Hi there! My name is Shannon Burke. You have either intentionally or unintentionally stumbled upon my senior thesis project on the appropriation and commodification of the Kokopelli! How fun for you!

The Kokopelli, in short, is the name used to refer to the flute player symbol adopted by the Southwest region as its unofficial logo. Most Southwesterners are unaware of its original significance—let alone the crazy, complicated, and contradictory journey it has taken from a once-sacred Hopi deity to the commercialized symbol it is today. The Kokopelli can truly be found everywhere across the Southwest (and other places too), including (but not nearly limited to) highway art, t-shirts, business logos, hotel staircases, trinkets, home decor, flip-flops, breath mints, specialty coins, public cycling trails, and museum signage.

My favorite part about this project is that I went into it with a lot of assumptions about the negative implications of the Anglo-Southwest adopting a Native symbol as its own, but ended up learning a lot about the complexities involved in what most people consider cultural appropriation. I decided to lean into the uncertainty and complexity, making sure not to present anything as black or white, in order to highlight some really interesting insights about the ‘appropriation’ of the Kokopelli, and in turn, about appropriation itself.

I decided to create a website to articulate my research due to the visual nature of my project as well as the general lack of complete and accurate information about the Kokopelli accessible on the Internet. I did my best to make this site as user-friendly and entertaining as possible, including what I consider the most relevant and compelling information for anyone who is interested in learning a little more. I have sprinkled various photos of Kokopellis, taken either by myself or by others, throughout the website to give an indication of the sheer vastness of Kokopelli usages throughout the Southwest. Unless otherwise indicated, I took any photo you will find on this website.

While I’ve done my best to make this website as fun as possible, I do feel as though it’s conducive to include my argument at the beginning of the site, so that the information on the following pages does not appear random.

Argument:

While the many usages of the Kokopelli may appear as though they typify the conventional understanding of appropriation—the dominant culture taking and cheapening something from a marginalized people as their own—the symbol’s cultural distance from its Native roots, coupled with its embrace as a positive means of sharing Native experiences, reveal that the symbol is far too complex to serve as a cut-and-dry example of appropriation.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about how to navigate the site!

This website has a particular structure to it, so it is best to navigate it chunk by chunk, beginning with Kokopelli’s Journey, followed by Ownership & Usages, What is Appropriation?, and lastly, More Info. Each of these headings has its own sub-sections with all of the associated content, so it is best to follow the flow! For your ease, I have added links at the bottom of each page that will take you to the following page. However, if you would simply like to read snippets, I recommend reading the pages on the main menu first, as they introduce the content in each sub-section. On each heading page, you will find links to the sub-sections that you can navigate based on your interests.

I hope you enjoy my website! Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or comments—after devoting almost a year of my life to this project, I would love to know if it has impacted anyone in any way.

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