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E-book
Author Benally, Malcolm D. (Malcolm Darrin), 1971-

Title 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
Published Tucson : University of Arizona Press, ©2011

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Description 1 online resource (xx, 102 pages) : illustrations
Series First Peoples : New Directions in Indigenous Studies
First Peoples : New Directions in Indigenous Studies
Contents 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
Summary 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 Diné (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 Diné from Hopi Partitioned Lands, and the Diné--both there and elsewhere--continue to live with the legacy of this relocation. Bitter Water presents the narratives of four Diné 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 Diné 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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-100) and index
Subject Navajo women -- Arizona -- Black Mesa (Navajo County and Apache County) -- Interviews
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 -- Texts
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
Hopi Indians
Hopi Indians -- Land tenure
Navajo Indians
Navajo Indians -- Land tenure
Navajo language
Navajo women
Arizona -- Black Mesa (Navajo County and Apache County)
Genre/Form Claims
Interviews
Texts
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2010047385
ISBN 9780816506620
0816506620
1299191630
9781299191631
OTHER TI First peoples. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n00110011