This edited volume is part of the University of Arizona Press’s Critical Issues in Indigenous Studies series. Its twelve authors were asked to share their thoughts on how to understand and live by a major metaphor for Navajos, Sa’ah Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhó?ó?n(SNBH), in today’s global world. This major philosophical principle essentially means that people should strive toward living a long, happy, peaceful life in harmony with the universe and everything in it. SNBH, a multidimensional sacred paradigm, was given to the Earth-Surface People or Navajos by the Holy People and thus is shared by all Diné. To my knowledge, this unique volume is the first indigenous-authored one to focus on questions about how Navajos can respect tradition and use embodied knowledge in their contemporary lives.
The authors, except for Gregory Cajete who is Tewa from Santa Clara Pueblo, are all Navajos to some degree. In addition to the six identified below, they include: Vincent Werito, Larry W. Emerson, Jennifer Nez Denetdale, Yolynda Begay, Kim Baca, and Tiffany S. Lee. Four authors have multiple contributions in the volume: Lloyd L. Lee as editor and author, both Vanaya Yazzie and Esther Belin as artists and poets, and Shawn Secatero as poet and author. Many of the contributors have ties to University of New Mexico through faculty positions and/or graduate degrees. Authors’ specializations are diverse, including American Studies and Native American Studies, community planning, marketing, ecology, development, sociology, the arts, communication, and education. Two authors, Melanie K. Yazzie and Andrew Curley, were PhD candidates at the time of publication.
Diné Perspectives is organized into four parts. The first, “Frames of Understanding,” is preceded by a poem by Secatero and drawing by Belin, and ends with a poem and drawing by V. Yazzie. The intent is that the poems reflect the essence of each section while the images provide appropriate visual metaphors. The second part, “Analyses of Methodologies,” concludes with a poem and drawing by V. Yazzie. In this case, the image also appears in color on the cover, underscoring my own wish that all images could have been reproduced in color. The third part, “Political Challenges,” is “wrapped up” by another poem by V. Yazzie, while the final part, “Paths for the Future,” again ends with another poem and drawing by V. Yazzie. While some figures but no other images are included, M. Yazzie’s chapter includes two other poets, Lucy Tapahonso and Sherwin Bitsui, but only the latter can be found in the index.
As people, the Diné are already living in a self-determination era where worldviews or matrices have noticeably become more individualistic, less unified, and less tied to community. Given such changes, the authors, sharing personal stories and experiences of how SNBH plays out in their daily lives, provide diverse illustrations of how indigenous philosophical principles can be expressed, made meaningful, and reintegrated in constructions of identity, family, community, and nation. Numerous issues are discussed, such as identity, intellectual and cultural sovereignty, power, violence, resisting settler colonialism, language revitalization, some of the Nation’s numerous challenges, and living in a decolonized way. Given the challenges and multifaceted qualities of understanding and living by SNBH, this major philosophical principle in Navajo life, as well as the diversity of backgrounds, training, experiences, and interests of the authors, it is no wonder that the resulting volume is richly diverse—its major characteristic actually is diversity of thoughts, perspectives, suggestions, ways of knowing, interpreting, and living.
While all the topics discussed in the volume are of importance, for me two were of particular interest. First were the multiple considerations of the importance of oral narrative, oral history, and sharing personal experiences, while also recognizing, as Curley does (with archival data from Solon Kimball [137-139] and an idea from James Scott’s 2009 work, The Art of Not Being Governed), the flexibility of narratives, oral traditions, changing historical interpretations, and the benefits of flexibility and adaptation that are enjoyed by oral culture but are not available to written tradition. Second were the discussions of the need for critical research, critical activist Diné studies, and the suggestions about interdisciplinary methodologies and perspectives that might be useful in such work.
A few editorial criticisms are warranted. There are some inconsistencies that some readers may find troublesome. Examples include different translations of IAIA, lack of agreement on which tribe is the largest, whether “data” is singular or plural, different spellings of ’asdzáá, whether colleagues should be addressed with academic title or not, and so forth. One other problem is more frustrating, namely the need to give readers translations for Navajo terms the first time they appear. While the editor gives excellent attention to discussing the central paradigm, SNBH (3-8), terms such as Bíla ashdla’ii, k’é, nóogazi, k’eenisbishi, and k’éí are among others not as fortunate.
Despite these criticisms, the volume is timely and much needed as an example of ongoing work that will assist Navajos in decolonizing and indigenizing their lives as individuals, family and community members, and citizens of the Navajo Nation. The collection’s diversity is one of its major attractions. Clearly other groups of Navajos equally involved in different occupations would have other experiences and perspectives on embodied knowledge to offer. One can only hope that the stories shared herein will inspire others involved in the work of decolonization to reflect on SNBH in today’s world, and to use the tools of decolonization to start, join in, and then share discussions of the paradigm. Once people living in the self-determination era actively consider how to know and understand this central philosophy, how to creatively interpret and integrate it into contemporary life, it will be possible to live according to it. That without question will ensure that SNBH remains central in Diné thinking, planning, living, and reflecting, and that the People live long, happy, harmonious lives.
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[Review length: 968 words • Review posted on December 3, 2014]