Unraveling the Anchoring Cord: Navajo Relocation, 1974 to 1996

The Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act slated 10,000 Navajo for relocation off land partitioned to the Hopi. In the Navajo philosophical system, such forced relocation constitutes a breach of personhood; it ruptures relocatees' inalienable connections to their matrilineal homes, actuated through b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American anthropologist 1997-03, Vol.99 (1), p.43-55
Main Author: Schwarz, Maureen Trudelle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
American Indian Reservations
American Indians
Anthropology
Ceremonies
Childbirth
Children
Corrals
Cultural anthropology
Cultural Values
Diseases
Ecology
Ethnology
Family. Family relations
Federal legislation
History
Homes
Hopis
Human Ecology
Land settlement
Life cycle an individual status
Mothers
Native North Americans
Navaho
Navajo language
Personhood
Population movements
Religious Beliefs
Relocation
Reservation systems
Rites & ceremonies
Social structure and social relations
Social Values
U.S.A
Umbilical cord
Uto-Aztecan languages
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Summary:The Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act slated 10,000 Navajo for relocation off land partitioned to the Hopi. In the Navajo philosophical system, such forced relocation constitutes a breach of personhood; it ruptures relocatees' inalienable connections to their matrilineal homes, actuated through burial of their umbilical cords and other acts. Owing to the reciprocal nature of relations between the Navajo and the earth, the long-term debilitating effects are far-reaching. The well-being of Mother Earth is just as dependent on the care of those given stewardship over particular locales as Navajo are on the continuing nurturance of their mother, the earth.
ISSN:0002-7294
1548-1433
DOI:10.1525/aa.1997.99.1.43