The Bureau of Indian Affairs’ administrative agency office in Sells, Ariz., has a new name that replaces one that was a derogatory term Spanish conquistadors gave to O’odham people.
A ceremony held Feb. 28 noted the renaming of the agency to Tohono O’odham Agency also unveiled a new sign for the agency headquarters, a release said.
“This name change reflects the sovereignty of the Tohono O’odham people and aligns with the Department of the Interior’s commitment to the removal of derogatory place names,” David Beeksma, superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Tohono O’odham Agency, said in the release. “Racist and derogatory geographic names rob people of their dignity, and make it difficult to have a positive nation-to-nation relationship with Tribes.”
The previous name was translated as “bean eater,” from old Castilian Spanish slang. The U.S. adopted the name when it expanded into Arizona, according to the release.
“By the late 20th century, the Papago got tired of being referred to as bean-eaters or beaners. So they officially changed The People’s name to Tohono O’odham, meaning Desert People,” the Southern Arizona Guide said.
The Tohono O’odham come from the Hohokam people, who were described as “master dwellers of the desert” who created canal systems to irrigate crops, built ball courts and ceremonial mounds and created jewelry of stone, shell and clay plus red-on-buff pottery, their history said.
The Tohono O’odham people’s history dates to 1535, when New Spain was established, and in 1687, when Jesuit missionary Father Eusebio Kino arrived in Sonora and built missions and worked “with the Tohono O’odham and Pima, introducing Christianity, wheat, livestock, fruit and metal tools,” the history reported.
“The (renaming ceremony) was an important, and historic one, that marked the growing respect between our peoples,” Mary Lopez, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation Legislative Council, said in the release. “The BIA said they would support us with this, and they kept their word.”
Tohono O’odham Agency Facility Manager Isaac Jose likened the renaming to a new start, according to the release.
“Seeing the old name every day bothered me,” Jose, an enrolled member of the Tohono O’odham Nation who has worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 25 years, said in the release. “It felt like people didn’t know or care how we felt about it. Now it feels different, like we really are starting something new.”
