book chapter
The Navaho door: an introduction to Navaho life
Harvard University Press • Cambridge • Published In 1944 • Pages:
By: Leighton, Alexander H. (Alexander Hamilton), Leighton, Dorothea (Cross).
Abstract
This book is designed primarily as an introduction to the 'Navajo way' and as such should be useful to persons about to work on the reservation. However, its excellence lies chiefly in its discussion of Navajo attitudes towards disease, and its specific suggestions as to how to induce patients to go to the hospital for treatment and how to proselytize Euro-American notions of hygiene and sanitation. Indeed, this section (most of which may be found in categories 758 and 744) could well be called required reading for medical personnel working on reservations. It includes sample conversations with Navajo patients about eleven diseases and disorders, as well as the text of a suggested public health talk. This portion of the study gains particular authority since the authors are both physicians and psychiatrists themselves and have spent several years among the Navajo in fieldwork. There is a foreword by John Collier, at that time Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The book also touches on the Navajos' history, the government's varying attitudes towards administrating and educating the tribe, and the people's daily activities. As illustrations of the latter, three life histories are given, the first of which has been omitted here, since it appears in document 5 ('Gregorio, the Hand Trembler,' by the same authors).
- HRAF PubDate
- 2004
- Region
- North America
- Sub Region
- Southwest and Basin
- Document Type
- book chapter
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Psychiatrist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Katchen S. Coley ; 1951
- Field Date
- 1940-1943
- Coverage Date
- 1923-1943
- Coverage Place
- Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, United States
- Notes
- [by] Alexander H. Leighton and Dorothea C. Leighton
- This document consists of excerpts
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-145)
- LCSH
- Navajo Indians