“What does it mean to be Diné?”
This is a question that has a lot of significance to the Diné people. Especially in todays world, finding and keeping culture and identity is an important, sometimes overlooked concept. Rather than attempting to answer that question based on my time with them, it’s important that they answer themselves. This project features still images as well as audio interviews from Diné people about what it means to them to be Diné or as we commonly call them; Navajo.
Interviews
“I think I am a pretty good Navajo. Evidence right here, just who I am and what I look like.”
“It means that I came from mother earth. That I am part of the universe that’s been created by our creator and I’m part of it. White people call us red. But to me I’m just someone that is brown, tan color. I am part of mother earth because mother earth is brown. That’s what it means to me. And that we all have a purpose. That’s what I was told by my grandpa.”
“What is means to be a Diné woman is I suppose what I gave you just now as my clans. That’s who I am.”
“It’s my whole life. Meaning that we treasure our culture and our traditional ways. The understanding we have that we got from our grandparents our parents and that’s what we’re all about. And we are the holy ones. We are the holy people. We have to carry on that tradition. The traditional life is important. Being a Navajo is great. And I think the United States Government needs to understand that because of our language we won the war. And that’s who we are and we respect that a lot.”
“It means a lot. It’s important (because of) How far back it goes; the history.”
“Dine has a long, proud history. Dine means “the people.” To me, it’s a proud people.”
“What does it mean to be Navajo is a very simple and complex question. On the simplest level it means to exist here… within our four sacred mountains. But then that would discredit all our Navajo who live outside of that and I don’t believe that either. I believe those people are Navajo. So is it as basic as a person’s biology and genetics and that’s what makes them Navajo? Some people might say it’s just that. Other people might say it has something to do with cultural values and growing up with those cultural values. Those values are about family, about family relations, some spiritual beliefs about the environment and the deities that are associated with the environment. So, it’s complicated. It’s something I don’t think can be defined in a single answer.”
“I am proud to be Navajo. It’s clanship. We go a lot by our clans. How we are related to other clans. That’s what Navajo is to me.”
“To be Navajo means you’re supposed to be the caretaker of the land, being a steward to the Land.”
“To me being Navajo means showing pride in who you are, because that’s who you are.”
“Being Navajo is what in our language we call Diné. It’s more specific to us. We call ourselves Diné rather than Navajo. Navajo could be something you would write on a piece of paper for the federal government....What it means to me to be Diné is certain things that are close to us as our history, our way of life.”
“Being Navajo today is about being tied to the land, to the prayers, through my ancestors.”