{"id":62468,"date":"2021-04-15T10:44:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T17:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=62468"},"modified":"2021-04-16T10:40:43","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T17:40:43","slug":"the-dine-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/the-dine-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Din\u00e9 legacy: NAU professors, alumni join long list of contributors to collaborate, share stories in new anthology of Navajo literature"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A 1937 collection of poetry written by a group of sixth-grade Navajo children is one of the earliest records of Din\u00e9 writing. The children were from Tohatchi boarding school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the collection started a legacy of Din\u00e9 writing that has continued to the present day with the release of the new anthology, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/uapress.arizona.edu\/book\/the-dine-reader\">The Din\u00e9 Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The anthology, published by The University of Arizona Press and co-edited by NAU English professor <strong>Jeff Berglund<\/strong>, demonstrates the power of Din\u00e9 literary artistry, the persistence of the Navajo people and the perseverance against erasure. It combines Din\u00e9 literature alongside interviews, biographies and photographs that feature each contributing author. Supplementing their stories is a chronology of important dates in Din\u00e9 history and resources for teachers, students and general readers that further education about Din\u00e9 writing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis work centers Native writers and specifically the voices of writers from one tribal nation,\u201d Berglund said. \u201cThis work honors the historical developments and the emerging tradition of writing by Navajo writers, all while recognizing that there are many unknown writers who contributed in ways that may still be undocumented.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_62471\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62471\" style=\"width: 122px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/berglund-final-authorphoto-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62471\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/berglund-final-authorphoto-1.jpg\" alt=\"Co-editor Jeff Berglund \" width=\"122\" height=\"172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2021\/04\/berglund-final-authorphoto-1.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2021\/04\/berglund-final-authorphoto-1-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2021\/04\/berglund-final-authorphoto-1-726x1024.jpg 726w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2021\/04\/berglund-final-authorphoto-1-768x1084.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 122px) 100vw, 122px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62471\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Jeff Berglund<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Berglund has been a professor at NAU since 1999. In addition to being a professor, he serves as the director of the Liberal Studies program. He is a president\u2019s distinguished teaching fellow and his research and teaching focuses on Native American literature, comparative Indigenous film and U.S. multi-ethnic literature.<\/p>\n<p>Alongside Berglund were three other co-editors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Esther Belin, whose art and writing is widely published and focuses on historical trauma and the philosophy of Saah Naagh\u00e1\u00ed Bik&#8217;eh Ho\u0301zho, the worldview of the Navajo people. She serves as a faculty mentor in the Low Rez MFA program at the Institute for American Indian Arts (IAIA).<\/li>\n<li>Connie Jacobs, emerita professor of San Juan College who taught from 1993 to 2008. She often taught Din\u00e9 writers such as Luci Tapahonso\u2019s and Belin\u2019s poetry to her students.<\/li>\n<li>Anthony Webster, a linguistic anthropologist whose research has focused on Din\u00e9 poetics since 2000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The book was a collaborative project that brought more than 30 Din\u00e9 writers and artists together from the IAIA, Din\u00e9 College, Navajo Technical University and several universities in the Southwest, including Northern Arizona University. The following contributors have ties to NAU:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Artist<strong> Shonto Begay<\/strong> contributed the cover design of the book. His artistic subject matter varies from daily Navajo life, desert and natural landscapes shifting to urban settings, road trips and ceremonial or social gatherings. He is a Flagstaff resident who served as an Artist in Residence for the NAU Honors College.<\/li>\n<li>Alumna<strong> Tatum Begay<\/strong>, who earned her bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s from NAU, is a program adviser for Phoenix College and uses her free time to draw comics. In 2014, she started her webcomic series called The Pretty Okay Adventures of Tatum.<\/li>\n<li>Alumnus<strong> Erik Bitsui<\/strong> earned his bachelor\u2019s from NAU. He DJs the Metal Meltdown on Flagstaff\u2019s KSZN 101.5 FM radio. The subject matter of his writing varies and four of his pieces were published in the Waxwing Literary Journal in February 2019.