article
Changes in Navajo mortuary practices and beliefs
American Indian quarterly • 4 (4) • Published In 1978 • Pages: 383-395
By: Shepardson, Mary.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a discussion of changes in Navajo mortuary practices and beliefs (also see document no. 309.) Shepardson first discusses Navajo beliefs about death, ghosts and the afterlife; then traditional burial practices. She next discusses several types of modified burials, including Christian funerals. Shepardson explains the changes in burial practices to the institutional changes in Navajo society from a matrilocal extended family to one centered on a variety of institutions including church, army, school, hospital, etc. No longer do Navajo die at home or if they do, urban homes cannot be destroyed or abandoned as rural hogans were in the past. No longer can Navajo avoid contact with the dead, if they are soldiers or hospital workers for example, and therefore rely on Christian guarantees of protection.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Burial practices and funerals
- Eschatology
- 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.
- 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
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1860-1970
- 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
- Mary Shepardson
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 395)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 74647596
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Navajo Indians