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Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books
Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country
"Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country" offers a fresh interpretation of the history of Navajo (Dine) pastoralism. The dramatic reduction of livestock on the Navajo Reservation in the 1930s -- when hundreds of thousands of sheep, goats, and horses were killed -- was an ambitious attempt by the federal government to eliminate overgrazing on an arid landscape and to better the lives of the people who lived there. Instead, the policy was a disaster, resulting in the loss of livelihood for Navajos -- especially women, the primary owners and tenders of the animals -- without significant improvement of the grazing lands.
Livestock on the reservation increased exponentially after the late 1860s as more and more people and animals, hemmed in on all sides by Anglo and Hispanic ranchers, tried to feed themselves on an increasingly barren landscape. At the beginning of the twentieth century, grazing lands were showing signs of distress. As soil conditions worsened, weeds unpalatable for livestock pushed out nutritious native grasses, until by the 1930s federal officials believed conditions had reached a critical point. Well-intentioned New Dealers made serious errors in anticipating the human and environmental consequences of removing or killing tens of thousands of animals.
Environmental historian Marsha Weisiger examines the factors that led to the poor condition of the range and explains how the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Navajos, and climate change contributed to it. Using archival sources and oral accounts, she describes the importance of land and stock animals in Navajo culture. By positioning women at the center of the story, she demonstrates the place they hold as significant actors in Native American and environmental history.
"Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country" is a compelling and important story that looks at the people and conditions that contributed to a botched policy whose legacy is still felt by the Navajos and their lands today.
Livestock on the reservation increased exponentially after the late 1860s as more and more people and animals, hemmed in on all sides by Anglo and Hispanic ranchers, tried to feed themselves on an increasingly barren landscape. At the beginning of the twentieth century, grazing lands were showing signs of distress. As soil conditions worsened, weeds unpalatable for livestock pushed out nutritious native grasses, until by the 1930s federal officials believed conditions had reached a critical point. Well-intentioned New Dealers made serious errors in anticipating the human and environmental consequences of removing or killing tens of thousands of animals.
Environmental historian Marsha Weisiger examines the factors that led to the poor condition of the range and explains how the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Navajos, and climate change contributed to it. Using archival sources and oral accounts, she describes the importance of land and stock animals in Navajo culture. By positioning women at the center of the story, she demonstrates the place they hold as significant actors in Native American and environmental history.
"Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country" is a compelling and important story that looks at the people and conditions that contributed to a botched policy whose legacy is still felt by the Navajos and their lands today.
418 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2009
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October 16, 2022objectively, this is a fantastic historical study. subjectively, it is another title in a growing list of the most boring books I've ever read - sponsored in large part by my environmental history class.
July 17, 2012
An outstanding work of environmental history that challenges conventional wisdom and narratives about conservation, range management, and Indian affairs. Weisiger documents how autocratic, paternalistic, and wrongheaded were the stock reduction policies imposed on the Navajos by the Navajo Service. Officials in authority embraced linear and destructive principles of range management and disregarded the experience and knowledge of the Navajo pastoralists on the land. I could go on about the many virtues of the work, but instead will just encourage a broad readership. Check it out. I have two minor criticisms to offer. First, I think Weisinger pulled her punch just a bit in the epilogue. Without crediting the Navaho unrealistically--for their knowledge, too, was faulty--she could have been more forthright about the damage done by requirements confining grazing animals permanently on specific tracts. Second--and I am beginning to say this sort of thing more and more--she might have written a more indulgent, and thereby satisfying, work. What I mean by this is, I would like to know a bit more about sheep culture among the Navajo. What are the qualities of churra sheep that made their wool so good for blankets? Give me some physical details. How did the Navajo prepare their mutton? What kind of goats did they have? How good was their knowledge of the evolving botany of Navajo country? Help us care a bit more about the people in this difficult situation.
