Responsibility for people and resources
Circa 200 000 Navahos live on the Navaho Nation territory (Diné Bikeyah) that stretches almost 43 200 square km through Arizo- na, New Mexico and Utah. The Navaho Nation is one of the largest indigenous groups in the USA and has its own sovereign govern- ment, which has responsibility for schools, police, courts, colleges, businesses and industry.
The Navaho Nation’s government was founded in 1923, three years after oil was found on their territory. Many Navaho work with agriculture and animal husbandry. Handicrafts, such as weaving and jewellery, and wage labor are also important sources of income.
Identity and living traditions
Textile production among the Navaho is a living tradition that reveals a lot about Navaho identity today. Al- though blankets and other textiles are use objects, they have an important symbolic value for the Navaho.
Textiles that are made by a Navaho inside the area of the four sacred mountains are considered sacred. For those who work with Navaho textiles, everything—the plants, animals, stones, mountains, as well as the sheep, wool, plant colors and materials for the weaving instruments—are mystical gifts from the “sacred people” to the Navaho.
The earth and nature are central in Navaho’s traditional belief system. The area inside of the for sacred mountains—Sierra Blanca Peak to the east (Colorado), Mount Taylor to the south (New Mexico), San Fran- cisco Peaks to the west (Arizona) and La Platas to the north (Colorado)—the Navaho call “my home.”
Weaving
A Navaho might say that she learned to weave from the Spiderwoman and that the first weaving was made after the Spiderwoman’s instructions. Others mean that the Navaho learned to weave from their Hopi neigh- bors.
Carpet weaving in the Navajo is women's work
Before the Navaho reservation was established in 1868, Navaho textiles were an important trade item. Nava- ho blankets were used as clothing and were the basis for trade between indigenous groups. The value of other goods was calculated in relation to Navaho blankets. Earlier fabrics had horizontal stripes with at wider band in the middle and they shielded well against the wind and rain.
Silver jewelry
In the USA jewelry from the Southwest has gained status as the country’s only unique form of original jewel- ry art. First at the end of 1800s the Navaho began seriously with silver work. Later the Zuni and Hopi took up the art form. Silver and turquoise jewelry made by indigenous people in the Southwest is known worldwide.
Copying of traditional handicrafts and design — a growing problem
For many indigenous people in the Southwest, handicraft is an important source of income and copying is a very big problem. Almost 50% of handicrafts that are sold as indigenous work in the USA are copies. Navaho have long experienced that others copy their design, as a consequence of the commercial sale since the end of the 1800s.
