Dinétah

Dinétah
Author: Lawrence D. Sundberg
Publisher: Sunstone Press
Total Pages: 100
Release: 1995
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780865342217

A chronicle of the Navajo people describing the hardships and rewards of early band life, and how they dealt with the influences of Spanish, Mexican and American forces.

Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country

Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country
Author: Marsha Weisiger
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2011-11-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0295803193

Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country offers a fresh interpretation of the history of Navajo (Diné) pastoralism. The dramatic reduction of livestock on the Navajo Reservation in the 1930s -- when hundreds of thousands of sheep, goats, and horses were killed -- was an ambitious attempt by the federal government to eliminate overgrazing on an arid landscape and to better the lives of the people who lived there. Instead, the policy was a disaster, resulting in the loss of livelihood for Navajos -- especially women, the primary owners and tenders of the animals -- without significant improvement of the grazing lands. Livestock on the reservation increased exponentially after the late 1860s as more and more people and animals, hemmed in on all sides by Anglo and Hispanic ranchers, tried to feed themselves on an increasingly barren landscape. At the beginning of the twentieth century, grazing lands were showing signs of distress. As soil conditions worsened, weeds unpalatable for livestock pushed out nutritious native grasses, until by the 1930s federal officials believed conditions had reached a critical point. Well-intentioned New Dealers made serious errors in anticipating the human and environmental consequences of removing or killing tens of thousands of animals. Environmental historian Marsha Weisiger examines the factors that led to the poor condition of the range and explains how the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Navajos, and climate change contributed to it. Using archival sources and oral accounts, she describes the importance of land and stock animals in Navajo culture. By positioning women at the center of the story, she demonstrates the place they hold as significant actors in Native American and environmental history. Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country is a compelling and important story that looks at the people and conditions that contributed to a botched policy whose legacy is still felt by the Navajos and their lands today.

Defending the Dinétah

Defending the Dinétah
Author: Ronald H. Towner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2003
Genre: Architecture
ISBN:

Among the most striking features of the northwestern New Mexico landscape are the more than 130 fortresses and towers built on boulders, promontories, and mesa rims. These "pueblitos" in the traditional Navajo homeland of Dinétah have been a key piece of evidence used by archaeologists to infer a massive immigration of Puebloans into the Navajo country following the Spanish re-conquest of New Mexico (ca. 1700), yet they have never been comprehensively analyzed. Using a database of tree-ring dates taken from beams and wood used to construct these pueblitos, Ronald Towner shows in this volume that most pueblitos are unrelated to Puebloan immigration or the re-conquest. He concludes that Navajos constructed the masonry structures and hogans contemporaneously for protection against Ute raiders and later Spanish entradas. Further, most were occupied for relatively brief periods and population density was much lower than has been assumed. Towner points to a new model of Navajo ethnogenesis, based on a revised early population distribution and a variety of other means of incorporating non-Athapaskan elements into Navajo culture, making Defending the Dinétah a major contribution to Navajo studies.

Diné Tah

Diné Tah
Author: Alwin J. Girdner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781933855561

The bicultural story of a childhood on the Navajo Reservation. In this engaging memoir, Girdner tells the story of his childhood on the Navajo Reservation during the early 20th century. Girdner is the son of Plymouth Brethren missionaries who lived in the remote eastern Navajo reservation. He spent much of his first eighteen years among the Navajos, and recalls his experiences, immersed in their culture and way of life.

Rainbow Bridge to Monument Valley

Rainbow Bridge to Monument Valley
Author: Thomas J. Harvey
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2013-07-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0806150424

The Colorado River Plateau is home to two of the best-known landscapes in the world: Rainbow Bridge in southern Utah and Monument Valley on the Utah-Arizona border. Twentieth-century popular culture made these places icons of the American West, and advertising continues to exploit their significance today. In Rainbow Bridge to Monument Valley, Thomas J. Harvey artfully tells how Navajos and Anglo-Americans created fabrics of meaning out of this stunning desert landscape, space that western novelist Zane Grey called “the storehouse of unlived years,” where a rugged, more authentic life beckoned. Harvey explores the different ways in which the two societies imbued the landscape with deep cultural significance. Navajos long ago incorporated Rainbow Bridge into the complex origin story that embodies their religion and worldview. In the early 1900s, archaeologists crossed paths with Grey in the Rainbow Bridge area. Grey, credited with making the modern western novel popular, sought freedom from the contemporary world and reimagined the landscape for his own purposes. In the process, Harvey shows, Grey erased most of the Navajo inhabitants. This view of the landscape culminated in filmmaker John Ford’s use of Monument Valley as the setting for his epic mid-twentieth-century Westerns. Harvey extends the story into the late twentieth century when environmentalists sought to set aside Rainbow Bridge as a symbolic remnant of nature untainted by modernization. Tourists continue to flock to Monument Valley and Rainbow Bridge, as they have for a century, but the landscapes are most familiar today because of their appearances in advertising. Monument Valley has been used to sell perfume, beer, and sport utility vehicles. Encompassing the history of the Navajo, archaeology, literature, film, environmentalism, and tourism, Rainbow Bridge to Monument Valley explores how these rock formations, Navajo sacred spaces still, have become embedded in the modern identity of the American West—and of the nation itself.

