Remembering and forgetting colonization in New Mexico: A portrait of the Bosque Redondo memorial

Historically traumatic events that have not been healed, reconciled, or made right can have repercussions for individuals, families, communities, and nations for generations to come. The mere passage of time does not transform trauma. Rather, legacies of colonization become nested and internalized in institutions, social and economic structures, and also in places. This study explores how the historically traumatic events endured by the Navajo and Mescalero Apache people at the Bosque Redondo in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, are remembered, memorialized, and, to a large extent, remain psychoactive today.;The research applies Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot's qualitative research methodology known as portraiture to develop an inter-textual portrait of the Bosque Redondo Memorial. The research portrait is drawn from in-depth interviews with five core research participants and nine additional research participants. The interviews are augmented by an arts-based analysis of video and audio-texts related to the Bosque Redondo Memorial and the infamous Navajo Long Walk that began the captivity of the Navajo people. Through the research a larger story emerges that brings forward counter-narratives, stories that stand silently in the shadows of official representations at the memorial site. The research also presents stories of cultural survival and resiliency associated with the memorial and examines their relevance for us today. The methodologies of intuitive inquiry and alchemical hermeneutics are used to analyze and interpret the interviews and the video and audio-texts.;An integral aspect of the research presents a series of social, political, emotional, and spiritual concerns that act to both truthfully remember but also forget troubling aspects of the story of the Bosque Redondo, most notably the painfully traumatic impact of the events on the Navajo and Mescalero Apache. Another element of the portrait chronicles the recent efforts to develop the memorial as a site of conscience that integrates a social justice narrative linking past, present, and future. One final perspective that grounds the research is the realization that places that have a harmful past are also in need of healing and liberation, and this too warrants our consideration when addressing traumatic history. Key words: historical harm, internalized colonization, Bosque Redondo, Navajo, Mescalero Apache, memorialization.