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.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
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).
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Life history materials
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Ethos
- Public health and sanitation
- Shamans and psychotherapists
- Medical care
- Organized ceremonial
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Navajo
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2004
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Southwest and Basin
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- book chapter
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Psychiatrist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Katchen S. Coley ; 1951
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1940-1943
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1923-1943
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- [by] Alexander H. Leighton and Dorothea C. Leighton
- This document consists of excerpts
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-145)
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Navajo Indians