<\/li>\n<li>Assistant professor of English<strong> Sherwin Bitsui<\/strong> wrote the foreword for the book along with several contributions in later pages. His work, inspired from Din\u00e9tah, has won numerous prestigious awards and grants.<\/li>\n<li>Alumna<strong> Norla Chee<\/strong>, who earned her bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s from NAU, has published several pieces of poetry and short fiction and contributed poems from her book, \u201cCedar Smoke on Abalone Mountain,\u201d published in 2001.<\/li>\n<li>Two-time alumna<strong> Jennifer Nez Denetdale<\/strong> was the first Din\u00e9 to earn a doctorate in history at NAU. She is a professor of American studies at the University of New Mexico and contributed the Din\u00e9 historical timeline for the book.<\/li>\n<li>Alumnus<strong> Bojan Louis<\/strong> is the author of the nonfiction chapbook \u201cTroubleshooting Silence in Arizona \u201cand the poetry collection \u201cCurrents.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Alumna<strong> Venaya Jay Yazzie<\/strong> is an artist, poet and photographer who contributed poetry to the anthology. She is a member of the Northwest New Mexico Arts Council and serves on the Navajo Heritage Cultural Center Board. In 2014, she was awarded the Mesa Verde Artist-In-Residence at Mesa Verde National Park and spent time on the Bisti Writing Project.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_62508\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62508\" style=\"width: 1266px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Dine-contributor-college.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-62508 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Dine-contributor-college.png\" alt=\"NAU Dine contributors \" width=\"1266\" height=\"763\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2021\/04\/Dine-contributor-college.png 1266w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2021\/04\/Dine-contributor-college-300x181.png 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2021\/04\/Dine-contributor-college-1024x617.png 1024w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2021\/04\/Dine-contributor-college-768x463.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1266px) 100vw, 1266px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-62508\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Top: Shonto Begay (courtesy of Dawn Kish), Tatum Begay, Erik Bitsui, Sherwin Bitsui Bottom: Norla Chee, Jennifer Denetdale, Bojan Louis, Venaya Jay Yazzie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With so many different voices, the anthology offers stories that span several generations and gives perspectives on ideas about home, history and historical trauma, identity, language loss and the economic and environmental inequalities the Din\u00e9 people have faced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe acknowledge the successful publishing careers of many of the contributors\u2014and some that are on the ascent just now\u2014so this book is not claiming that Din\u00e9 writing is not known yet or that writers haven\u2019t yet made their mark,\u201d Berglund said. \u201cQuite the opposite\u2014this book offers readers the chance to see how influential and expansive Din\u00e9 writing has been, where it originated, how it developed, how English and Din\u00e9 bizaad have pushed against one another and how different literary forms have been shaped by Din\u00e9 authors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The introduction to the anthology shares the story of the children from Tohatchi. There is no author credit given to each poem published in 1937; instead, they are credited as a group. The Tohatchi school was one of the first reservation boarding schools established in 1904. The Din\u00e9 people were forced into these government-operated schools and \u201csubjected to the imprisonment of language and thought.\u201d The teachers used poetry and prose to teach the children English, but the Din\u00e9 used it as an outlet to express what they were forced to repress.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Din\u00e9 writing has had a tumultuous journey. Writers have expanded its reach, publishing many single-authored works, but the editors and contributors on this project found that both Din\u00e9 and non-Din\u00e9 students often still had little knowledge or exposure to Din\u00e9 writing. Bitsui also notes in his foreword the misrepresentation he has seen given to the Din\u00e9 people by detective mystery writer Tony Hillerman and how works such as Hillerman\u2019s continue to cause a generalized misunderstanding about the Din\u00e9. This anthology was created to reverse that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe created this for Din\u00e9 students\u2014at the junior high, high school, college and graduate levels\u2014and their teachers,\u201d Berglund said. \u201cSherwin\u2019s foreword mentions how frequently he met Din\u00e9 students and readers who knew little about Din\u00e9 writers. Connie Jacobs and I had similar experiences teaching at San Juan College and NAU.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The editors saw this as an opportunity to create a multi-authored anthology that would allow readers exposure to many authors in one place\u2014a starting point to find more.<\/p>\n<p>Berglund said the detailed biographies and interviews of all living contributors is a service to the reader. The editors made a decision to foreground authors\u2019 clans in Din\u00e9 bizaad, the Din\u00e9 language, as a signal to the value and meaning of those relationships.