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Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita
In this groundbreaking book, the first Navajo to earn a doctorate in history seeks to rewrite Navajo history. Reared on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and Arizona, Jennifer Nez Denetdale is the great-great-great-granddaughter of a well-known Navajo chief, Manuelito (1816–1894), and his nearly unknown wife, Juanita (1845–1910). Stimulated in part by seeing photographs of these ancestors, she began to explore her family history as a way of examining broader issues in Navajo historiography.
Here she presents a thought-provoking examination of the construction of the history of the Navajo people (Diné, in the Navajo language) that underlines the dichotomy between Navajo and non-Navajo perspectives on the Diné past. Reclaiming Diné History has two primary objectives. First, Denetdale interrogates histories that privilege Manuelito and marginalize Juanita in order to demonstrate some of the ways that writing about the Diné has been biased by non-Navajo views of assimilation and gender. Second, she reveals how Navajo narratives, including oral histories and stories kept by matrilineal clans, serve as vehicles to convey Navajo beliefs and values.
By scrutinizing stories about Juanita, she both underscores the centrality of women’s roles in Navajo society and illustrates how oral tradition has been used to organize social units, connect Navajos to the land, and interpret the past. She argues that these same stories, read with an awareness of Navajo creation narratives, reveal previously unrecognized Navajo perspectives on the past. And she contends that a similarly culture-sensitive re-viewing of the Diné can lead to the production of a Navajo-centered history.
Here she presents a thought-provoking examination of the construction of the history of the Navajo people (Diné, in the Navajo language) that underlines the dichotomy between Navajo and non-Navajo perspectives on the Diné past. Reclaiming Diné History has two primary objectives. First, Denetdale interrogates histories that privilege Manuelito and marginalize Juanita in order to demonstrate some of the ways that writing about the Diné has been biased by non-Navajo views of assimilation and gender. Second, she reveals how Navajo narratives, including oral histories and stories kept by matrilineal clans, serve as vehicles to convey Navajo beliefs and values.
By scrutinizing stories about Juanita, she both underscores the centrality of women’s roles in Navajo society and illustrates how oral tradition has been used to organize social units, connect Navajos to the land, and interpret the past. She argues that these same stories, read with an awareness of Navajo creation narratives, reveal previously unrecognized Navajo perspectives on the past. And she contends that a similarly culture-sensitive re-viewing of the Diné can lead to the production of a Navajo-centered history.
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2007
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January 11, 2009
In his breakthrough work on decolonization, Franz Fanon wrote that, “decolonization is quite simply the replacing of a certain ‘species’ of men by another ‘species’ of men.†Jennifer Nez Denetdale might argue that decolonization is…the replacing of certain men with woman, and in the discourse on Navajo historiography—as Denetdale characterizes it—the decolonization of Navajo studies requires the replacement of non-Navajo men with Navajo women.
In her recently published “Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita,†Denetdale argues that Juanita, one of Manuelito’s wives, is sidelined and neglected within Navajo historiography. Meaning, one of the effects of US colonialism has been the diffusion of the Noble Savage myth, which is built on a premise of patriarchy. In this myth, as Denetdale explains, male Indian warriors (and in the Navajo case, Manuelito) are valiant but unable to resist progress—represented metaphorically as US expansionism. The myth is consistent with Western machismo—in which males are warriors and leaders are divinely endowed to protect their peoples.
Denetdale writes: “Like other indigenous peoples, Navajos understand and talk about the past in very different ways than those presented within Western narratives by American historians†(pg.7). Building off post-colonial scholarship such as Linda Tahiwai Smith, Andrea Smith and Edward Said, Denetdale provides a critical-analysis of popular works within what she calls “Diné studies.†One of the more valuable sections of the book, Denetdale’s analysis within the Chapter “Recovering Diné Intellectual Traditions,†she provides grounding in Diné studies from a post-colonial perspective. Denetdale writes: “Navajo histories have not challenged or overturned the colonial framework that denies the larger picture in which Native people’s land, resources, and lives were stolen and they were reduced to the state of dependency†(pg. 29).
The book considers the lives of Manuelito and Juanita, icons in Navajo history. First, Denetdale continues her critique on scholarship on Navajos and analyzes biographical accounts of Manuelito, slowly transitioning into use of her primary sources—interviews with descendants of Manuelito. What’s particularly interesting in this section of the book is Denetdale’s cautious approach to Manuelito’s stance on education—something that remains somewhat nebulous. But important in her consideration of Manuelito’s opinion on Western education is the significance it carries for the Navajo Nation today.
This type of historical scholarship acknowledges the contemporary Navajo and the importance of historical grounding for future Navajo decision-making, this is a clear distinction from previous historical accounts of the Navajo people which relegates the Navajo to the past—thus buttressing the popular US conceptualization of Indian people as relics from the past. For histories on Indian people, it is important to concurrently challenge the myth that Indian people are extinct, which is arguably the mainstream conceptualization of us.
