Preview

Navajo Nation

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1463 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation

Hope Thatcher

Intro. Cultural Anthropology

Dr. Janis McFaul

February, 6 2012

The Navajo nation is the largest native tribe in the United States. They are a society built on harmony with Mother Earth. They believe that everything has a purpose whether it be good or evil. They rely on the land for nourishment and medicine. They are a proud tribe and have close family unity. The Navajo are a peaceful tribe and strong in values.

Introduction I will discuss a few interesting topics with you in this essay. The Navajo Nation, is in my option, is one of the most beautiful tribes. The name “Navajo” comes from the Pueblo Indian word for planting fields. The name was given to this tribe because they were farmers. The Navajo ways of family structure is strong and proud. Children do not want to disappoint their parents. Harmony is a daily goal. The respect for one another is a beautiful thing. “The basic principle of K”e ', meaning relationships comprised of kindness, love, cooperation, thoughtfulness, friendliness, and peacefulness guides interaction among family members in the extended matrilineal kinship network and among clan members”. (Morgan, F. 2002; Witherspoon 1983) The Navajo nation are proud people who are deserving of great respect. Their harmonious ways could be a template for others to follow.
Horticulturalist
“The Navajo were traditionally cultivators, although many now herd sheep, which they acquired from the Spanish”. (Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia) They have four primary plants that they harvest; beans, corn, squash, and tobacco. Corn being the most important. The Navajo share a spiritual connection with Mother Earth, so knowledge and respect of the plants



References: Denetdale, J. Chairmen, Presidents, and Princesses :The Navajo Nation, Gender, and the Politics of Tradition Wica 20 Sa Review, Vol. 21, no. 1., Spring 2006 p. 13 University of Minnesota Press. DOI: 10. 1353/wic. 2006.0004 Lee, L. The Future of Navajo Nationalism wicazoSa Review, vol.22, no.1., Spring 2006 p.54 University of Minnesota Press DOI: 10.1353/ wic. 2007.0008 Navajo. (2010) The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather guide. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/ entry/ heliconhe/navajo Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology:Health and Illness in the World 's Cultures. Dordrecht: Springer Science & Business Media 2004.s.v. “Navajo” http://www.credoreference.com/entry/sprmedanth/navajo

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Thesis: Modern Native American traditions reflect the history of struggle, strife and triumph they experienced in history.…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ant 101 Week 3

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Navajo of yesterday and today are best known as the Dine, a southwest territory in the Native American. The Navajos are the second largest tribe in the United States. The primary mode of survival is pastoralist. In the next few pages I will talk about three major way of everyday living of the Navajos. The beliefs and values, social organizations and sickness and healing.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    HIS206

    • 1484 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Wittstock, L. W., & Salinas, E. J. (n.d.). A Brief History of the American Indian Movement. Retrieved from http://www.aimovement.org/ggc/history.html…

    • 1484 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Navajo Indians

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Lee, L., & Lee, T. (2012). Navajo cultural autonomy. International Journal of Sociology of Language, 2010(213), 119-126.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Cherokee are perhaps one of the most interesting of Native American Groups. Their life and culture are closely intertwined with early American settlers and the history of our own nation 's struggle for freedom. In the interest of promoting tolerance and peace, and with regard to the United States government 's handling of Native affairs, their story is one that is painful, stoic, and must not be forgotten.…

    • 3023 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    References: Denetdale, J., (2009), Living through the Generations: Continuity and Change in Navajo Women 's Lives /…

    • 1078 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Choctaw Indians of Alabama are a band of Indians that managed to remain behind in the outer regions of north Mobile and south Washington counties after their tribal lands were given up to the United States in 1830. Beginning in 1830, the most significant period of their removal from their homelands, the majority of the Choctaw tribe was forced along the Trail of Tears settling on reservation lands in Mississippi and Oklahoma. A small group of about 45 families avoided removal by settling and hiding out in the woods surrounding the small communities of Citronelle, Mt. Vernon, and McIntosh. “There were four major families: the Reed, Weaver, Byrd, and Rivers families. The next largest are the Snow, Johnston, Taylor, Orso, Chestang, and Fields families. Other family names that appear often within the group are Evans, Davis, Cole, Frazier, Smith, Lofton, Hopkins, and Sullivan” (Matte, Greenbaum and Brown, Origins of the MOWA Band of Choctaws). Over time, other Indians in the area that were without tribal communities of their own joined the Choctaw Indians of Alabama. Today, the Choctaw Indians of Alabama are known as the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians. This tribe took on the name of MOWA in the 1970’s when they began to seek government recognition to identify the Indians in Mobile and Washington Counties who are descended from several Indian Tribes: Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, Mescalero, and Apache. Over time the tribal members have intermarried or partnered with nearly 30 different tribes nationally. The name MOWA is an acronym which combines the first syllables of Mobile and Washington counties; the two counties where the tribal reservation straddles both counties. The name “MOWA” does have a distinctive ring to it; but the name does not have deep roots in Indian linguistics. It was taken on because it was similar to…

