article

Representing Changing Woman: a review essay on Navajo women

American Indian culture and research journal • 25 (3) • Published In 2001 • Pages: 1-26

By: Nez Dennetdale, Jennifer.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

Dennetdale has written a review of the literature written about and by Navajo women, beginning with Gladys Reichard's work in the 1930s. Reichard studied the detrimental impact of the livestock reduction program on women's work and status. Her work contributed to the overall view that the traditional high status of Navajo women was diminished by colonialism. Subsequent studies did not concur with Reichard. Dorothea Leighton writing in the 1940s, saw in the continued practice of the Kinaaldá puberty rite evidence of women's relatively high authority and status. Subsequent studies argued that women may have lost status with the reduction program, but recovered it with education and wage work. In her study of the Kinaaldá, Charlotte Frisbie cites further evidence for women's high status in the central role of Changing Women in Navajo myth and ceremonies, and in the ability of Navajo women to adapt traditional gender roles to new economic realities. Dennetdale also discusses the autobiographies and fiction by Navajo women, who celebrate the continuity of Navajo life.

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

Reviews and critiques

Acculturation and culture contact

Verbal arts

Gender status

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

article

Evaluation

Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.

Historian

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.

4: Excellent Secondary Data

AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection

Ian Skoggard ; 2003

Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document

not specified

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

1848-1999

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

Navajo Nation, southwestern United States

NotesAdditional notes

Jennifer Nez Denetdale

Includes bibliographical references

LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number

78643481

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Navajo Indians