Abstract
A paper that discusses the use of peyote among Navajo Indians and their implications on religious and medical utility.

Tags:peyote, navajo, indians

From the Paper
"The Navajo Indians are perhaps one of the most fascinating of the American Indian groups to study. Their courage, stamina and perseverence as a people speak highly for the psychological and even physical unity which their religion supplies.

The Navajos did not appear in the southwest United States until 1000 - 200 A.D. They had probably come from across the Bering Strait and down along the west coast of the United States although there is some evidence from religious ideas from the Plains Indians woven into their ideas, that they might have first come south along the east side of the Rocky Mountains and then filtered into the southwest.

Once in the southwest the Navajos took advantage of the Hopi ... "

Abstract
The paper looks at how in her chapter "Individual Autonomy and Social Structure," Dorothy Lee addresses the key social problem of how we reconcile social structure and order with the perceived need for individual freedom and autonomy. The paper looks at how she examines several societies in which she argues that this conflict has been successfully resolved, including several North American aboriginal societies. The paper shows how Lee illustrates her point by showing how this key social problem has been resolved in the society of the Navajo Indians of North America.

From the Paper
"In her chapter "Individual Autonomy and Social Structure," Dorothy Lee addresses the key social problem of how we may reconcile social structure and order with the perceived need for individual freedom and autonomy. She examines several societies in which she argues that this conflict has been successfully resolved, including several North American Aboriginal societies. As will be shown in this essay, Lee illustrates her point by showing how this key social problem has been resolved in the society of the Navajo Indians of North America. In particular, she examines how this issue has been resolved in the challenging area of child-rearing."

Tags:anthropology, navaho, lee

Abstract
This paper will discuss the aspects of Navajo life on the reservation. The role of the mother and infant will be brought to the forefront of this study. The breastfeeding, bed sharing, baby call, and baby-wearing will be covered to give an idea of how these social practices are practiced in Indian life. By understanding the interrelationships that exist between mother and child, we can see how the life of the Navajo people is transmitted through the raising of their children.

Abstract
This paper studies the research of Kelly and Francis in "Navajo Sacred Places" and suggests that through understanding the non-natives can come to understand the importance of land and consider it as 'sacred' as the Natives do.

Abstract
In this book review of Nathan Aaseng's "Navajo Code Talkers", the author talks about what he learnt from the book. He discusses the important role of Navajo Indians in World War II as code talkers. The author highlights how, thanks to the Navajo code talkers many battles were won in World War II and cites many examples of where and how it was used. The paper talks about how, in Aaseng's book, the way that volunteer code talkers were recruited and how they were trained. He also discusses the dangers that these code talkers were subjected to during their work, but most importantly the good that they were able to do during the war. The author concludes that the book, helps one with a clear understanding of the situation, how the Navajo men got involved, and the importance of taking their very complex language and using it for the good of the nation.

From the Paper
"The success of several battles in the Pacific and of other battles during the period of the Second World War depended to a great extent on the Navajo code talkers. It was Philip Johnston, one of the few non-Navajos to speak their language fluently, and son of a missionary to those Natives, who first had the idea to use Navajo Language for secure telephone and radio communications. Johnston met Major General Vogel of USMC (United States Marine Corps) and his staff in 1942 to convince them of the value of Navajo Language as a code. 29 Navajo men were recruited by the Marine Corps, and developed a code for field transmission of message based on their language. And the necessities of the military communications resulted in the Navajo Marine code-talker recruits developing themselves a set of extensions of their language, which form the code. They then brought down their ideas to lists that could be memorized."

Tags:information, troops, language, fluently, communications, war, scenes

Abstract
This paper briefly discusses "In Search of History: Navajo Code Talkers" , a documentary produced in 1998 by Triage, Inc. for the History Channel which tells the incredible story of the Navajo Indians' contribution to the United States (US) and the Allied Forces victory during World War II. It looks at how the documentary tells the story of the young Navajo tribesmen volunteered to enlist in the US Marine Corps in the early 1940s.

From the Paper
"Some of the black and white images used were superimposed over desert terrain to simulate movement when the Navajos were displaced from their ancestral tribal land. No special camera angles or lighting were used in this fairly straightforward documentary, but editing did include scanning the camera over black and white images to make them seem more alive. Live action World War II footage of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the fight for Iwo Jima were riveting and helped clarify the vital importance of the contributions these heroic young men were making."

