Remembering the Long Walk to Hwééldi: Diné (Navajo) Memorial Histories

FAIN: FT-54300-06

Jeffrey D. Berglund
Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, AZ 86011-0001)

"Remembering the Long Walk to Hwééldi: Diné (Navajo) Memorial Histories," contrasts the different ways the 1864-68 period of Diné (Navajo) internment at Hwééldi (Fort Sumner, New Mexico) has been memorialized. I examine the following: 1) published accounts and interpretations of elders’ stories; 2) children’s stories published by Diné and non-Diné authors; 3) writing by contemporary Diné poets and fiction writers; 4) work by Diné painters; and 5) exhibitions, interpretative centers and the proposed federal trail project.This series of readings highlights the multiple ways—personal, social, public, creative and expressionistic ways—American histories are recorded and made urgent and relevant again.