Land and the Social Consequences of Land Loss: Navajo Oral History, Ethnoarchaeology, and Spatial Analysis at Wupatki National Monument, Arizona

Summary

There is a contentious history between Navajo families living in the Wupatki Basin, ranchers, and the National Park Service. The creation of the monument in 1924 gradually displaced indigenous residents from ancestral homelands leading to loss of territory and connection to family. Here I focus on change in Euroamerican demands for land and federal management policies, as well as Navajo kinship, family dynamics, and oral history as told by descendants of the first Navajo settlers in the Wupatki Basin.

Using spatial analysis of settlements to discern Wupatki Navajo land use patterns before and after the establishment of the monument, I demonstrate the historic and ongoing importance of land and the social consequences of land loss for Navajo people. My findings are that the intersection of external pressures and internal factors led to disruption of traditional lifeways, values, and family, as well as loss of connection to culture.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20890