Representing Changing Woman: A Review Essay on Navajo Women

Denetdale, Jennifer Nez

doi:10.17953/aicr.25.3.k07mp524152k0011

Cited by 39 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Though traditional Indigenous teachings and the roles of Native women varied across tribal nations prior to colonization, in many of these Native communities women held diverse and prominent roles, for example, in areas of tribal affairs, decision making, and spirituality. Traditional female roles among the various Indigenous nations were ascribed great value (LaFromboise et al., 1990) with “Native women [experiencing] a measure of gender equality not seen in Western societies, but colonization had led to a decline in their status” (Denetdale, 2001, p. 2). The value of women can be further understood through the traditional stories, generations‐old tales held by some tribal nations of a people who looked to female deities, holy beings, spirits, and protectors.…”

Section: How We Got Herementioning

confidence: 99%

Fighting for our sisters: Community advocacy and action for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

Ficklin

Tehee

Killgore

et al. 2021

Journal of Social Issues

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Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) are victims of pervasive violence that began centuries ago, one that has gone unrecognized by governments, institutions, and society as a whole. To fight this silencing, Native communities have come together to decolonize the narrative, advocate for MMIWG, and honor the lost lives of their daughters, sisters, and matriarchs. We provide an overview of the history of MMIWG, the lack of response by the US government, and the decolonial action and advocacy by Native communities. However, we also go far beyond the typical academic article, in that we present both the factual information behind MMIWG and the emotional weight that each of the authors and those we know carry. We have incorporated stories, pictures, art, and the names of MMIWG to illustrate the ongoing reality of the attempted genocide of Native women and girls. We pray that this article aids in the honoring of our lost sisters and their families while bringing awareness of this tragedy to the eyes of those who can join us in fighting the silence.

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Section: How We Got Herementioning

confidence: 99%

Fighting for our sisters: Community advocacy and action for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

Ficklin

Tehee

Killgore

et al. 2021

Journal of Social Issues

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Rather, Navajo women struggle to claim their rightful places in a society that has traditionally acknowledged their contributions to the survival and continuity of the People. 62 Like Native women throughout the Americas, Navajo women have been active in reclaiming land, community, family, and traditional beliefs and values. As grandmothers, mothers, and daughters, they assert their rights to dictate land use, affi rming their authority at the community, clan, and family levels.…”

Section: N a T I O N A N D G E N D E Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chairmen, Presidents, and Princesses: The Navajo Nation, Gender, and the Politics of Tradition

Denetdale¹

2006

Wicazo Sa Review

124

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Literary Explorations into the Poetic Sonority of Contemporary Diné (Navajo) Poetry

Ramirez

2011

ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews

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Culturally and historically crafted poetics manifest commonalities across geographies, times, nations, and histories; there is also the specificity of voice that expresses the articulation of a people and their ancestral landscape. We can see this type of aesthetic commonality in some of the Diné (Navajo) rhythmical patterns in the work of four otherwise very different poets: Luci Tapahonso, Sherwin Bitsui, Laura Tohe, and Orlando White. Informed by a combined ecocritical and formalist lens that recognizes the centrality of language and land, this article offers a beginning literary exploration into Diné poetical expression that is spatially grounded within the sacred boundaries of Dinétah and orally storied through millennia of Diné lives, experience, history, ritual, belief, and song. Each of these four poets was raised on Diné lands, surrounded by family, clan, and tribe. It is inconceivable that their poetry would not be deeply shaped by the hues and sounds of place and community. 1 While this essay is clearly oriented through one tribe and its linguistic landscape, it is important to note that this is not an ethnopoetic approach that emphasizes ethnology over poetic craft. For work in this direction, anthropologist Anthony K. Webster has produced extensive ethnopoetic work on Navajo writing. 2 For the specific purposes of this article, I am interested in looking at the distinctive sonority and literariness of these poets' craft: their skilled utilization of strategic line and stanza breaks, caesurae and enjambment, indentation and centering, alliteration and assonance, rhyme and para-rhyme, parallelism and repetition, all to effect diverse writing styles that are nevertheless rooted within the rhythms and experiences of their indigenous Diné worlds (whether experiential or imagined, historical or personal, familial or mythic). Close focus on the craft of these writers demonstrates both commonalities and distinctions of sonority, resonance, and thematic undercurrents that 181 Downloaded by [Harvard Library] at 17:57 27 December 2014

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Representing Changing Woman: A Review Essay on Navajo Women

Cited by 39 publications

References 0 publications

Fighting for our sisters: Community advocacy and action for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

Fighting for our sisters: Community advocacy and action for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

Chairmen, Presidents, and Princesses: The Navajo Nation, Gender, and the Politics of Tradition

Literary Explorations into the Poetic Sonority of Contemporary Diné (Navajo) Poetry

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