Navajo Women at the Crossroads The Telling New Mexico Inaugural Lecture Series

Diné author Jennifer Nez Denetdale speaks at 2 pm, Sunday, Aug. 22, on “Diné/Navajo Women: At the Intersection of Nation, Gender and Tradition,” in the New Mexico History Museum Auditorium. Denetdale’s lecture falls on the final afternoon of the Santa Fe Indian Market of the Southwestern Association of Indian Arts, a fitting time to slow down and consider that always-changing place where the ancient past meets the modern present.

The lecture completes the inaugural year of the Telling New Mexico Lecture Series. Tickets cost $10 at the Museum Shops or online at http://www.museumfoundation.org/tellingnm.

Traditional Diné gender roles, Denetdale says, are rooted in creation stories, which portray women as respected community members with considerable responsibilities. Women have always served as significant agents in the persistence of Diné life – social activities, ceremonies, economic endeavors and politics.

But these traditional roles were, in many ways, transformed by generations of encounters with, first, other tribal peoples, then the Spanish, Mexican and, finally, American people. Denetdale will focus on Diné gender roles after 1863, when the Diné were militarily defeated by the U.S. Army and relocated to a reservation far from their traditional territory.  Under American assimilation policies, every aspect of Navajo life came under American surveillance, including government, community, family, gender and sexuality. 

How have those roles shifted, and where have they persisted? (It’s worth noting, Denetdale says, that already this year, two women have joined the upcoming race for Navajo Nation president.)

An associate professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, Denetdale is the author of Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Chief Manuelito and Juanita (University of Arizona Press, 2007), and a book for young adults, The Long Walk: The Forced Navajo Exile (Chelsea House, 2007). She is working on a history of Diné women and was a contributor to the award-winning book, Telling New Mexico: A New History (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2009), writing on “The Navajo-Diné Century of Progress, 1868-1968, and the Bosque Redondo Memorial.”

The Telling New Mexico Lecture Series supports the History Museum's core exhibition as well as the book Telling New Mexico: A New History (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2009).

The full series of lectures:

Nov. 22: Tom Chavez, former director of the Palace of the Governors and the National Hispanic Cultural Center, on his current book project, a history of the Palace of the Governors.

Jan. 31: Thomas Lark, curator of Expo New Mexico’s African-American Performing Arts Center, on the history of African-Americans in New Mexico; and the Rev. Landjur Abukusumo, president of the Blackdom Memorial Foundation, on the pioneers of the Blackdom community in Roswell. Special treat: The Afro-Gospel Praise Experience will perform a mixture of Afro-Latin rhythms and traditional gospel.

March 28: Gail Y. Okawa, professor of English at Youngstown State University in Ohio, on "Exile from Paradise, Internment in New Mexico: My Grandfather's Journey,” regarding Santa Fe’s WWII Japanese internment camp.

May 2: UNM History Professor Ferenc Szasz on New Mexico’s role in developing the atomic bomb.

Aug. 22: Diné author Jennifer Nez Denetdale on " Dine'/Navajo Women: At the Intersection of Nation, Gender, and Tradition," from her current book project.

Telling New Mexico: A New History features a collection of essays by a variety of historians who cover everything with a new vision — from both scholarly and pop-culture viewpoints. Destined to be a resource for both classroom and armchair historians, the book presents New Mexico history from its prehistoric beginnings to the present in essays and articles by fifty prominent historians and scholars representing various disciplines including history, anthropology, Native American and Chicano studies. The writing comprises an eclectic mix of styles and intention in presenting both a historical narrative and multiple views of the people, places, and events that have shaped New Mexico.