March 22, 2024
Marsha Weisiger in her book Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country, does an excellent job of exploring and reporting the environmental history of Navajo pastoralism and the multiple hurdles that the Navajo people have faced in their relationship with sheep and the land. Weisiger expertly juggles the clash between topics like Diné culture and American New Deal conservationists, ecological pitfalls in the overpopulation of livestock, and sustainability overall.
One thing I found particularly enriching in Marsha Weisiger's narrative was her adept use of a variety of resources, blending interviews with modern Indigenous individuals alongside archival materials such as political cartoons and photography. By adding these diverse sources, Weisiger provides a textured understanding of Navajo pastoralism, capturing both the lived experiences of the Navajo people and the broader historical context in which these experiences unfold. Through oral histories, she ensures Indigenous perspectives remain central, shedding light on the cultural significance of pastoralism and its implications for contemporary issues like land rights and environmental conservation. Meanwhile, political cartoons and photographs offer visual insight into the complex dynamics of landscape that have shaped the Navajo sheepherding tradition. This multi-faceted approach not only deepens our understanding of the past but also encourages reflection on the ongoing challenges and opportunities facing Indigenous communities as they navigate a rapidly changing world.
Another subject that the author addressed that I found interesting was the role of government intervention and livestock reduction which was a main contributor to the issues we saw unfold. Weisiger relates the three successive waves of reduction to these slaughter fests that were legally enforced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I must also commend the author for giving both perspectives on the topic as mentioned in her foreword (Weisiger X), as it highlights that while the government thought they were doing good and using science to ‘save” the Diné people, it also relates that the intended consequences were detrimental and ruinous for others. I see a lot of readings that paint the government as an evil institution without giving insights into the intention of some of these policies. On the other hand, the United States government handled this terribly and could have listed to the Diné rationale about the reduction of their herds.
Furthermore, Weisiger delves into gender roles and their integral role in shaping Navajo pastoralist culture throughout the narrative. Initially unexpected upon opening the book, this exploration proved to be a captivating aspect of the reading experience. Weisiger's examination of gender dynamics within Navajo society adds layers of complexity to pastoralism, highlighting how traditional roles and relationships intersect with economic activities such as sheep herding. By exploring the nuances of gender within the context of Navajo pastoralism, Weisiger enriches the narrative, offering insights into the diverse factors that have shaped the cultural and social landscape of the Navajo people. Which is something I wasn’t expecting when I opened this book, but thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Overall, this was a very well-balanced and well-told narrative of the environmental history of pastoralism. From Weisiger’s range of topics woven together to create a seamless narrative to her use of resources that provide a wider context, I can’t find much to complain about. I would recommend this to anyone who wants an in-depth reflection on the Navajo pastoralism and finds that it fits into a wider environmental history of government and the land of indigenous people.
One thing I found particularly enriching in Marsha Weisiger's narrative was her adept use of a variety of resources, blending interviews with modern Indigenous individuals alongside archival materials such as political cartoons and photography. By adding these diverse sources, Weisiger provides a textured understanding of Navajo pastoralism, capturing both the lived experiences of the Navajo people and the broader historical context in which these experiences unfold. Through oral histories, she ensures Indigenous perspectives remain central, shedding light on the cultural significance of pastoralism and its implications for contemporary issues like land rights and environmental conservation. Meanwhile, political cartoons and photographs offer visual insight into the complex dynamics of landscape that have shaped the Navajo sheepherding tradition. This multi-faceted approach not only deepens our understanding of the past but also encourages reflection on the ongoing challenges and opportunities facing Indigenous communities as they navigate a rapidly changing world.
Another subject that the author addressed that I found interesting was the role of government intervention and livestock reduction which was a main contributor to the issues we saw unfold. Weisiger relates the three successive waves of reduction to these slaughter fests that were legally enforced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I must also commend the author for giving both perspectives on the topic as mentioned in her foreword (Weisiger X), as it highlights that while the government thought they were doing good and using science to ‘save” the Diné people, it also relates that the intended consequences were detrimental and ruinous for others. I see a lot of readings that paint the government as an evil institution without giving insights into the intention of some of these policies. On the other hand, the United States government handled this terribly and could have listed to the Diné rationale about the reduction of their herds.
