Long Days Journey into Night: Collaboration and Research on The Navajo Reservation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Collaborative and Community-Based Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since the late 1800’s starting with Washington Matthew, The Navajo People, (Dine’) have been asked to share their traditional stories and life styles. Research was never collaborative and always reinterpreted by others to suit their world views. Archaeology, ethnography and medical research was at the mercy of the person collecting the data and their personal views of how the data fit the academic norm. That changed in the Navajo Nation in the early 1990s. The Navajo Nation Council created the Navajo Historic Preservation Department, and the Navajo Human Health Review Board (aka the Institutional Review Board, IRB) both decisions influenced how research was conducted within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo reservation. Two projects were initiated, the first a coal mine expansion that interrupted archaeology, and the second the protection of a sacred site on the Navajo Reservation claimed by the Hopi Tribe. Both projects showcased collaboration, community involvement, and most importantly the views and beliefs of the Dine.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Collaborative and Community-Based Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24727