Book
Molded in the image of Changing Woman: Navajo views on the human body and personhood
University of Arizona Press • Tucson • Published In 1997 • Pages:
By: Schwarz, Maureen Trudelle.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this book, Schwarz examines Navajo notions of the human body, self, and personhood as related to her through the oral histories of her informants. She carried out her fieldwork at a time when Navajo from different walks of life and experience were talking to each other in order to make sense of their changing world. According to Schwarz, the Navajo origin and creation stories are a charter for life, constituting a philosophical system that underlies the cultural construction of the Navajo world and their role in it. Sandpainting, basketry, weaving, and architecture replicate this world. In the girls' puberty rite the body is massaged and modeled as if it was clay to conform to Navajo notions of appropriate physical bearing and beauty, in accord with the knowledge imparted by the Holy People of the First World. Schwarz discovered that her informants related their knowledge on various levels of understanding from the simple to the profound, a path that eventually lead to the explication and revelation of the inner forms of life and the cosmos.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Cosmology
- Mythology
- Ideas about nature and people
- Reproduction
- Puberty and initiation
- 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
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- 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
- 5: Excellent Primary 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
- 1991-1995
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1991-1995
- 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
- Maureen Trudelle Schwarz
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-286) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 96045816
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Navajo Indians