Furthermore, Weisiger delves into gender roles and their integral role in shaping Navajo pastoralist culture throughout the narrative. Initially unexpected upon opening the book, this exploration proved to be a captivating aspect of the reading experience. Weisiger's examination of gender dynamics within Navajo society adds layers of complexity to pastoralism, highlighting how traditional roles and relationships intersect with economic activities such as sheep herding. By exploring the nuances of gender within the context of Navajo pastoralism, Weisiger enriches the narrative, offering insights into the diverse factors that have shaped the cultural and social landscape of the Navajo people. Which is something I wasn’t expecting when I opened this book, but thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Overall, this was a very well-balanced and well-told narrative of the environmental history of pastoralism. From Weisiger’s range of topics woven together to create a seamless narrative to her use of resources that provide a wider context, I can’t find much to complain about. I would recommend this to anyone who wants an in-depth reflection on the Navajo pastoralism and finds that it fits into a wider environmental history of government and the land of indigenous people.
August 29, 2024
“This is perhaps the central lesson of this episode of environmental history. In our quest to restore ecological diversity and conserve land, we cannot ignore the people who make their living from it. We cannot rob them of their right to make a living. And for Navajos, ‘making a living’ meant more than making money; it meant being fully engaged in the spiritual, familial, and social relations that maintain [spiritual-environmental equilibrium]…” (242)
—
In the early 20th Century, New Deal policymakers and scientists embarked on an effort to prevent soil erosion in Navajo country by reducing (i.e. slaughtering) stocks of Navajo cattle, horses, and, of course, sheep.
This book tells that story—of the clash between ecological and human interests, of scientific management, of scientific failure, of bullheaded policymakers, and of an indigenous society struggling to adapt to a legalistic-political-economic world, etc.
Albeit in the larger, more tragic backdrop of US Indigenous history, this book reminds me of the movie “Evil Does Not Exist,” where corporate reps try to explain the economic benefits of a tourist development to a rural Japanese community and are surprised to find that the rural community doesn’t operate like Tokyo.
Warning, this is an academic book. But the epilogue was 10/10, and touched on many core issues of Environmental Justice & Management. Worth reading just the epilogue if the whole book is too much.
—
In the early 20th Century, New Deal policymakers and scientists embarked on an effort to prevent soil erosion in Navajo country by reducing (i.e. slaughtering) stocks of Navajo cattle, horses, and, of course, sheep.
This book tells that story—of the clash between ecological and human interests, of scientific management, of scientific failure, of bullheaded policymakers, and of an indigenous society struggling to adapt to a legalistic-political-economic world, etc.
Albeit in the larger, more tragic backdrop of US Indigenous history, this book reminds me of the movie “Evil Does Not Exist,” where corporate reps try to explain the economic benefits of a tourist development to a rural Japanese community and are surprised to find that the rural community doesn’t operate like Tokyo.
Warning, this is an academic book. But the epilogue was 10/10, and touched on many core issues of Environmental Justice & Management. Worth reading just the epilogue if the whole book is too much.
October 31, 2024
weisinger draws attention to critical histories that are oft neglected. she sets up paradoxes and ironies throughout the book. however, i feel like her purpose as an academic striving to publish within the catechism of scientific inquiry (as she puts it) hinders her from analyzing these paradoxes to their full extent. i’m speaking mostly about how she portrays scientific and indigenous ways of understanding the land as being diametrically opposed. i don’t think i agree with her that they are inherently conflicting epistemological systems. she should read braiding sweetgrass. overall, an insightful read; i just had a few qualms
March 31, 2024
This book is a well-researched and exemplary work of environmental and cultural history scholarship. However, it could have been written more concisely to maintain the readers’ consistent interest. I am biased because this book is outside my particular area of interest and it was required reading for an environmental history course.
