Jennifer Nez Denetdale - Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita

Understanding complex Din kin relationships can be difficult even for the averageDin, like myself. In the hope of illuminating the complexities of matrilineal descentlineage, I include the following charts, which depict Manuelitos family from twoof his wives, Asdz T'gi and Asdz Tsin sikaadnii, both of whom resided in theTohatchi region and were well acquainted with each others families. The first chartincludes these two wives and their children. The second and third charts trace thefamilies of Manuelito and Asdz T'gis two daughters, with Dgh Ch be Asdzschildren on the second chart and Ak'inbaas children on the third. The fourth andfifth charts indicate the lineage of the grandparents whom I interviewed. As notedin these charts, the grandparents are descended from one of Manuelito and AsdzT'gis two daughters.

An interesting aspect of creating the lineage charts was my work with genealogistCheri Bytheway to modify genealogy chart designs that were intended to trace familiesthrough the paternal line. As I consulted with various grandparents, uncles, andaunts, I was sometimes given different information on the same person for such itemsas names, dates of birth and death, the order of siblings, and the names of husbands.It was interesting to listen to the conversation as relatives discussed their ancestors.

One of the reasons I include these charts is to remind us T'gi of our kin relationshipsto each other. Also, to preserve privacy and confidentiality, I trace lineage onlyup to my grandparents genera tion. I also include birth dates and dates of deathif they are available to me. I want to provide the descendants with the charts sothat they will understand the relationships of their grandparents, and I includemy own lineage as well.

I appreciate the input and encouragement provided by Larson Manuelito, who is descendedfrom Manuelito and Asdz Tsin sikaadnii and whose grandfather was Naaltsoos Neiyh.Of course, any mistakes are solely my own, and I provide these charts in the hopethat my relatives will develop the lineage by adding their own family and relativesto them.

James, Indian Blankets and Their Makers, 112.

For spellings of Navajo words, I rely on Austin and Lynch, Saad Ahaah Sinil; andWall and Morgan, Navajo-English Dictionary. Roseann Willink and Marilyn Help Hoodwere very generous in assisting me with Navajo spellings. Any errors I have madein translating or spelling Navajo words and phrases are my own. When referring toa specific work that utilizes Navajo words, I use the spelling preferred by the author.I find written Navajo and especially the dictionaries confusing and unfriendly tothe average Navajo. Even though teachers of the Navajo language insist that thereis a standard orthography, Navajo language teachers teach the written word differently.I look forward to the day when a Navajo language scholar or linguist creates a user-friendlyorthography.

Juanitas dress is featured in Whitaker, Common Threads, 59. See also Whitaker,Southwest Textiles, 5557, 206, 207.

Navajo textile studies provide histories, classifications, and descriptions ofthe various textiles that Navajo weavers have created. See, for example, Hedlund,More Survival than an Art.

James, Indian Blankets and Their Makers, 118.

See, for example, Lipps, Little History of the Navajos.

For example, at a Navajo Studies conference, anthropologist James Faris delivereda presentation in which he noted that Navajos and the specialists who study themoften come to sharp disagreements over Navajo beliefs, values, and ways of being.Faris suggests that Navajo Studies scholars scrutinize carefully non-Navajo explanations,and consider more carefully ways of comprehending and understanding Navajo truthson their own terms. See Faris, Taking Navajo Truths Seriously, 182, 183.

Lyon, Navajos in the Anglo-American Historical Imagination; and Navajos inthe American Historical Imagination.

Trask, From a Native Daughter; Linda T. Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies; Stevenson,Decolonizing Tribal Histories; Cruikshank, Images of Society, 2041; and SocialLife of Stories; Waziyatawin A. Wilson, Remember This!; Andrea Smith, Conquest; andSaid, Orientalism.

Bsumek, Navajos as Borrowers.

Rappaport, Politics of Memory.

I base this information on oral histories and Richard Van Valkenburghs genealogychart in the Navajo Land Claims Papers, Navajo Nation Library, Window Rock, Ariz.

Said, Culture and Imperialism, xii.

There are different meanings attached to Dintah and Din Bikyah. Dintah mostoften refers to the sacred ground that lies between the four sacred mountains aswell as the region where the ancestors emerged from the lower worlds. Din Bikyah,which means Navajo Land, is also used to refer to our territory and usually refersto lands within the four sacred mountains and to the present Navajo Nation.

For English versions of Navajo creation narratives, see Zolbrod, Din Bahane';Yazzie, Navajo History; and Matthews, Navaho Legends.

Jim, Moment in My Life, 232.

Brugge, Navajo Prehistory and History, 489501.

Spicer, Cycles of Conquest.

Forbes, Apache, Navaho, and Spaniard.

Young, Role of the Navajo, 1923.

McNitt, Navajo Wars; Brugge, Navajos in the Catholic Church Records; Brooks,This Evil, 97121; Violence, Justice, and State Power, 2360; and Captivesand Cousins.

Locke, Book of the Navajo; Sundberg, Dintah; Iverson, Din; and Gerald Thompson,Army and the Navajo.

Gerald Thompson, Army and the Navajo.

See, for example, Broderick H. Johnson, Navajo Stories of the Long Walk Period.

Alexie, Redeemers; and American Indian Filmmaker/Writer Talks. 26. AmericanIndian and Alaska Native Population 2000

For studies of Navajo removal from Big Mountain, see Kammer, Second Long Walk;Brugge, Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute; and Benedek, The Wind Wont Know Me.

Tapahonso, Sanii Dahataa, 3, 4.

Cruikshank, Images of Society; Cohen, Undefining of Oral Tradi tion; Farisand Walters, Navajo History; Pratt, Some Navajo Relations; Morrow and Schneider,When Our Words Return; Hill, History, Power, and Identity; Angela C. Wilson, Grandmotherto Granddaughter, 2736; Waziyatawin A. Wilson, Remember This!; and Nabokov, NativeViews of History, 159.

Waziyatawin A. Wilson, Remember This!