<\/p>\n<p>Using Din\u00e9 bizaad was an important part of the project, as forcing the English language on children in boarding schools was a form of cultural erasure. This anthology reflects all of this, showing the language transitions between English and Din\u00e9 bizaad. Authors show mastery in both languages while showcasing the art of code-switching.<\/p>\n<p>In the introduction, Belin and co-editors write that the collection \u201cinvolved <em>nits\u00e1h\u00e1kees<\/em> (thinking), <em>nahat\u2019\u00e1<\/em> (planning), <em>iin\u00e1<\/em> (living), <em>siihasin<\/em> (reflecting)\u201d and acknowledge that much of Din\u00e9 written work from the past is unknown\u2014lost to diaries or kept private\u2014but known or not, those works have contributed to this anthology.<\/p>\n<p>Berglund said editors worked with family and estates to include work from two authors who have died but remain important to the Din\u00e9 legacy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPersistence, asking different writers and different scholars led us to connect with everyone included.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Editors want the anthology to help discover other lost works, continue the expansion of Din\u00e9 writing and serve as an example of art that represents the Din\u00e9 culture accurately.<\/p>\n<p>In his foreword, Bitsui writes, \u201cThese stories restore memory and reconnect people, some of whom have moved beyond the sacred mountains to work and live in distant cities. These stories are doorways opening inward, back into the world that is always home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hope that readers and scholars locate other unknown and perhaps yet unpublished historical work by Navajo writers,\u201d Berglund said. \u201cWe hope readers from current and future generations imagine themselves into this tradition. The last entry by Tatum Begay, \u2018Stories of a Healing Way,\u2019 meditates as to how her own writing will join her idols on her own bookshelf.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The anthology has already received several positive reviews including praise from the U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. To expand the reach of the anthology further, The University of Arizona Press and Birch Bark Books in Minneapolis is hosting a free <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/the-dine-reader-an-anthology-of-navajo-literature-tickets-133564311451\">online book launch event at 6:30 p.m. on April 21<\/a>. Eleven of the authors, the team of editors and special guests Jonathan Nez, Navajo Nation President, and Phefelia Nez, Navajo Nation First Lady, will be featured.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are excited about the reception of the work and for more and more readers here in the Southwest, in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, on the Navajo Nation and in nearby border towns, to learn more about this important literary tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moving forward, interviews and podcasts are being set up with writers so teachers and readers have additional resources. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstnations.org\/nativereads\/\">#NativeReads<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/therednation.org\/\">The Red Nation<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oaklakewriterssociety.com\/\">Oak Lake Writers Society<\/a> are contributing to these resources. All royalties from this project will support Din\u00e9 writers and the development of future Din\u00e9 writers, specifically through the <a href=\"http:\/\/edwi.navajotech.edu\/\">Emerging Din\u00e9 Writers&#8217; Institute<\/a> and other initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>A previous discussion about the anthology can be viewed on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/live\/?v=4121009594629784&amp;ref=watch_permalink\">Northern Arizona Book Festival Facebook page<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forewordreviews.com\/reviews\/the-dine-reader\/\">Forward Reviews<\/a> has published a review and forthcoming podcasts will be available on <a href=\"https:\/\/directory.libsyn.com\/shows\/view\/id\/therednation\">The Red Nation Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-56007 \" src=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png\" alt=\"Northern Arizona University Logo\" width=\"144\" height=\"102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-300x213.png 300w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-768x546.png 768w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514-600x426.png 600w, https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/402\/2019\/06\/NAU_primary-281_3514.png 905w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 144px) 100vw, 144px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Jacklyn Walling | NAU Communications<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/the-dine-legacy\/\">A 1937 collection of poetry written by a group of sixth-grade Navajo children is one of the earliest records of Din\u00e9 writing. The children were from Tohatchi boarding school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the collection started a legacy of Din\u00e9 writing that has continued to the present day with the release of the&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":62470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}