May 11, 2020
Masterful account of Collier's failed range conservation policies, including stock reduction, on the Navajo reservation. I appreciate the careful analysis of the interplay between sociocultural and environmental dimensions.
May 27, 2015
William Cronon’s foreword mentions how great it is that Weisiger suggests that we “think with sheep.” New Deal scientists acted in genuine concern for the environment and the Navajos to kill off countless grazing animals in the 1930s to prevent overgrazing of the American Southwest, but they neglected to ask the Navajos about what it would mean to them, and thus they came off looking like arrogant bureaucrats that didn’t help. Weisiger pays particular attention to the fact that women—the weavers and gatekeepers to grazing land—suffered more acutely from the government interventions than men (gendered/cultural details). She rethinks this episode through the lenses of Enlightenment science, progressive optimism, Dine culture, and the gendered experiences of women and men, and not least the changing web of material and symbolic relationships within which animals and people occupy shared landscapes (xiii).
“An environmental history, this book explores the dynamic relationship between livestock grazing, environmental change, cultural identity, gender, and memory during the New Deal era of the 1930s and its aftermath” (xvi). Navajos overgrazed the land, but federal officials made matters worse; they failed to treat Navajos (esp. women) as real partners in developing and implementing a workable conservation program. Result=collective memory of trauma, a long-lasting rejection of range conservation policies, ands a chronic wasteland (xvi). Foregrounds cultural and ecological issues. Cultural differences between Dine (Navajo) and New Deal conservationists. Dine culture in the 1930s—pastoral ethnic identity and role of women. This was not just an ecological problem, but a cultural one. Killing livestock was a cultural violence that was incomprehensible to New Dealers who didn’t ask. Culture matters (11).
“Livestock reduction”—slaughtering sheep was a horrific, traumatic experience 1933 launched. At first livestock was shipped to canneries to slaughter and use meet to feed school children, but later, federal agents travelled to homes and slaughtered livestock in front of the owners (18). cruelty and waste; powerlessness. Livestock as their mother (giver of life) (18). The Dine saw this as imbalancing not only the land but upsetting the spiritual balance: the land/world was at stake. defiance toward BIA and John Collier in particular—ironically he championed self-determination and pastoralism on their behalf—social reformer (20).
“Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country offers a fresh interpretation of the history of Navajo (Diné) pastoralism. The dramatic reduction of livestock on the Navajo Reservation in the 1930s --when hundreds of thousands of sheep, goats, and horses were killed—was an ambitious attempt by the federal government to eliminate overgrazing on an arid landscape and to better the lives of the people who lived there. Instead, the policy was a disaster, resulting in the loss of livelihood for Navajos—especially women, the primary owners and tenders of the animals—without significant improvement of the grazing lands.
Livestock on the reservation increased exponentially after the late 1860s as more and more people and animals, hemmed in on all sides by Anglo and Hispanic ranchers, tried to feed themselves on an increasingly barren landscape. At the beginning of the twentieth century, grazing lands were showing signs of distress. As soil conditions worsened, weeds unpalatable for livestock pushed out nutritious native grasses, until by the 1930s federal officials believed conditions had reached a critical point. Well-intentioned New Dealers made serious errors in anticipating the human and environmental consequences of removing or killing tens of thousands of animals. Environmental historian Marsha Weisiger examines the factors that led to the poor condition of the range and explains how the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Navajos, and climate change contributed to it. Using archival sources and oral accounts, she describes the importance of land and stock animals in Navajo culture. By positioning women at the center of the story, she demonstrates the place they hold as significant actors in Native American and environmental history…. a botched policy whose legacy is still felt by the Navajos and their lands today.”
