American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The long suppression of traditional Indian spiritual practices was, in part, overcome when the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community of Washington State constructed its long-anticipated ceremonial smokehouse. The celebrated resumption of smokehouse activities, however, presented new environmental health threats that were not adequately anticipated and that required remediation. This article examines how the community was able to reduce the associated health risks by adapting appropriate technologies that respected the importance of privacy in ceremonial practice. In sharp contrast to historic federal Indian policies that disrupted the fabric of Native American communities, current federal policies now encourage tribal governments to reconstruct their political systems, economies, and cultures to achieve sustainable community improvement. Beginning in the late 1960s and early 197Os, tribes began programs of political and community reconstruction. As a result, their once-suppressed spiritualism quickly rebounded from the effects of federal assimilation that sought to diminish Indian identity by prohibiting the use of traditional languages and spiritual practice. For many Coast Salish Indians, the reconstruction of the traditional smokehouse, also called longhouse- the ceremonial place of worship- became a centerpiece of their community redevelopment. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community sought to reestablish its ceremonial smokehouse to stimulate the revival of cultural and traditional spiritualism known as Seowyn.