My love for the Navajo Nation really started over a conversation about irrigation ditches. I was in my freshman year of college, homesick, and here was someone who knew what an irrigation ditch was. Within no time we started a lifelong friendship. She was from the Navajo Nation, a place that I had never heard of, and yet I felt drawn to it, all because it had irrigation ditches.
For this report I read five particular National Geographic articles, each one relating to one of the five themes of geography. Although most of the information I discuss throughout this paper is my personal reflection and summary of these particular articles I felt that it was important to investigate some of the subjects mentioned in the articles more thoroughly. The other articles that I used are cited by regular MLA citation throughout my paper I hope that the reader is able to recognize the beauty in the land, culture, and traditions of the Navajo Nation.
Location
Besmehn, Michelle. National Geographic Channel gets Some New Best Friends: Best Friends Animal Society. Web National Geographic, 13 Dec. 2007. Web. 14 Jan. 2011.
With roughly 27,000 square miles the Navajo Nation is larger than 10 of the 50 states in America and masked by Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona boarders (Navajo). It is the largest Indian reservation on the United States continent. Most of the reservation rests at an altitude between 5,000 and 7,000 feet (Shirley). It is near Lake Powell, by the four corner area, but to the Diné, or the Navajo people, the Navajo Nation is protected by the Four Sacred Mountains.
The Best Friends animal society is an example of one of the surrounding facilities that impacts the reservation. Best Friends is considered a the haven for hundreds of dogs, cats, and other abandoned animals. It is the largest national sanctuary for abandoned and abused animals. The Fredonia Humane Society provides free spay and neuter services to the people living in the Gap, an area apart of the Navajo Reservation. The initial program offered free services, many locals exceeded the limit to the organization set for the amount of individual animals. Currently, Best Friends charges most of the members of the Navajo Nation to spay and neuter dogs and cats. Programs such as Best Friends that surround the area are known for establishing programs to “help” the Navajo Nation, but few of them address many of the major concerns of the Diné
Place
Roach, John. Navajo Help Save Unique Sheep From Extinction. National Geographic News: Reporting Your World Daily. 30 August 2005. Web 28 October 2010. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0830_050830_navajo_sheep_2.html Web 21 January 2011.
The beautiful Navajo rugs are weaved by more than nimble fingers and red dyed wool. Into each of the rugs is sown the soul of the weaver, the Navajo holy sprits, and traditions that stretch further than the yards of wool could ever reach. Despite the United States attempts to civilize the Diné the land between the Four Sacred Mountains seems to cradle the Navajo Traditional Sheepherders; the annual rainfall on the reservation is less than 15 inches, with more than 50% of the reservation classified as desert, and less than 10% of the land is available for irrigation (Shirley). Few things are able to flourish on the reservation as well as the Diné traditions. The black and red wool rugs with the jagged patterns weave together centuries of the cultural and history of the Diné.
How the churro sheep transformed the Navajo Nation in the early 1600s. When the Spanish colonists first came to the West they introduced sheep to the Navajo people. As the domestic sheep herds were introduced to the Diné transformed into a shepherding society. Oral tradition says the Churro sheep were a gift from the spirits. Tradition says the sheep came to the people when they were ready, and that spiderwomen came to Diné to teach them how to weave. For hundreds of years the Diné have preferred the churro wool because it is less greasy, and requires less precious in preparation for weaving.
Thousands of churro sheep were slaughtered in 1863 by Colonel Kit Carson’s cavalry in his attempt to relocate the clans to a territory in New Mexico. After failed attempts to capture the Diné the cavalry began to slaughter the Navajo sheep, burn crops, and chop down orchards. Starved and humiliated many of the Diné surrendered to Colonel Kit Carson. He led a once proud people across hundreds of miles into unspeakable conditions to near starvation in New Mexico, a tragedy which would eventually be known as The Long Walk. Only a few churro sheep herds survived the attacks, but in 1868 when the Diné were allowed to return to their homelands at organization of the Navajo Reservation the government gave each Navajo two Churro to help create self-sufficiency.