“An environmental history, this book explores the dynamic relationship between livestock grazing, environmental change, cultural identity, gender, and memory during the New Deal era of the 1930s and its aftermath” (xvi). Navajos overgrazed the land, but federal officials made matters worse; they failed to treat Navajos (esp. women) as real partners in developing and implementing a workable conservation program. Result=collective memory of trauma, a long-lasting rejection of range conservation policies, ands a chronic wasteland (xvi). Foregrounds cultural and ecological issues. Cultural differences between Dine (Navajo) and New Deal conservationists. Dine culture in the 1930s—pastoral ethnic identity and role of women. This was not just an ecological problem, but a cultural one. Killing livestock was a cultural violence that was incomprehensible to New Dealers who didn’t ask. Culture matters (11).
“Livestock reduction”—slaughtering sheep was a horrific, traumatic experience 1933 launched. At first livestock was shipped to canneries to slaughter and use meet to feed school children, but later, federal agents travelled to homes and slaughtered livestock in front of the owners (18). cruelty and waste; powerlessness. Livestock as their mother (giver of life) (18). The Dine saw this as imbalancing not only the land but upsetting the spiritual balance: the land/world was at stake. defiance toward BIA and John Collier in particular—ironically he championed self-determination and pastoralism on their behalf—social reformer (20).
“Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country offers a fresh interpretation of the history of Navajo (Diné) pastoralism. The dramatic reduction of livestock on the Navajo Reservation in the 1930s --when hundreds of thousands of sheep, goats, and horses were killed—was an ambitious attempt by the federal government to eliminate overgrazing on an arid landscape and to better the lives of the people who lived there. Instead, the policy was a disaster, resulting in the loss of livelihood for Navajos—especially women, the primary owners and tenders of the animals—without significant improvement of the grazing lands.
Livestock on the reservation increased exponentially after the late 1860s as more and more people and animals, hemmed in on all sides by Anglo and Hispanic ranchers, tried to feed themselves on an increasingly barren landscape. At the beginning of the twentieth century, grazing lands were showing signs of distress. As soil conditions worsened, weeds unpalatable for livestock pushed out nutritious native grasses, until by the 1930s federal officials believed conditions had reached a critical point. Well-intentioned New Dealers made serious errors in anticipating the human and environmental consequences of removing or killing tens of thousands of animals. Environmental historian Marsha Weisiger examines the factors that led to the poor condition of the range and explains how the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Navajos, and climate change contributed to it. Using archival sources and oral accounts, she describes the importance of land and stock animals in Navajo culture. By positioning women at the center of the story, she demonstrates the place they hold as significant actors in Native American and environmental history…. a botched policy whose legacy is still felt by the Navajos and their lands today.”
June 27, 2011
Marsha Weisiger adds a much-needed dimension to the current historiography surrounding the Navajo New Deal. She succeeds in placing human and cultural dimensions at the center of her environmental history--a method, she argues, that New Deal conservationists and Commissioner John Collier failed to consider when implementing stock reduction. She also considers the important role that Navajo women played in maintaining cultural and economic life-ways. Here too, the New Dealers failed to broaden their horizons when crafting solutions to the environmental degradation of Navajo land. A well-written and balanced account.
February 10, 2012
I'm not a huge fan of this kind of work so I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. Weisiger documents the failures of both the federal government and the Diné (Navajo) in response to the failing range on the Navajo Reservation. The mass slaughter of goats, sheep, and horses by the federal government not only failed to repair the range as conservationists hoped, but it also created a powerful legacy that overshadows the better parts of Collier's Indian New Deal program in the Navajo Country.
April 29, 2014
Weisiger did a great job at portraying the tensions of the time and giving both sides an honest, respectful representations. This book not only brings up questions about US/Indigenous relations historically, but also causes the reader to question the actions of today. Have we really improved since the early 20th century? Why does the US government and settler society have fixate on the "truths" of science while ignoring vital spiritual beliefs? Great read!
February 7, 2010
This book is an insightful examination into the history of the Navajo livestock reduction program implemented in the 1930s. While I would like to have read more first person accounts, the book provides information many people might not know.
January 27, 2016
An amazing achievement.
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