The Cata team did quite a bit of exploring, what we might call exploration-oriented research, during CataCAMP. We experienced many new things – trying our tongues at Navajo, making traditional frybread, visiting a flea market in search of Navajo jewelry and herbs, listening to tales of skinwalkers, and even herding sheep.
It was a short timeline (getting ready for CataCAMP) but we were fairly prepared upon arrival, as we had carried out a Cultural Immersion dinner where we learned the trip logistics, practiced some Navajo phrases, cooked and ate traditional food and watched a video about customs. From there, we took home materials (books) about the Navajo way of life – language, spiritual well-being, history. It might have made sense to read all of that beforehand, but we also wanted to try out going in as semi blank-slates, so as to be able to take everything in, absorb it, and to fully utilize our five senses. All in all, we learned a great deal about the lives, motivations and values of our Navajo hosts.
On the first full day, we conducted the Cultural Research Methods workshop, which explored ways in which to carry out research in unfamiliar and diverse cultural settings. Much of what we learned in this workshop was employed throughout our time there, on purpose or simply by default. Here is just a peek into what we did and what we noticed or learned:
We all paid close attention to cultural norms — Navajos are handshakers, and appreciate a confident shake. Many of them wear traditional turqouise and silver jewelry, both the men and the women. Fry bread is made and eaten at many of the meals. [On a side note, we did encounter a story about a group that was trying to give a presentation on energy usage but that used incorrect/atypical words in Navajo. Audience members were offended and confused by such words, and thus the message was rendered ineffective. (This was because cultural norms and language practices were not taken into consideration...interesting!)]
Lots of trucks in parking lot
We surveyed cultural artifacts, both modern and ancient — A huge portion of locals drove trucks or big cars. We gathered that they were used mostly for fitting bigger families and for transporting goods, water (huge tanks!), and pulling livestock. And we felt very Anthropologist-esque when I found some ancient Pueblo artifacts (pottery) at White House Ruins, in Canyon de Chelly in the dried riverbed. (I left them there, of course!)
We immersed ourselves, but didn’t try to “fit in” completely — We all tried to learn a bit of the Navajo language. Heather had been taught some as a child by her mother and assisted us in our endeavors. Morgan was by far the quickest to catch on, and is considered our language expert/enthusiast. At the very least, moving our tongues in very unfamiliar ways and huffing air to make the appropriate sounds led to laughter all around. It became a way to connect to older Navajo generations, especially at the Begay family cookout. They appreciated our curiosity, willingness to try new things, and our respect for their sacred language. And, at the end of our trip we were all given gracious gifts – traditional Navajo jewelry – by Leonard so we could take a piece of the experience home with us.
Snake crossing
We listened to stories and myths — We learned from Deenise about the warning related to a snake crossing…right after I had a snake encounter at Canyon de Chelly, oops! Luckily I had done the right thing, which was to let it go on its way undisturbed, and for me to not let is cross directly in front of me.
At the Grand Canyon
We carried out different roles — At times we were the ethnographers/researchers (in workshops, in excursions), at other times we were colleagues (visiting off-the-grid communities with the NTUA), but mostly we were visitors and friends (with the Begay family and others). And then at the Grand Canyon we were, of course, tourists!
Poster with traditional jewelry
We observed the “trivial” — We noticed that there were multiple beds in the one-roomed hogan at Bessie’s. We gathered that this was for multiple family members to spend the night. Since it was their summer land many of them spent time up there, off and on. We noticed in an NTUA poster about energy and water usage that the woman model was wearing traditional Navajo jewelry. We noticed an over-sized grill near the campfire, which was used for huge Begay family cookouts.
We closely investigated familiar environments by making them unfamiliar — We visited Basha’s, the local grocery store, to see what types of items families were buying, and what the shelves were stocked with. We were only there for a short time, but we noticed many canned and dried foods, limited fresh produce, lots of bottled water, no alcohol (not sold on Reservation) and an incredible amount of snowcone ingredients! On the highways, we noticed a plethora of McDonald’s billboards…which should be no news to us as they are all over San Francisco, too, but what we did see on the signs was “Open 24 Hours.” That was news to us. We visited an old trading post, and assessed the types of objects they were selling. Clearly it was targeting tourists.
Kenneth and group at IHS
We heard multiple perspectives — When we went to see Dr. Rand at the Indian Health Services, Kenneth (friend of the Begay family) came along with us. It was obvious that he became upset when Dr. Rand was discussing high suicide and alcoholism rates on the Reservation, as this was not the case for the Begay family (thankfully). This was an extraordinarily insightful interaction to witness (Kenneth making this fact known to Dr. Rand). It gave us a more holistic view, and allowed us to see the diverse experiences and realities within one culture and community.
Again, these are just a few of the snapshots of our cultural research expedition. If you are interested in learning tips for cross-cultural immersions and research, download the Cultural Research Methods Workshop.
