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Securing Navajo National BoundariesWar, Patriotism, Tradition, and the Diné Marriage Act of 2005 Jennifer Nez Denetdale (bio) Like many other Americans, I became aware of the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, via the national news, which broadcast the scenes of airplanes diving into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. I remember learning of the attacks right before having to go to teach a class at Northern Arizona University. That day the students sat quietly, for it was almost impossible for anyone to not have heard the shocking news.1 Many Americans marked these events as a signal that they were no longer safe and supported President Bush and his administration's preparations to begin invasions in the Middle East, first Afghanistan and then Iraq. In much the same way, Navajos also enthusiastically expressed their patriotism to the United States; however, Navajos have manifested their loyalty within the rhetoric and symbols of Diné traditional values. This manifestation of Diné traditional values conflates Navajo nationalism with American nationalism, so that they appear to be one and the same. Such articulations streamline Native pasts into the dominant American narrative about itself as a multicultural nation founded upon moral and ethical principles and erase the historical links between the past and the present, wherein Native peoples have been violently dispossessed of most of their lands and they see their sovereign statuses as nations continually undermined by U.S. federal Indian policies and the Supreme Court. Native peoples remain second-class citizens within [End Page 131] their own lands and under American rule. This essay examines the conflation of American and Navajo nationalisms by scrutinizing the intersections of war, gender, and Diné tradition and the ways in which the Diné have drawn upon tradition to support U.S. militarism that sustains a rhetoric of multiculturalism, thereby erasing the U.S. imperialist history. I draw upon an emerging Indigenous feminist analysis that is illuminating how Native gender roles are significant to the construction of Native nations and how histories of Native nations have been shaped by histories of colonialism. I begin by drawing out the Diné cultural landscape in the wake of September 11, 2001, that became increasingly militarized, note the history of Navajo participation in U.S. wars, and raise questions about how Navajo participation becomes aligned with a Navajo warrior tradition. Of particular interest are articulations of the bridges between the traditional roles of warriors and present-day Navajo soldiering for the Untied States and the links between family values and recent legislation, such as the Diné Marriage Act of 2005. Interrogations of how we have come to view Navajo causes and priorities as aligned with U.S. foreign policies disrupt the dominating American narrative of itself as a moral, ethical nation devoted to the principles of freedom and democracy and can move us to decolonization and the recovery of traditional principles of governance that were in place prior to 1863, when the Diné were in charge of their own destiny. The Navajo Cultural Landscape, Post 9/11 On September 11, 2002, Indian Country Today reported Native sentiments on the first anniversary of the airplane attacks on the United States with a story about Mashantucket Pequot member Jewell Praying Wolf James, who, along with several others, was transporting a "healing pole" around the country. Dedicated to the victims of the September 11th catastrophe, the pole was designed to aid in a national healing. Asked why Indians would participate in memorials dedicated to September 11th, when they have "suffered great wrongs from the United States," James responded that, yes, Indians had suffered at the hands of the United States but that "all healing has to begin from within." By helping the United States to heal from the attacks, "Indian peoples are making themselves whole."2 At the time of the attacks, as the article further noted, approximately three hundred tribal leaders had been attending a National Congress of American Indians meeting in Washington, D.C. Expecting to hear from Senator Daniel Inouye, the leaders, including Navajo Nation President Kelsey Begay, instead learned of the second attack on the Pentagon. Rather than add to the chaos, the leaders opted to continue...
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