History of the Navajos
The Navajo Nation
Linda Yearley
August 06, 2012
ANT
Professor Henninger
Urbanization, to most societies and peoples, is seen as a blessing to this world; creating an ever efficient, rapid paced lifestyle, full of the hustle-and-bustle of city life. To others, it is the polar opposite of a blessing. The Navajo Nation, as a whole, is a culture conceptualized heavily upon agrarian roots utilizing “mother nature” to sustain herself for over 400 years.
The Navajo Indians revolved around a culture that was developed on the Dine be’ iina (DBI) also known as the Navajo life way. The DBI was predominantly supported by the Navajo-churro sheep and livestock that created a pastoralist culture that was dependent on the coarse wool for both social and economic development through the 1600’s-1900’s (Linford, 2000). The introduction of churro-sheep to a patristic Navajo helped create their cultural identity, political organization, ideological theology, strengthened a material culture, and developed a holistic approach to the development of their social and economic structure.
Navajo pastoralism arose in the eighteenth century from the semi-arid canyons of the DBI homeland, where women and men incorporated Spanish livestock into their world and gave them indigenous meanings. The DBI was, in fact, matrilineal, traditionally their migration and residence patterns followed kinship patterns through the female bloodline. The Navajo Nation spread out across the region and promoted the adoption of an ancient pastoral pattern known as transhumance, the seasonal migrations from one ecological zone to another that made herding in this arid land possible. They called their expansive landscape the Dine Bikeyah (Weisiger, 2009). At one point during the Mexican-American War the government threatened Navajo pastoralism by moving them out of their homelands when Anglo-Americans started moving into the Southwest. They
Linda Yearley
August 06, 2012
ANT
Professor Henninger
Urbanization, to most societies and peoples, is seen as a blessing to this world; creating an ever efficient, rapid paced lifestyle, full of the hustle-and-bustle of city life. To others, it is the polar opposite of a blessing. The Navajo Nation, as a whole, is a culture conceptualized heavily upon agrarian roots utilizing “mother nature” to sustain herself for over 400 years.
The Navajo Indians revolved around a culture that was developed on the Dine be’ iina (DBI) also known as the Navajo life way. The DBI was predominantly supported by the Navajo-churro sheep and livestock that created a pastoralist culture that was dependent on the coarse wool for both social and economic development through the 1600’s-1900’s (Linford, 2000). The introduction of churro-sheep to a patristic Navajo helped create their cultural identity, political organization, ideological theology, strengthened a material culture, and developed a holistic approach to the development of their social and economic structure.
Navajo pastoralism arose in the eighteenth century from the semi-arid canyons of the DBI homeland, where women and men incorporated Spanish livestock into their world and gave them indigenous meanings. The DBI was, in fact, matrilineal, traditionally their migration and residence patterns followed kinship patterns through the female bloodline. The Navajo Nation spread out across the region and promoted the adoption of an ancient pastoral pattern known as transhumance, the seasonal migrations from one ecological zone to another that made herding in this arid land possible. They called their expansive landscape the Dine Bikeyah (Weisiger, 2009). At one point during the Mexican-American War the government threatened Navajo pastoralism by moving them out of their homelands when Anglo-Americans started moving into the Southwest. They
References: Gilpin, L. 1968. The Enduring Navaho. (University of Texas Press). Austin, TX. Weisiger, M. 2009. Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country. (University of Washington Press). American Scientist, Volume 98. Strawn, S, Littrell, M. 2007. Returning Navajo-Churro Sheep for Navajo Weaving. (Journal of Cloth and Culture, Oxford International Publishers Ltd). Berg Publishers. Austin, R.D. 2009. Navajo Courts and Common Law: A Tradition of Tribal Self-Governance. (Ashford University ed). University of Minnesota Press. Linford, L.D. 2000. Navajo Places: History, Legend, Landscape. (Ashford University ed.) University of Utah Press.