1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910955967103321

Autore

Benally Malcolm D (Malcolm Darrin), <1971->

Titolo

Bitter water : Diné oral histories of the Navajo-Hopi land dispute / / translated and edited by Malcolm D. Benally ; photographs by Mary Fish ; foreword by Jennifer Nez Denetdale

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Tucson, : University of Arizona Press, c2011

ISBN

1-299-19163-0

0-8165-0662-0

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (178 p.)

Collana

First Peoples : New Directions in Indigenous Studies

Disciplina

979.1004/9726

Soggetti

Navajo women - Arizona - Black Mesa (Navajo County and Apache County)

Navajo women - Arizona - Black Mesa (Navajo County and Apache County) - Social conditions

Navajo Indians - Land tenure

Navajo Indians - Claims

Hopi Indians - Land tenure

Hopi Indians - Claims

Navajo language

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [99]-100) and index.

Nota di contenuto

""Contents""; ""List of Illustrations""; ""Foreword - Jennifer Nez Denetdale""; ""Preface""; ""Chronology""; ""The Travel Song""; ""Introduction""; ""1. Mae Tso, Mosquito Springs, Arizona""; ""2. Roberta Blackgoat, Thin Rock Mesa, Arizona""; ""3. Pauline Whitesinger, Big Mountain, Arizona""; ""4. Ruth Benally, Big Mountain, Arizona""; ""5. Sheep Is Life""; ""The Mutton Hunger - Malcolm Benally""; ""Epilogue""; ""Appendix: Natural Law and Navajo Religion/Way of Life - Roman Bitsuie and Kenja Hassan""; ""Notes""; ""Bibliography""; ""Index""

Sommario/riassunto

Many know that the removal and relocation of Indigenous peoples from traditional lands is a part of the United States' colonial past, but few know that--in an expansive corner of northeastern Arizona--the saga continues. The 1974 Settlement Act officially divided a reservation established almost a century earlier between the Dine (Navajo) and the



Hopi, and legally granted the contested land to the Hopi. To date, the U.S. government has relocated between 12,000 and 14,000 Dine from Hopi Partitioned Lands, and the Dine--both there and elsewhere--continue to live with the legacy of this relocation. "Bitter Water" presents the narratives of four Dine women who have resisted removal but who have watched as their communities and lifeways have changed dramatically. The book, based on 25 hours of filmed personal testimony, features the women's candid discussions of their efforts to carry on a traditional way of life in a contemporary world that includes relocation and partitioned lands; encroaching Western values and culture; and devastating mineral extraction and development in the Black Mesa region of Arizona. Though their accounts are framed by insightful writings by both Benally and Dine historian Jennifer Nez Denetdale, Benally lets the stories of the four women elders speak for themselves. Scholars, media, and other outsiders have all told their versions of this story, but this is the first book that centers on the stories of women who have lived it--in their own words in Navajo as well as the English translation. The result is a living history of a contested cultural landscape and the unique worldview of women determined to maintain their traditions and lifeways, which are so intimately connected to the land. This book is more than a collection of stories, poetry, and prose. It is a chronicle of resistance as spoken from the hearts of those who have lived it.