Denetdale reviews historical accounts of Manuelito’s infamous speech, in which he is attributed as saying, “education is the ladder…take it!†She then provides evidence that Manuelitos’ speech might have been in reference to the departure of a BIA official—and was not made in the context of education. Denetdale concludes that Manuelito saw the benefit of Western education, so much that he sent his sons to Carlisle Boarding School where they both died. According to a BIA official, Manuelito then “recanted his earlier testament…and demanded that all Diné children return home from boarding school†(pg. 82). But another of Manuelito’s sons gave a differing account of the BIA’s report, and in an1966 interview said that Manuelito didn’t necessarily rebuke his earlier endorsement of Western education, as was advanced in this BIA report. Nonetheless, the Navajo Nation has held education in high esteem and will likely continue using the legacy of Manuelito as endorsement of this.
Unlike the previously mentioned scholarship, Denetdale relies in certain sections on oral accounts, a form of historical narrative that is disparate from, often refutes, but is ultimately neglected in most of Navajo studies (written primarily by non-Navajo men as was mentioned earlier.) For example, I recently read “Navajo Foreign Affairs: 1795-1846†(1983) in which the author, Frank Reeves relies almost solely on correspondence between Spanish overlords complaining in racist characterizations on the recalcitrance of the Navajo people. The author made no attempt to amend the racism found in these accounts—and the Navajo Community College Press remarkably published it.
This last section of the book makes full use of her interviews in attempt to construct a biographical sketch of Juanita, or Asdzáá Tl’ógi. Denetdale primarily focuses on Juanita’s role in her family post-Manuelito (who died in 1874.) She uses Juanita and accounts of early reservation life to critique US photography in the late-19th and early 20th Centuries as it relates to Indians, and to resurrect the importance of Juanita’s role after the Diné’s return from Bosque Redondo in 1868. Supporting her overall thesis that the history of the Diné has been framed in Western categories and using Western perspectives, norms and values—which emphasizes a male-headed, nuclear family—Denetdale reminds her readers about the role of women within historic Navajo society, and how these roles have been poorly represented in Navajo historiography. Specifically, she address the role on Juanita in the founding of the Navajo state in 1868. She suggests that Juanita had more influence, especially during Manuelito’s many trips to Washington D.C., than has been earlier acknowledged. Such a reemphasis on women’s roles within historic and contemporary Indian societies is much needed, particularly with the amount of countering conservatism and religious indoctrination rampant in Indian country today.
In their 1994 Manifesto, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (or Zapatistas) proclaimed, “We are the product of 500 years of struggle.†Along with Navajo-centric publications, books about Navajos by Navajos, Denetdale’s exploration on the lives of Manuelito and Juanita help for us to reclaim Diné history. This work, arguably, is the product of years of struggle. And though there is still much ground to be gained within mainstream US perspectives of Indian people and Navajo people in particular, it is heartening to know Navajo scholars are now leading the way in this discourse.
In her recently published “Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita,†Denetdale argues that Juanita, one of Manuelito’s wives, is sidelined and neglected within Navajo historiography. Meaning, one of the effects of US colonialism has been the diffusion of the Noble Savage myth, which is built on a premise of patriarchy. In this myth, as Denetdale explains, male Indian warriors (and in the Navajo case, Manuelito) are valiant but unable to resist progress—represented metaphorically as US expansionism. The myth is consistent with Western machismo—in which males are warriors and leaders are divinely endowed to protect their peoples.
Denetdale writes: “Like other indigenous peoples, Navajos understand and talk about the past in very different ways than those presented within Western narratives by American historians†(pg.7). Building off post-colonial scholarship such as Linda Tahiwai Smith, Andrea Smith and Edward Said, Denetdale provides a critical-analysis of popular works within what she calls “Diné studies.†One of the more valuable sections of the book, Denetdale’s analysis within the Chapter “Recovering Diné Intellectual Traditions,†she provides grounding in Diné studies from a post-colonial perspective. Denetdale writes: “Navajo histories have not challenged or overturned the colonial framework that denies the larger picture in which Native people’s land, resources, and lives were stolen and they were reduced to the state of dependency†(pg. 29).
The book considers the lives of Manuelito and Juanita, icons in Navajo history. First, Denetdale continues her critique on scholarship on Navajos and analyzes biographical accounts of Manuelito, slowly transitioning into use of her primary sources—interviews with descendants of Manuelito. What’s particularly interesting in this section of the book is Denetdale’s cautious approach to Manuelito’s stance on education—something that remains somewhat nebulous. But important in her consideration of Manuelito’s opinion on Western education is the significance it carries for the Navajo Nation today.