A few decades latter during the 1930s, the Dust Bowl ear, the government slaughtered thousands of the Navajo’s sheep and goats in an attempt to prevent overgrazing. The Navajo were asked to report their flocks to the government, and then the herds would be shipped to the slaughterhouses. Although the agents promised one U.S. dollar per head most of the 400,000 to 600,000 rotting carcasses shot on sight throughout the reservation were never recorded, let alone paid for. The program continued until there were less than 450 Churro sheep remaining.
McNeal started a program called Diné bé iiná, or The Navajo Lifeway, in 1977 that is based on establishing herds of Churro for the Diné. After search through the Rocky Mountains the organization was able to gather flocks of remaining Churro sheep and in the early 1980s the program began to distribute herds to the Navajo Nations. Today there are over 8,500 Churro in the United States, but more importantly the Diné have been able to weave the sacred Churro back into their culture. Weavers still ask spiderwomen to help them weave traditional rugs, and the people feel strongly the Creator spirit is pleased with the respectful care of the sheep.
Human-environment interaction
The Return of Navajo Boy: Screening & Discussion. National Geographic. Web 8 September 2008. < http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/allroads/2008/09/the-return-of-navajo-boy-scree-2.html> Web 21 January 2011.
If someone were to look at the red and brown stone statues scattered across the pebbled sand it seems ridiculous to believe that people are dying throughout the Navajo Nation because of an abundance of natural resources. Despite the shrubbery lining the stretches of highway the only shadows large enough to cover the assault are cast by the towering mountains, but underneath the sun baked earth is a wealth of natural resources. The discovery of oil, uranium, and coal in the 1920’s still transforms the Navajo Nation Government, the settlement of land, and Diné in immeasurable degrees.
Many attribute larger size and sophisticated forms of Indian government on the Navajo Nation to the organization of the tribal council in 1923 (Jud). In the 1920’s oil, uranium, and coal were discovered in the Navajo Traditional homeland. The Diné formed the Navajo nation Council Chambers in an effort to organize and lease land for mines and businesses. A capital city was established near one of the U.S. army forts, and the Diné began to elect delegates. Today, there are 88 council members that represent the 110 chapters in the Navajo Nation who still meet in Window Rock, to debate (in Navajo and English) concerns from across the reservation (Navajo).
As the interests in the Navajo Nation increased so did the government involvement. In an attempt to help civilize the territory the Diné were encouraged to begin farming. The Navajo Nation Capitol city Window Rock Arizona was established near a U.S. army Fort and delegates began to distribute land across the eastern border to settlers, tribes, and individuals who were whiling to maintain the property. The unique distribution formed what is now known as the Checkerboard, an area that is dotted with private, tribal, and governmentally owned lands. As settlements were established people began to have trade with money instead of sheep or horses (Blake). Traditionally in a Navajo Clan each family member is responsible for supporting his relatives, but the members began to be suspicious of one another as each realized that unlike herds and crops a relative could lie about how much money he possessed (Peter).
The film reviewed in this article captures the reality of the mines on the Navajo Nation. The Return of Navajo Boy was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000, and resulted in a series of events that launched a federal investigation into the effects of uranium on the Navajo Nation. The producer Jeff Spitz reveals the Cly family’s feelings, and personal stories of the mines. Recently the United States Department of Justice paid $100,000 to a former uranium miner (Return). It is important to realize that the poor health of the miners were not the only destructive effects of the mines. Chapters across the reservation have demanded fresh water from their representatives in Window Rock, but even as recent as 2008, over 4,000 Navajo drink water from contaminated wells, and thousands more are subject to exposure and radiation left behind by the mines (Jud). The raised awareness by The Return of Navajo Boy helped to acute the need for environmental justice in the Navajo Nation.
Movement
Miller, Mark. Road Trip: Navajo and Hopi Lands, Arizona: National Geographic’s Drives of a Lifetime Series. National Geographic Traveler. Web
The next article is a map and recommended road trip through the Navajo Nation and into the Hopi Reservation. It not only includes descriptive directions, but the purpose of the article describes the important influence tourism has on the Navajo Nation.
