Nihikéyah: Navajo Homeland

by Lloyd L. Lee (Editor)

Overview

This anthology of essays offers perspectives of the Navajo homeland, nihikéyah, highlighting Diné examinations and understandings of the land.

While various books have investigated Native American reservations and homelands, this book is from Diné individuals’ experiences, observations, and examinations. Poets, writers, and scholars frame their thoughts on four key questions: What are the thoughts/perspectives on nihikéyah/Navajo homeland? What challenges does nihikéyah face in the coming generations, and what should all peoples know about nihikéyah? And how can nihikéyah build a strong and positive Navajo Nation for the rest of this century and beyond?

The authors come from a variety of backgrounds and use multiple approaches to discuss Diné history in the U.S. Southwest, as well as forward-looking examinations of the Navajo Nation.
Together, the essays shed new light on Diné homeland and the challenges to the Navajo homeland and its peoples.

Contributors
Mario Atencio
Shawn Attakai
Wendy Shelly Greyeyes
Rex Lee Jim
Manny Loley
Jonathan Perry
Jake Skeets
Jennifer Jackson Wheeler

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780816552269
Publisher:	University of Arizona Press
Publication date:	10/31/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	210
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Lloyd L. Lee is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and a professor of Native American studies at the University of New Mexico. He is the editor of the Wicazo Sa Review journal, the former book review editor for American Indian Quarterly, the editor of Navajo Sovereignty, and the author of Diné Identity in a Twenty-First-Century World.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

’E’e’aah / West

Introduction

Ha’a’aah / East

1. Ha’a’aahdéé’ Ntsékees: Concepts of Land from an Eastern Navajo Leader / Jonathan Perry

2. Dinétahdi Kéédahwiit’ínígíí Ayóo Dahnihidziil / Mario Atencio

Shádi’ááh/ South

3. Form, Memory: Mapping Land Through Diné Poetry / Jake Skeets

4. “My Breath Is Rain Essence”: Ruminations on Rain, Land, Language, Time, and Storytelling in Diné Thought / Manny Loley

5. Challenges to Diné Bikéyah in 2023: Nihikéyah Bich’ááh Yéiilti’Doo / Shawn Attakai

6. Rethinking Nihikéyah Consciousness: Defying Lateral Animosities and Bureaucratic Mazes of Homesite Lease Living / Wendy Shelly Greyeyes

Náhookos/ North

7. The Footprints We Leave: Claiming Stewardship over Diné Bikéyah / Rex Lee Jim

8. On the Land That Holds My Birth Cord / Jennifer Jackson Wheeler

Conclusion

Glossary

Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

“Nihikéyah brings together Diné voices from the people on the ground and on the frontlines of the fight over land and climate change in a world devastated by colonialism. They shed light on how the struggle for survival as Diné and human beings requires sustaining a connection to the homeland between the sacred mountains—a reminder of how all lands are kin.”—Farina King, co-author of Returning Home: Diné Creative Works from the Intermountain Indian School

“This collection of Diné knowledge holders offers their thoughts, experiences, and viewpoints on the topic of the Navajo connection to their traditional homelands. The authors harness a variety of backgrounds and approaches to discuss the role of land as it relates to both Diné history in the U.S. Southwest and more forward-looking discussions of the state of affairs on the Navajo Nation, with content split equally between literary and academic analyses. Together, these essays do a fine job of illustrating the complex state of nihikéyah, ‘our land,’ as viewed by Diné experts themselves and offer lessons for other communities—both Indigenous and otherwise—about how they might think about their own interconnections between land, people, culture, and politics.”—Wade Campbell, Boston University— -

“Nihikéyah brings together Diné voices from the people on the ground and on the frontlines of the fight over land and climate change in a world devastated by colonialism. They shed light on how the struggle for survival as Diné and human beings requires sustaining a connection to the homeland between the sacred mountains—a reminder of how all lands are kin.”—Farina King, co-author of Returning Home: Diné Creative Works from the Intermountain Indian School

“This collection of Diné knowledge holders offers their thoughts, experiences, and viewpoints on the topic of the Navajo connection to their traditional homelands. The authors harness a variety of backgrounds and approaches to discuss the role of land as it relates to both Diné history in the U.S. Southwest and more forward-looking discussions of the state of affairs on the Navajo Nation, with content split equally between literary and academic analyses. Together, these essays do a fine job of illustrating the complex state of nihikéyah, ‘our land,’ as viewed by Diné experts themselves and offer lessons for other communities—both Indigenous and otherwise—about how they might think about their own interconnections between land, people, culture, and politics.”—Wade Campbell, Boston University

“An important exploration of the cultural significance of the Navajo homeland as told through Native voices.”—Choice Reviews— -

From the Publisher