On Friday, Nov. 21, The University of New Mexico Language Learning Center held a free beadmaking workshop featuring Native American beading, a longstanding tradition within Native communities across the United States.
Adam Greenberg, a member of the Mescalero Apache and Taos Pueblo, and Alicia Clouser, a member of the Navajo tribe, led attendees through creating their own set of beaded earrings, while teaching the history behind the Native tradition.
Greenberg said that beading originally traces back to 16th-century China and Europe. He said that it was taught to Native women by Victorian nuns during a time when Native Americans were forcefully evangelized. At this time, beadmaking was seen as a womanly, domesticated hobby that nuns encouraged women to learn, in addition to other hobbies like embroidery…