Most people in the Navajo Nation, locals and tourists, travel along the stretches of High Ways. The National Geographic recommend a 425-mile loop route that starts at Tuba city and runs through the Navajo Nation through the Hopi Reservation (a reservation surrounded by the Navajo Nation) and back to tuba city. Some of the sites included Navajo National Monument, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, and Hopi Indian reservation villages. Between each of the suggested sites are directions along hundred mile stretches of Highways and old Route 59. Most of the cities scattered along the route included a few scattered houses, gestations, and basketball hoops. Locals race beside the slow driving tourists to grocery stores and malls. Even though the article recommended Route 59 and US 160 the driver that will only travel along the sun bleached assault roads would never see the many faces of the Navajo Nation. Much of the reservation can only be found through the dust clouds made on the dirt roads that wonder through the red rocks.
Region
Roberts, David. Finding Everett Ruess. Web National Geographic, April/May 2009. Web. 14 Jan. 2011
The story told in this article frames the region of the Navajo Nation as delicately as window curtains. For starters the article is about a seventeen-year-old Youngman who disappeared on the Navajo Nation during the 1930s. As the author investigates the man’s death the reader catches many of the common elements of the Navajo Nation draped throughout the story. The influence and power of the FBI and United State Federal Government has left a signature mark on the development and establishment of the Navajo Nation.
The Navajo Nation has refused to adopt a new government under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 three times (Navajo). Yet, the Navajo governing council works with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to enforce laws and perform routine work within the reservation. All proposed laws are reviewed by the United States Secretary of the Interior of Secretarial Review board (Navajo). There are elections on the reservation and members are expected to follow the Navajo Tribal Code. When the Navajo Nation was established Window Rock, Arizona was designated as the capital city because it was near the Fort Defiance army base.
In the article the influence the Federal government has over the area is lightly laced throughout the story. In the article when Bellson discovers the skeleton he calls the author and then the FBI according to Navajo Nation regulations. Bellson recounts that as soon as the FBI agent from Monticello saw the corps she declared it a Navajo Burial site, and concluded that it should not be disturbed. Later Bellson contacted Maldonado, the supervisory archaeologist in the Cultural Resource Compliance Section of the Navajo Nation. After Maldonado reviewed the skeleton he concluded that if it was a traditional Navajo Burial the face would have been turned east, in the crevice there would have been the saddle, and the horse would have been killed too.
In the article when Aneth Nez, Bellson’s grandfather, was after being diagnosed with cancer at a modern hospital he visited a medicine man to cure him. When the medicine man learned that Aneth had moved the corps of the murder victim in the 1930’s the medicine man told Aneth that he needed to take a piece of hair from the skeleton to help him ride the spirit. At the end of the five-day curing ceremony the medicine man shot the lock of hair he had collected with a gun, to destroy it completely. The irony in this story demonstrates how inescapable the influence of the Technoloyg, and the United States government has had on the Diné. Although Aneth wanted to be cured traditionally and not according to white man medicine. The ceremony included a gun. The two different cultures are as close together as the mud covered hogans and leaking trailers that are seen side-by-side from the highway. Today, the location of Window Rock, a forgotten skeleton lying in the sand, and the tradition and modern health services are only a few examples of the many influence the Federal Government has had over the regional development of the Navajo Nation.
Some of the changes on the Navajo Nation have seemed to happen as slowly as the formation of window rock, while other changes are like the long stretches of high way that extend from one end of the reservation to the other without seeming to end and begin. Still some of the changes are as drastic as the first snow fall: cold, harsh, and slowly melted by the sun. The truth is that in a place with so many differences change is inevitable. One family vacation, I remember feeling the four metallic state line markers trace across my back as I laid on the four-corner plaque smiling for the camera. My heart felt as if it was pounding so deep into the earth that if I stood up I might just lift the whole earth up with me, and I only rolled over off the plaque when my brother insisted it was his turn to try. The plaque itself was hard and the metal pocked and probed me; I had lain with my arms and legs spread out hundreds of times on picnic blankets—why I can still remember that summer vacation was because I knew I was at a place where differences were meeting. When I was there I could not help but to feel a part of the earth and a part of something grander than myself. The Navajo Nations gives me this same feeling, the sensation that beauty can only come at the place were differences can meet.
Navajo Tribe. Social Studies. Web http://www.kidport.com/reflib/SocialStudies/NativeAmericans/Navajo.htm Web 22 January, 2011.
Our News Wrap-up! Best Friends Animal Society. Web http://www.bestfriends.org/ Web 22 January, 2011.
