Most traditional cultures are intimately connected to the natural environment in which they are grounded—technical artifacts are shaped by the availability of materials and resources, and expressive and intellectual traditions are influenced by environment directly and through the mediation of those material objects. But what happens to a people's traditional life when they are uprooted, torn from their nurturing homeland and forced to flee across the globe? Such cultural disruption and dislocation are part of the heritage of many Americans—those whose ancestors left the savannahs of Africa or the steppes of central Europe, as well as Native ...