    • 2130 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo is a documentary by award-winning producer and director John Howe. This poignant film tells the story of an attempted cultural stripping of the Navajo people, a story that needs to be committed to memory as part of this nation's imperative and important past. The resilient Navajo people are still here today despite their story, and they deserve to be remembered as part of the initial founding fabric of the United States. This movie reveals the movement of the U.S. against the Navajo tribes in the early 1860s, which transformed the Navajo’s life of peace in to one of misery. More than eight thousand Navajos were marched at gunpoint through the scorched desert with nothing but the clothes on their backs to a desolate reservation next to the New Mexico border, Bosque Redondo. Hundreds of Navajo died during the march and also during the four years of forced isolation. This catastrophe is simply recalled as “The Long Walk.""The landscape of the American West is washed by a thousand tears," pronounces John Howe. "The Long Walk of the Navajo is a story that should never be forgotten." He is utterly correct.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Navajo Economy

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The history of the Navajo economy is that of a relationship among the surrounding communities (Francisconi, 1998). Since the coming of the Spanish in the late 1500’s this relationship has been one of integration into larger world community. The historical study of the Navajo is one of increasing colonial pressure against the Navajo way of life. Also, the Navajo history is one of resilience and adaption in preservation of that cultural way of life by the Navajo.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Conducting research on the Navajo Indians was a tedious task because they have existed for over one thousand years.(Loyd, L., 2008). The amount of information available on Navajo Indians is unending, but focusing on their social and economic organization, as well as social change narrowed the search. The Internet was the main source of information, with Ashford University library being the resource portal. Proquest and Jstor were the main resources utilized because they were…

    • 2750 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Navajo were sheepherders, protectors over their herds. The wealth of the family was largely based on the amount of sheep, goats and cattle they owned.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dorothy Lee

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the western culture of today's society, we strongly stress the respect for other people's decision and the freedom for individual thought and belief, yet we are so accustomed to constantly judge and attempt to control others if their opinions or manners are not in an accordance with ours. Dorothy Lee is an anthropologist who studies and compares the western culture and the culture of the Navaho Indians. Through many aspects of this society she provides insight and alternative approaches into problems we experience from examining a culture that values freedom as something sacred, where individual autonomy is supported by the entire community and not subjected to age or gender. Simply put, the cultural framework of the Navaho Indians is the prospective goal of what the western society attempts to strive and achieve.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Choctaw Tribe

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages

    "Choctaw" UXL Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes-Volume 1. Sharon Malinowski, Anna Sheets, Linda Schmitroth. Detroit:1994 edition…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Historically, Native American tribes have struggled to keep their unique culture identities. This is largely due to the actions made by the federal and state governments as a result of ethnocentrism and indifference. In order to maintain cultural identity, generational traditions must continue from parents to their children and their children’s children. It is the very essence of how culture lives on in families and generations (Basic, 2004). From the time of the 1800’s, the Boarding School Movement, backed by the Federal Government, began the attempted cultural annihilation of the Native…

    • 3653 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mayan Tribe Research Paper

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Navajo or as they are know by their own culture as Diyin Diné, which means the holy people, is the largest Native American tribe in the United States. A nation established more than 600+ years ago, in a time before Christopher Columbus landed in the “New World”; the Navajo Indians is one of the oldest tribes located in our country. Located 2,313 miles to the south, another famous tribe existed. The Mayan Indians called the beautiful, tropical lowlands of present day Guatemala home. A culture that began around early 1800 B.C. as primarily an agriculture society until the cities were abandoned around 900 A.D. These two tribes were very similar to each other given that both tribes believed in similar gods and had similar traditions.…

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays