The Tohono O’odham have lived in the American southwest and the Mexican northwest for thousands of years. Until the 1980’s the Tohono O’odham were known to most people outside their community as the Papago people. Papago, which means bean eaters, was changed officially to Tohono O’odham, the name they have always called themselves, which means desert people.1“Tohono O’odham (Native Americans of the Southwest),” what-when-how: In Depth Tutorials and Information, The-Crankshaft Publishing, accessed July 21, 2020, http://what-when-how.com/native-americans/tohono-oodham-native-americans-of-the-southwest/. The desert landscape is fundamental to nearly all of the ceremonies, stories, and practices central to their cultural coherence, including what Western people call religious traditions. The Tohono O’odham people say that their culture cannot survive without the land, and most of all, cannot survive without Baboquivari peak.
The Tohono O’odham reservation proper is located near the border of Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, but their traditional lands, straddle the border, including many sacred sites. Citizens of the Tohono O’odham Nation retain rights that span the border, rights that have been threatened by construction of Trump’s border wall.
