{"id":74514,"date":"2025-04-14T08:19:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=74514"},"modified":"2025-04-14T08:19:39","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:19:39","slug":"care-for-nahasdzaan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/care-for-nahasdzaan\/","title":{"rendered":"Care for Nahasdz\u00e1\u00e1n: A journey into Din\u00e9 culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Care for Nahasdz<\/span>\u00e1\u00e1<\/span>n, or Care for Mother Earth, is a class offered by the Center of International Education in conjunction with the Department of Sociology that offers <\/span>students an opportunity <\/span>to learn about Din\u00e9 culture and traditions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Melanie Hildebrandt<\/span><\/b>, associate teaching professor at the Department of Sociology, and <\/span>Stefanie Kunze<\/span><\/b>, sociology graduate coordinator and assistant professor, are bringing partnerships with Din\u00e9 educators and community members to the classroom.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>\u201cThis started as a private volunteer opportunity for groups of students, faculty and community members to help out on family farms,\u201d Hildebrandt said. \u201cWe would help for a day and maybe camp out overnight to assist with different tasks like removing invasive plants or digging watering canals. This sparked inspiration to see if we could develop these visits into a class so students could learn about Din\u00e9 culture directly through Din\u00e9 people.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hildebrandt and Kunze said the idea was driven by their partners\u2019 interest in having NAU students visit the reservation and learn about their way of life. After the conversation started, the pair reached out to CIE to run the class as a hybrid international program, since the Navajo Nation is a sovereign nation within the United States. Now, students can apply to the 8-week program that includes time in the classroom and three weekend visits with Din\u00e9 neighbors where they can learn about Din\u00e9 life while helping with farm projects.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are engaged with reading, understanding sovereignty, understanding environmental issues and history,\u201d Hildebrandt said. \u201cWe bring in guest speakers whenever possible, including Indigenous faculty members who are willing to share their expertise with the students in the classroom, as well as other people in the community who may not live on the reservation but have knowledge that we think is important that the students are exposed to.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Students<\/a>Kunze said the program only admits 10 students at a time. To apply, students must write a letter of interest, submit a letter of recommendation and go through an interview process.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do this to make sure everyone is coming to learn and be part of this experience, not just because it is something cool to study,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From helping with sheep corrals, planting, repairing fences and irrigation systems to visiting cultural sites and sitting around the campfire at night, everything the students do on the reservation is an opportunity to understand culture, traditions, belief systems and everyday challenges of their hosts. Din\u00e9 partners have expressed they are thankful to provide students with the opportunity to participate and learn from their perspective in a welcoming place where their questions will not be judged.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur visits to the reservation are by invitation only,\u201d Kunze said. \u201cOur partners like what the group is doing, and they invite us to come to their place. Melanie and I always visit the site first to see what the location is like and meet the people. We always try to volunteer first and establish that relationship. We take time to create these relationships before we actually bring students there. There is always a lot of work to do, and our students have been well received because they are prepared and ready to help out. The students also are prepared to have meaningful conversations, and most importantly, ask good questions.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes this program unique is that it is Indigenous-driven and Indigenous-led. In Flagstaff, Hildebrandt and Kunze are the educators, but when they leave town, their Din\u00e9 partners take over, immersing the students into their world.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"People<\/a>\u201cThis is the first NAU class that has gone through Tribal consultation,\u201d Hildebrandt said. \u201cWe obtained permission from the Navajo Nation to conduct this program. We respect that process.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Care for Nahasdz\u00e1\u00e1n<\/span> course aligns with NAU\u2019s Commitment to Indigenous Peoples and emphasizes the building of mutually beneficial, reciprocal relationships with Indigenous nations and community partners.<\/span> Currently, students only visit the Navajo Nation, but the program coordinators are working to establish relationships with other nations in hopes of incorporating them into the class.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information visit <\/span>nau.edu\/nahasdzaan<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Care for Nahasdz\u00e1\u00e1n, or Care for Mother Earth, is a class offered by the Center of International Education in conjunction with the Department of Sociology that offers students an opportunity to learn about Din\u00e9 culture and traditions.\u00a0 Melanie Hildebrandt, associate teaching professor at the Department of Sociology, and Stefanie Kunze, sociology graduate coordinator and assistant…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":74518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74514","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\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}