The Sound of Navajo Country: Music, Language, and Diné Belonging

Critical Indigeneities

by Kristina M. Jacobsen

In this ethnography of Navajo (Diné) popular music culture, Kristina M. Jacobsen examines questions of Indigenous identity and performance by focusing on the surprising and vibrant Navajo country music scene. Through multiple first-person accounts, Jacobsen illuminates country music’s connections to the Indigenous politics of language and belonging, examining through the lens of music both the politics of difference and many internal distinctions Diné make among themselves and their fellow Navajo citizens. As the second largest tribe in the United States, the Navajo have often been portrayed as a singular and monolithic entity. Using her experience as a singer, lap steel player, and Navajo language learner, Jacobsen challenges this notion, showing the ways Navajos distinguish themselves from one another through musical taste, linguistic abilities, geographic location, physical appearance, degree of Navajo or Indian blood, and class affiliations. By linking cultural anthropology to ethnomusicology, linguistic anthropology, and critical Indigenous studies, Jacobsen shows how Navajo poetics and politics offer important insights into the politics of Indigeneity in Native North America, highlighting the complex ways that identities are negotiated in multiple, often contradictory, spheres.

Genres: Music

198 pages, Paperback

Published March 13, 2017

Reviews

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sound of Navajo country : music, language, and Diné belonging was not what I had expected it to be. The text was complex and a chore to read. All of the interior photographs were in black & white.

[McCain Library]

This title is available at McCain Library as an eBook.

Follow the link to check availability and more information: https://agnesscott.on.worldcat.org/oc...

If you need help locating it or requesting it for pickup, just ask a librarian or visit the Check Out Desk!