Tags:World, War, II, Iwo, Jima

Abstract
The paper sets out to show that the treaty signed between the United States Government and the Navajo tribe in 1863 was more humane and considerate of the interests of the Navajo people as opposed to those of the US government. The paper claims that this was the exception rather than the rule and provides a comparison between the 1863 US/Navajo treaty and the US/Western Shoshone treaty signed in the same year which effectively ended the cultural framework of that tribe.

From the Paper
"Although it is fair to say that most of the treaties created between the United States government and the former rulers of the Americas, the native tribes, were inequitable and favored the interests of the American government rather than the native populace, it would be unfair to say that all of them were equally inequitable. For example, the 1863 Treaty between the United States and the Navajo Tribe of Indians showed more consideration for the native tribes on reservations, giving them land and the watchful oversight of a commissioner to protect the members of the tribe against injustices. This is in profound contrast to the earlier 1863 United States Treaty with the Western Shoshone, which made the concessions supposedly granted by the American government entirely upon the good will of the President. Specific provisions were not detailed in the language of the treaty and it called the members of the native tribes 'bad' (i.e. savages), rather than equal negotiating parties. Its language was formulaic, rather than took into consideration the unique nature of the tribe and its rights."

Tags:indians, west, formulaic, boilerplate, native, reservations, homeland

Abstract
This essay presents a comparison of Zui and Navajo religious rituals, burial practices, and beliefs in an afterlife as revealed in Tony Hillerman's novel, Dance Hall of the Dead. While investigating the murder of twelve year old Zu'i, Ernesto Cata, who was scheduled to perform an important role in the Zui Shalako festival, "the most holy period of the Zui year," Joe Leaphorn must analyze various facets of Zui religion including gods, Kachinas, rituals, beliefs and dances. He naturally compares these concepts with his own Navajo beliefs. Numerous scholarly sources are utilized to illuminate the comparisons.

From the Paper
Tony Hillerman's long time protagonist Joe Leaphorn is himself a Navajo tribesman. In the novel, Dance Hall of the Dead, Leaphorn, a Navajo policeman, investigates the murder of a young Zui. In the process of his investigation, Leaphorn offers a comparison of his own Navajo religion with that of the Zui. In an Author's Note at the beginning of the novel, Hillerman states that the "setting is genuine." He confirms that the Village of Zui and Ramah Navajo reservation exist in reality side by side and states that his depiction of these two cultures is accurate to the best of his ability, though the characters are fictional. Hillerman further states: "The view the reader receives of the Shalako religion is as it might be seen by a Navajo with an interest in ethnology. It does not pretend to be more than that." What Hillerman is saying is that no one, outside an initiated practitioner in a Native American religion can really comprehend the true significance of it's beliefs and rituals. Modesty aside, however, Hillerman in this novel makes an excellent beginning in differentiating between spiritual beliefs of Zui and Navajo. Thus the thesis of this essay is that in Tony Hillerman's novel, Dance Hall of the Dead, Zui religion can be seen to be extensively different from the religion of the Navajo's in the two tribes' rituals, burial practices, and beliefs in an afterlife. Outside sources will be used to confirm and expand the understanding of these varied spiritual practices.

Tags:American, Indians, religion

Abstract
This paper describes explicitly, based on Edward F. Anderson's book "Peyote: The Divine Cactus", a Navajo religious ceremony which uses peyote to communicate with God. The author points out that peyote had an influence on other tribes for over 400 years but did not impact the Navajo until the late 18th century. The paper relates that, although the peyote ceremony is one of the emblematic signs of Native American religion, opponents of peyote are apprehensive towards these ceremonies and have made efforts to control the use of peyote among Native Americans.

From the Paper
"As the orange-red sun slowly sinks in the horizon, members of a peyote cult enter through the door of a hogan (a pentagon shaped hut in which Native Americans live) designed for their ceremony. The door faces the descending sun and is to the opposite of three men (the Road Man, Drummer Man, and Cedar Man) who are sitting in front of a raised crescent moon of earth. This raised crescent serves as an altar which has a peyote button resting on sagebrush. More members arrive and sit around the altar in a circle. When all the ceremonial devices are properly placed, the fire man, who is sitting east to the entrance, gathers hot coals and arranges them in the form of a "V" with the apex facing the Road Man."

Tags:missionaries, christianity, medical, control, ceremonial