomes more likely that you are a Karankawa relative, we will invite you to a Reconnecting Zoom Call. We’ve only scheduled two so far; however, plan to schedule additional ones in the future.
Please feel free to visit www.karankawas.com for additional information about our peoples and our
Calls to Action. Additionally, please feel free to follow Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend (Corpus Christi, Tx) on Facebook; @indigenous_peoples_361 and @karankawachicharra on Instagram; @jrvllarreal54 on TikTok.
We thank you, again, for taking time to read our statement and for understanding that we’d love to reconnect as many relatives as possible; however, we first need you to have an understanding of your family’s journey.
In peace, love, and unity,
-The Karankawa Tribe of Texas Five Rivers Council
How To Easily Help The Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend
We need you to make public comments regarding NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act)!
Several good things will come with the revisions of NAGPRA.
That is if they happen and with your support, they can! Ultimately, our group wants to protect the land and water through NAGPRA.
The following statement is our Indigenous group’s statement.
http://bit.ly/IndigenousStatement
If you would like to sign on to support this letter, please fill out this Google form and your group or name will be added on. It will then be sent as a public comment.
For individual comments.
Please refer to the link below.:
https://www.regulations.gov/document/NPS-2022-0004-0001
Please note there is a listening session on January 13, 2023, to learn more about what’s happening currently with NAGPRA. To register to listen in please click the link.
https://linktr.ee/IndigenousPeoples361
THE DEADLINE FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS IS JANUARY 17 2023!
Karankawas 