Run Time: 30 mins
The Beads that Bound Manhattan and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Wampum Belt
In the face of continued attempts to disestablish Native reservations and erase the political and historic existence of the Mashpee Wampanoag, filmmakers look to “wampum” the ancient tool of art, law, ritual, and diplomacy to find guidance and ways forward for Indigenous peoples. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“UN Declaration”) wampum belt is a means of teaching Indigenous human rights using and centering Indigenous peoples’ technology and pedagogical legal practices with wampum as both the medium and the message of accountability, healing, and change. This film finds the ancient laws of the peoples of the Dawnlands, to shed light on the hidden history of wampum, how the US engages with Indigenous people, and their contemporary demands for relationships built on reciprocity, self-determination, and human rights. The Mashpee Wampanoag story is one of resiliency and an ongoing attempt to redefine both the collective past and future of the United States of America and its relationship with Indigenous peoples and Nations.
Produced and Directed by Michelle Cook and Teena Pugliese
Film Features
Annawon Weeden, Mashpee Wampanoag
Andre Gaines Strongheart Jr., Nipmuc Nation
Hartman Deetz, Mashpee Wampanoag
Jessie Little Doe Baird, Former Vice-Chair of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Founder of the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Program (WLRP)
Michelle Cook, Dineh Artistic Director
Paula Peters, Mashpee Wampanoag
Professor Margaret M. Bruchac, Abenaki, University of Pennsylvania
Professor Robert A. Williams Jr., Lumbee,The University of Arizona Rogers College of Law
Everett Tall Oak Weeden, Absentee Mashantucket
Teena Pugliese, Filmmaker and Film Editor
Tomas Alejo, Teko Alejo Photography
Victoria Miranda, Mashpee Wampanoag
Abalone Shell
Conch Shell
Quahog Shell
Mashpee Wampanoag Peoples
Research and Technical Assistance
Summer Aubrey, Esq., Cherokee Nation, Indigenous Human Rights Defender and Corporate Accountability (IHRDCAP) Fellow
The UN Declaration Wampum Belt
The UNDRIP Belt is a “modern wampum belt” designed and commissioned by Michelle Cook (Dineh) from Mashpee Wampanoag Hartman Deetz.
The UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Wampum Belt features the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People (UN Declaration). The belt contains purple wampum, orange conch shell, abalone, and a bluestone bead. The 45 purple beads, and one blue stone bead, represent the 46 articles of the UN Declaration. The UN Declaration Belt is a modern Nation to Nation agreement in part drafted by Indigenous peoples that underscores the rights of self-determination, free and prior informed consent, equal protection of human rights, and control of Indigenous people’s economic rights.
The belt is 19 1/8th inches long and 3 1/8th wide, constituting hand-carved locally harvested New England quahog shells or wampum beads that are woven together. Each bead is approximately 3-4 mm wide by 6-8 mm long. The belt consists of 8 horizontal rows, 117 columns totaling 936 beads. There are four orange conch shell beads and one blue stone bead. There are 24 abalone beads of three columns in the center. The weft is made of artificial sinew and the warp is made of deerskin. The deerskin was acquired between Indigenous artist and culture bearer Andre Gaines Strongheart Jr., of the Nipmuc Nation, using wampum beads as the medium of exchange. There are 140 purple beads and 767 white beads.
On each end of the belt depicts a double curve symbol on both ends and two human figures with a conch shell in the center of the human figure.
The double curve symbols represent original and fundamental law.
Brown University, Cohen Gallery (Sept 8, 2021-Oct. 24, 2021) The Beads That Bought Manhattan: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Wampum Belt, Film and Wampum Belt, https://arts.brown.edu/events-exhibitions/2021-2022-highlights/sovereign-stories
Exhibit Structure Consists of 7 Panels, The Wampum Belt, Wampum Belt Hanging Case, and UNDRIP Wampum Belt Film
Our Team
Michelle L. Cook
.Michelle L. Cook is a human rights lawyer and an enrolled member of the Diné (Navajo) Nation born of the Honagháahnii (One Who Walks Around You) Clan. For several years, Michelle has worked locally and globally with indigenous peoples on issues such as access to justice, customary law, and human rights. She has received major grants and fellowship opportunities including a Fulbright Fellowship to study indigenous justice and customary legal systems in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and an Open Society Fellowship. She has testified before UN bodies and representatives and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and has been interviewed by international media sources like the Laura Flanders Show. In 2015 she received her Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from the University of New Mexico School of Law with a certificate in Federal Indian law. She was appointed as a Commissioner on the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission from 2016-2020. She is a founding member of the Water Protector Legal Collective creating legal infrastructure for indigenous peoples encamped in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline. She is also the founder of Divest Invest Protect (DIP) and Co-Director of DIP’s flagship program, the Indigenous Women’s Divestment Delegations (IWDD) an intersectional indigenous-led international human rights campaign pressuring banks, insurance, and credit rating agencies to divest from harmful extraction companies and invest in the cultural survival and self-determination of the world’s indigenous peoples.
Teena Pugliese
Teena Pugliese is a filmmaker and digital activist currently focused on stewardship and deep community with people, place, and planets. Her work spans from documentary features & short form satires to improvised narrative films; with a focus on human rights issues, civic engagement through storytelling, and democratizing filmmaking opportunities. She loves her work supporting connections with youth and elders through storytelling, the arts and performance as pathways for healing. She is a youth media trainer, teaching a regenerative filmmaking process so others may tell their stories and reclaim control of their own narratives. She has a BA in theatre with much "on the job training and experience" over the past 25 years and feels spirit full when singing and living truth fully on any stage. She is committed to and grateful for collaborations with all beings who work towards restoring our relations with each other and nature.
Wampum Resources
If you want to engage in Wampum history and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples more fully here is a selection of resources the team has been drawing on in the process of creating this film and exhibition.
On the Wampum Trail: Restorative Research in North American Museums, https://wampumtrail.wordpress.com/
United Nations Declaration on the Rights Of Indigenous Peoples: https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2018/11/UNDRIP_E_web.pdf
UNDRIP is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration was in the making for over thirty years. “The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the General Assembly on Thursday, 13 September 2007, by a majority of 144 states in favour, 4 votes against (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States) and 11 abstentions (Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Colombia, Georgia, Kenya, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Samoa and Ukraine). Years later the four countries that voted against have reversed their position and now support the UN Declaration. Today the Declaration is the most comprehensive international instrument on the rights of indigenous peoples. It establishes a universal framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world and it elaborates on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as they apply to the specific situation of indigenous peoples.” https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html
Robert A. Williams, Jr., Linking Arms Together-American Indian Treaty Visions of Law and Peace, 1600-1800, Routledge (1999).
Contact Us
For film screenings, exhibit lectures, the cost for hosting, installation, setup, and breakdown of exhibits, learning materials, and inquiries contact: divestinvestprotect@gmail.com
