The Navajo people of Canyon de Chelly must negotiate a delicate balance between the old and the new as they struggle to maintain their traditions in the midst of ongoing change. Because their hauntingly beautiful homeland in northeastern Arizona is also a popular national monument, canyon residents face a complex web of relationships with the National Park Service, archaeologists and anthropologists, and increasing numbers of tourists.Jeanne Simonelli, an anthropologist who worked in the canyon as a seasonal park ranger for four years, has talked with the people of the Canyon de Chelly over the course of a decade. Here she interweaves the story of her personal experiences and friendships with canyon residents with discussions of local Navajo history and culture. Simonelli's warm and evocative text is complemented by Charles Winters's sensitive black-and-white photographs, which document the daily activities of some of the Navajo families of the canyon -- shearing sheep, planting corn, acting as tour guides, and celebrating family birthdays.Through text and images, Crossing Between Worlds offers outsiders an intimate view of the informal, domestic side of Navajo life in one of the most spectacular corners of the Southwest.

Crossing Between Worlds: The Navajos of Canyon De Chelly

Politics & Social Sciences

Jeanne M. Simonelli

Social Sciences

School of Amer Research Pr

The Navajo people of Canyon de Chelly must negotiate a delicate balance between the old and the new as they struggle to maintain their traditional ways of life in the midst of archaeologists, U.S. Park Service employees, and the increasing numbers of tourists who come to visit this hauntingly beautiful part of northeastern Arizona. Anthropologist-writer Jeanne Simonelli, who worked at Canyon de Chelly as a seasonal park ranger, interweaves stories of her personal experiences and friendships with canyon residents with discussions of native history and culture in the region. Focusing on the members of one extended Navajo family, Simonelli describes the small moments of their daily lives: shearing goats, baking bread, attending a solemn all-night health ceremony, washing clothes at the local laundromat, playing traditional games and contemporary sports, talking about the history of the Diné--the Navajo people--and pondering the changes they have witnessed in the canyon and the difficulties they confront. Crossing Between Worlds is sumptuously illustrated with insightful black-and-white photographs that document the everyday activities of Navajo families in one of the most spectacular corners of the American Southwest.
 Title of related interest from Waveland Press: Downs, The Navajo (ISBN 9780881330373). 
 Visit waveland.com for a complete list of modern and classic ethnographies on Apache, Comanche, Crow, Navajo, Papago, Pueblo, Shoshone, Sioux, and other American Indian cultures.

Crossing Between Worlds: The Navajo of Canyon De Chelly

History

Americas

Waveland Pr Inc.

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