Native Americans

Native Americans
Author: A. J. KINGSTON
Publisher: A.J. Kingston
Total Pages: 290
Release: 101-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1839384948

Discover the Rich Tapestry of Native American Heritage Are you ready to embark on a captivating journey through the vibrant cultures and profound histories of Native American nations? Introducing the "NATIVE AMERICANS: OSAGE, MOHICAN, NAVAJO, & APACHE NATIONS" book bundle, where you'll delve into the remarkable stories of four distinct indigenous nations, each with its own unique narrative, traditions, and resilience. 📚 BOOK 1 - OSAGE: GUARDIANS OF THE GREAT PLAINS 📚 Step onto the sweeping prairies of the Great Plains and explore the world of the Osage Nation. Their enduring presence and tribal governance have stood as a testament to their deep connection to the land. Discover their rich heritage and how they've weathered the challenges of history. 🌳 BOOK 2 - MOHICAN TALES: LEGENDS OF THE EASTERN WOODLANDS 🌳 Enter the lush forests and winding rivers of the Eastern Woodlands, where the Mohican people have nurtured their legends, stories, and traditions. Through oral history and artistry, they paint a vivid picture of their deep-rooted heritage that continues to thrive. 🌄 BOOK 3 - NAVAJO RESILIENCE: THE LONG WALK TO LIBERATION 🌄 Journey to the Southwestern deserts and witness the incredible resilience of the Navajo Nation. From the Long Walk to their triumphant return to Dinétah, the Navajo story is one of spiritual strength, cultural revival, and unwavering determination. 🏜️ BOOK 4 - APACHE WARRIORS: CONFLICT AND ADAPTATION IN THE SOUTHWEST 🏜️ Explore the rugged landscapes of the American Southwest, where the Apache people have etched their indomitable legacy. Renowned for their fierce warrior culture and adaptability, the Apache nation's history is a testament to their enduring spirit. With this book bundle, you'll: ✨ Immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of Native American cultures. ✨ Gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and triumphs these nations have faced. ✨ Celebrate the living traditions and enduring legacies of the Osage, Mohican, Navajo, and Apache nations. Don't miss the opportunity to explore these captivating narratives that will enrich your understanding of Native American heritage. Order the "NATIVE AMERICANS: OSAGE, MOHICAN, NAVAJO, & APACHE NATIONS" book bundle today and embark on a journey that celebrates the enduring spirit of indigenous communities.

Peregrinations

Peregrinations
Author: Amy T Hamilton
Publisher: University of Nevada Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2018-06-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1943859655

Peregrinate: To travel or wander around from place to place. The land of the United States is defined by vast distances encouraging human movement and migration on a grand scale. Consequently, American stories are filled with descriptions of human bodies walking through the land. In Peregrinations, Amy T. Hamilton examines stories told by and about Indigenous American, Euroamerican, and Mexican walkers. Walking as a central experience that ties these texts together—never simply a metaphor or allegory—offers storytellers and authors an elastic figure through which to engage diverse cultural practices and beliefs including Puritan and Catholic teachings, Diné and Anishinaabe oral traditions, Chicanx histories, and European literary traditions. Hamilton argues that walking bodies alert readers to the ways the physical world—more-than-human animals, trees, rocks, wind, sunlight, and human bodies—has a hand in creating experience and meaning. Through material ecocriticism, a reading practice attentive to historical and ongoing oppressions, exclusions, and displacements, she reveals complex layerings of narrative and materiality in stories of walking human bodies. This powerful and pioneering methodology for understanding place and identity, clarifies the wide variety of American stories about human relationships with the land and the ethical implications of the embeddedness of humans in the more-than-human world.