In California impacts of Mission, Spanish, Mexican, and American systems, foreign, religions and land and water politics have played major roles in the suppression of California Indian traditional practices and access to tribal traditional gathering territories. Documented losses in cultural practices in tribal communities throughout the state include the cultural practice and traditional form of Basketweaving. Cultural and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) was nearly lost as more and more weavers became separated from their land. California’s diverse landscapes, accessible since time immemorial to weavers and cultural practitioners were suddenly forbidden territory, Indeed, even weavers who were fortunate enough to remain near or on their traditional homelands, found former family gathering sites inaccessible to them, due
in part, to incomprehensible public and private land laws. Coupled with this restricted land access. Native elders, who were vital cultural resources in many tribal communities began to pass and with their passing, passed their collective memories and knowledge of basketry related plant and land management (indigenous stewardship) techniques, plant gathering storage and preparations and weaving techniques. This resulted in many tribes no longer having practicing basketweavers. The result of this reduction of practicing weavers was that fewer younger weavers were learning to weave while the elders who continued to weave, were finding it increasingly difficult to carry on their work. The demands of family life coupled with the struggle to make a living, together with the destruction of plant habitats, pesticide contamination of gathering area and difficulty of obtaining access to gathering sites, were reducing the time and opportunity for plant tending, gathering, and basket weaving.
The establishment of a formal organization to advocate for the needs of California Indian basketweavers and to ensure basketweaving traditions were carried on began in 1986 with the efforts of grant writer Sara Greensfelder of Nevada City, California. Working Initially with a small group of women weavers, Ms. Greenfelder helped to establish the “Council of Basketweavers,” a group who committed themselves to establishing a non-profit organization, the California Indian Basketweavers’ Association (CIBA). Our organization’s first informal gathering of weavers took place June 29-30, 1991, at Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Education and Development, Inc., in Forestville, California. Since then, CIBA’s Board of Directors and Staff have worked tirelessly to empower countless Native women and men, from across the state of California, developing programs meant to instill pride in the knowledge associated with basketry as a traditional cultural art. This method of program development continues to this day. We believe that revitalizing and sustaining the cultural tradition of basketweaving is critical to continuing to create a sense of cultural pride among California Native people and especially vital to our young people who will be responsible for sustaining the cultural practices of California Indians for the next generation.