This type of historical scholarship acknowledges the contemporary Navajo and the importance of historical grounding for future Navajo decision-making, this is a clear distinction from previous historical accounts of the Navajo people which relegates the Navajo to the past—thus buttressing the popular US conceptualization of Indian people as relics from the past. For histories on Indian people, it is important to concurrently challenge the myth that Indian people are extinct, which is arguably the mainstream conceptualization of us.
Denetdale reviews historical accounts of Manuelito’s infamous speech, in which he is attributed as saying, “education is the ladder…take it!†She then provides evidence that Manuelitos’ speech might have been in reference to the departure of a BIA official—and was not made in the context of education. Denetdale concludes that Manuelito saw the benefit of Western education, so much that he sent his sons to Carlisle Boarding School where they both died. According to a BIA official, Manuelito then “recanted his earlier testament…and demanded that all Diné children return home from boarding school†(pg. 82). But another of Manuelito’s sons gave a differing account of the BIA’s report, and in an1966 interview said that Manuelito didn’t necessarily rebuke his earlier endorsement of Western education, as was advanced in this BIA report. Nonetheless, the Navajo Nation has held education in high esteem and will likely continue using the legacy of Manuelito as endorsement of this.
Unlike the previously mentioned scholarship, Denetdale relies in certain sections on oral accounts, a form of historical narrative that is disparate from, often refutes, but is ultimately neglected in most of Navajo studies (written primarily by non-Navajo men as was mentioned earlier.) For example, I recently read “Navajo Foreign Affairs: 1795-1846†(1983) in which the author, Frank Reeves relies almost solely on correspondence between Spanish overlords complaining in racist characterizations on the recalcitrance of the Navajo people. The author made no attempt to amend the racism found in these accounts—and the Navajo Community College Press remarkably published it.
This last section of the book makes full use of her interviews in attempt to construct a biographical sketch of Juanita, or Asdzáá Tl’ógi. Denetdale primarily focuses on Juanita’s role in her family post-Manuelito (who died in 1874.) She uses Juanita and accounts of early reservation life to critique US photography in the late-19th and early 20th Centuries as it relates to Indians, and to resurrect the importance of Juanita’s role after the Diné’s return from Bosque Redondo in 1868. Supporting her overall thesis that the history of the Diné has been framed in Western categories and using Western perspectives, norms and values—which emphasizes a male-headed, nuclear family—Denetdale reminds her readers about the role of women within historic Navajo society, and how these roles have been poorly represented in Navajo historiography. Specifically, she address the role on Juanita in the founding of the Navajo state in 1868. She suggests that Juanita had more influence, especially during Manuelito’s many trips to Washington D.C., than has been earlier acknowledged. Such a reemphasis on women’s roles within historic and contemporary Indian societies is much needed, particularly with the amount of countering conservatism and religious indoctrination rampant in Indian country today.
In their 1994 Manifesto, the Zapatista National Liberation Army (or Zapatistas) proclaimed, “We are the product of 500 years of struggle.†Along with Navajo-centric publications, books about Navajos by Navajos, Denetdale’s exploration on the lives of Manuelito and Juanita help for us to reclaim Diné history. This work, arguably, is the product of years of struggle. And though there is still much ground to be gained within mainstream US perspectives of Indian people and Navajo people in particular, it is heartening to know Navajo scholars are now leading the way in this discourse.
October 5, 2020
Navajo author and historian Jennifer Nez Denetdale wrote "Reclaiming Dine' History" sub-title "The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita, originally as her doctoral thesis. It is an academic and scholarly work, but so interesting and well written that I couldn't put it down. Manuelito was War Chief of the Navajo nation for most of the 19th century, including he and favorite wife Juanita being in the Bosque Redondo prison camp with 12,000 other Navajo, where so many were kept, abused, raped and tortured by the U.S. army, before the tribe made their "Long Walk" home to "Dinetah", their homeland. (Dine' is the Navajo name for themselves.) So they are refugees if ever there were. Denetdale is the great-great-great granddaughter of Manuelito and Juanita, which adds flavor to this book! I loved this in part because I come from a part of New Mexico within the traditional bounds of Dinetah, the City of Farmington. If anyone is interested in the history of the U.S.'s Indian Wars, especially the war on the Navajo nation, this could be a great read offering much learning.
January 11, 2009
I love it when people can share their personal/professional journey of learning along with excellent research and information....this author excels in her arena. She is an inspiration to professionally rethink and reconsider notions of history: who knows history? who has ownership of history? what are the missing stories/components in history?
June 2, 2020
Both enlightened me about Diné/Navajo history, and made me rethink what is proper history. Western scholars miss out on a lot when the discount oral histories, and myth (that Jennifer Nez Denetdale would call "creation narratives").
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews