Jamake Highwater
Encyclopedia
Jamake Highwater was an US
writer and journalist who claimed Native American
ancestry.
, February 14, 1942, is unverified and unlikely.) According to his later statements, he was adopted into the white family of Marcia and Alexander Marks in 1947. Known as Jack or Jay Marks. He graduated from high school in 1950 and attended college in Los Angeles. He later claimed that he had met Susan Sontag
and Anaïs Nin
who he later credited as having encouraged him in writing.
In 1954 he moved to San Francisco and taught modern dance
at a neighborhood school. By that time he used the name J Marks. In March 1955 he and other instructors formed the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers and Marks became its director and choreographer. He worked in that position until 1967. He also edited Contemporary, a Bay Area periodical for performing arts
, in 1960-1962.
In 1967 Marks moved to New York and began a joint project with his acquaintance Karlheinz Stockhausen
. He reorganized the Contemporary Dancers and began rehearsals for a European tour, but the project never came to fruition.
Marks wrote his first article, called Conversations With Stockhausen, for the Saturday Review about the collaboration in the September 30, 1967 issue. Later the same year he began to write the book Rock and other Four Letter Words, with photographs by Linda McCartney
, for Bantam Books
, which was published the next year. He also began to write articles and music reviews to various publications. In 1973 he published a book about Mick Jagger
.
Indian in the interview for the Sunday News
. He later stated that in 1974 he had received information from his adoptive mother with an affidavit which made him think that at least one of his parents were Indian. He stated that his mother was Marcia Highwater, a Cherokee who had married Greek-born Alexandre Markropoulos, and that he was born Jamake Highwater. He would later change these details.
Marks gradually begun to use a new name in the byline
of his writing, first as Jamake Mamake Highwater, but he later dropped the middle name. Highwater began to write books about Native American art, dance and legends. Native Americans later charged that Highwater's information was stereotypical and false.
Highwater changed his story. Later he would state that his parents were a Blackfoot
named Amilia Bonneville, and a Cherokee, James or Jamie Highwater and that his name was legally changed to Marks after his adoption. His original parents had supposedly died of starvation during the Great Depression
. Later he added a brother that would have been killed in the Korean War
.
After 1975 he became a lecturer and author about Native American culture
. He lived mostly in Soho
, New York City
. In 1977 he recorded and released an album on Folkways Records
, entitled Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey. From 1975-1979 he was the classical music
editor for the Soho Weekly News, and from 1979-1985 he lectured at the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies
and spoke in conferences and workshops. He also hosted programs for the Public Broadcasting Service
.
After 1980 Highwater begun to receive criticism from Native Americans who doubted his claims of Amerindian ancestry.
In 1984, he established the Native Land Foundation, a non-profit trust for the promotion of world folk art and its influence on the visual and performing arts, through the sponsorship of lectures, documentaries, art exhibitions, and related activities. The Native Land Research Center, a conference site and reference library, was created on property purchased by the foundation near Hampton, Connecticut. Highwater moved there to live in 1985.
Mona Kratzert, California State University
research librarian, discusses him in her article about expanding the canon of Native American literature. She sources some of the antagonism to "certain Native Americans who believe he lacks authenticity and has commercialized his Indian-ness." As Kenneth Roemer remarks mildly in a footnote, Kratzert's decision to defend Highwater was "controversial". Gerald Vizenor
writes extensively on Highwater's career as an impostor, e.g., in Fugitive Poses, where Highwater is included alongside Lynn Andrews and Carlos Castaneda
as someone who is "native by concession".
gave Highwater the honorary Indian name Eagle Boy, which he changed to Eagle Son. Calf Robe later refused to stage a formal ritual to officiate it.
In 1982 Highwater founded the non-profit trust the Native Land Foundation to promote world folk art. He also founded the Native Land Research Center near Hampton, Connecticut
.
Joe DeLaCruz
, 1984 President of National Congress of American Indians
, stated that Highwater was fraudulent and that his information was stereotypical and false.
In 1984, investigative journalist
Jack Anderson devoted a nationally-published syndicated newspaper column
to expose Highwater as a fraud.
In 1986, respected Native activist Hank Adams
alleged that Highwater was in fact a filmmaker Gregory J. Markopoulos and had falsified his ethnic identity to get federal funding. Charges were dismissed.
Highwater began to write about more general themes, including an autobiographical collection of essays called Shadow Show: An Autobiographical Insinuation, that was published in 1986. Myth and Sexuality, an overview of attitudes about sexuality in different times and places, was published in 1990. In 1992 the Native Land Foundation moved to Los Angeles, alongside with Highwater. Most of his papers were given to the New York Public Library
.
Jamake Highwater died in June 2001.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer and journalist who claimed Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
ancestry.
Earlier life as Jay Marks
The exact date of Highwater's birth is unknown but it might be any time between 1923-1933. (The date he later used in a 1974 affidavitAffidavit
An affidavit is a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public...
, February 14, 1942, is unverified and unlikely.) According to his later statements, he was adopted into the white family of Marcia and Alexander Marks in 1947. Known as Jack or Jay Marks. He graduated from high school in 1950 and attended college in Los Angeles. He later claimed that he had met Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag was an American author, literary theorist, feminist and political activist whose works include On Photography and Against Interpretation.-Life:...
and Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin
Anaïs Nin was a French-Cuban author, based at first in France and later in the United States, who published her journals, which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death, her erotic literature, and short stories...
who he later credited as having encouraged him in writing.
In 1954 he moved to San Francisco and taught modern dance
Modern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
at a neighborhood school. By that time he used the name J Marks. In March 1955 he and other instructors formed the San Francisco Contemporary Dancers and Marks became its director and choreographer. He worked in that position until 1967. He also edited Contemporary, a Bay Area periodical for performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
, in 1960-1962.
In 1967 Marks moved to New York and began a joint project with his acquaintance Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
. He reorganized the Contemporary Dancers and began rehearsals for a European tour, but the project never came to fruition.
Marks wrote his first article, called Conversations With Stockhausen, for the Saturday Review about the collaboration in the September 30, 1967 issue. Later the same year he began to write the book Rock and other Four Letter Words, with photographs by Linda McCartney
Linda McCartney
Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney was an American photographer, musician and animal rights activist. Her father and mother were Lee Eastman and Louise Sara Lindner Eastman....
, for Bantam Books
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
, which was published the next year. He also began to write articles and music reviews to various publications. In 1973 he published a book about Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
.
Claims of Native American origin
On July 13, 1969, Marks first referred to himself as a CherokeeCherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
Indian in the interview for the Sunday News
Sunday News
The Sunday News is a New Zealand tabloid newspaper published each weekend by the Fairfax group in Auckland. In addition to a self-described 'punchy' take on the news, it features coverage of weekend sport, entertainment, star gossip, fashion and TV listings.The Sunday News has editorial offices in...
. He later stated that in 1974 he had received information from his adoptive mother with an affidavit which made him think that at least one of his parents were Indian. He stated that his mother was Marcia Highwater, a Cherokee who had married Greek-born Alexandre Markropoulos, and that he was born Jamake Highwater. He would later change these details.
Marks gradually begun to use a new name in the byline
Byline
The byline on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name, and often the position, of the writer of the article. Bylines are traditionally placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines place bylines at the bottom of the page, to leave more room for graphical...
of his writing, first as Jamake Mamake Highwater, but he later dropped the middle name. Highwater began to write books about Native American art, dance and legends. Native Americans later charged that Highwater's information was stereotypical and false.
Highwater changed his story. Later he would state that his parents were a Blackfoot
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
named Amilia Bonneville, and a Cherokee, James or Jamie Highwater and that his name was legally changed to Marks after his adoption. His original parents had supposedly died of starvation during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Later he added a brother that would have been killed in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
.
After 1975 he became a lecturer and author about Native American culture
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
. He lived mostly in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In 1977 he recorded and released an album on Folkways Records
Folkways Records
Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
, entitled Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey. From 1975-1979 he was the classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
editor for the Soho Weekly News, and from 1979-1985 he lectured at the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies
New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies
The School of Continuing and Professional Studies is a unit of New York University. Founded in 1934, the school aims at working professionals who seek additional training tailored to their interests....
and spoke in conferences and workshops. He also hosted programs for the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
.
After 1980 Highwater begun to receive criticism from Native Americans who doubted his claims of Amerindian ancestry.
In 1984, he established the Native Land Foundation, a non-profit trust for the promotion of world folk art and its influence on the visual and performing arts, through the sponsorship of lectures, documentaries, art exhibitions, and related activities. The Native Land Research Center, a conference site and reference library, was created on property purchased by the foundation near Hampton, Connecticut. Highwater moved there to live in 1985.
Mona Kratzert, California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
research librarian, discusses him in her article about expanding the canon of Native American literature. She sources some of the antagonism to "certain Native Americans who believe he lacks authenticity and has commercialized his Indian-ness." As Kenneth Roemer remarks mildly in a footnote, Kratzert's decision to defend Highwater was "controversial". Gerald Vizenor
Gerald Vizenor
Gerald Robert Vizenor is a Native American writer, and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation. One of the most prolific Native American writers, with over 30 books to his name, Vizenor also taught for many years at the University of California, Berkeley, where...
writes extensively on Highwater's career as an impostor, e.g., in Fugitive Poses, where Highwater is included alongside Lynn Andrews and Carlos Castaneda
Carlos Castaneda
Carlos Castaneda was a Peruvian-born American anthropologist and author....
as someone who is "native by concession".
Criticism of claims
In 1978 Ed Calf Robe of the Bloods of CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
gave Highwater the honorary Indian name Eagle Boy, which he changed to Eagle Son. Calf Robe later refused to stage a formal ritual to officiate it.
In 1982 Highwater founded the non-profit trust the Native Land Foundation to promote world folk art. He also founded the Native Land Research Center near Hampton, Connecticut
Hampton, Connecticut
Hampton is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,758 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
.
Joe DeLaCruz
Joe DeLaCruz
Joe DeLaCruz was a Native American leader in Washington, U.S., president for 22 years of the Quinault Tribe...
, 1984 President of National Congress of American Indians
National Congress of American Indians
The National Congress of American Indians is a American Indian and Alaska Native indigenous rights organization. It was founded in 1944 in response to termination and assimilation policies that the U.S. government forced upon the tribal governments in contradiction of their treaty rights and...
, stated that Highwater was fraudulent and that his information was stereotypical and false.
In 1984, investigative journalist
Investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...
Jack Anderson devoted a nationally-published syndicated newspaper column
Column (newspaper)
A column is a recurring piece or article in a newspaper, magazine or other publication. Columns are written by columnists.What differentiates a column from other forms of journalism is that it meets each of the following criteria:...
to expose Highwater as a fraud.
In 1986, respected Native activist Hank Adams
Hank Adams
Henry Lyle Adams is a Sioux-Assiniboine Native American rights activist from Montana.-Early life:Hank Adams was born in the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana on May 16, 1943. The specific place he was born was called Wolf Point, but had the nickname of Poverty Flats. While growing up,...
alleged that Highwater was in fact a filmmaker Gregory J. Markopoulos and had falsified his ethnic identity to get federal funding. Charges were dismissed.
Highwater began to write about more general themes, including an autobiographical collection of essays called Shadow Show: An Autobiographical Insinuation, that was published in 1986. Myth and Sexuality, an overview of attitudes about sexuality in different times and places, was published in 1990. In 1992 the Native Land Foundation moved to Los Angeles, alongside with Highwater. Most of his papers were given to the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
.
Jamake Highwater died in June 2001.