Introduction
The Navajo are a group of people that originated from India and settled in the United States late into 19th Century (Campbell, 2001).This group of people is considered to be the largest group of Native Americans having settled in the Southwestern side of the United States of America and parts of Mexico. The primary mode of subsistence for the Navajo group of people is pastoralists who move around from time to time depending on the conditions of the areas they have settled with their animals. Among the Navajo, the symbol of motherhood is considered to be the strongest. They view a mother as someone who has actually taken care, in one way or the other, of an individual. They also believe that the earth, as it is, represents a mother; thus consider it to be the most valuable mother of all. The pastoralist nature of the Navajo has greatly affected different aspect about their society. This has mainly occurred during the transition from being a traditional society to a modern society, adopting a culture of frequent migrations.
Kinship
The main aspect about Navajo’s kinship is respect where every member of the society understands the roles they have to play throughout their entire life thereby making it easier to be governed. In addition, the kinship of the Navajo people follows on the linage of the women considering that a woman is the most valuable part of the society (Warburton, 2005). When a child in Navajo is born, he / she will belong to the clan of the mother, which has the authority to name the child depending on the season, condition, or nature of birth. To the Navajo people, this is a symbol of unity and must be respected by every member of the society. The pastoralist nature of the community has greatly affected the kinship that the traditional society had. The first aspect that has been affect is marriage whereby in the modern society, a clan member stands a high chance of marrying a member of the same clan, which is considered to be incest. In the traditional Navajo community, the number of clans that established were only four; Kiiyaa’áanii, Honágháahnii, TóDích’íi’nii, and Hashtl’ishnii. These were established by Changing Woman; however, currently the community is said to have of one hundred and forty different clans (Warburton, 2005).
When understanding the aspect of kinship in the Navajo community, it is important to note that every member of a clan must consider another member of the same clan to be like a brother or sister; thus must not have sexual relations with them (Warburton, 2005). This has since changed because; as the clans move around, they end up coming into contact with other clans. This in turn leads to the intermarriage of people from the same clan because they are not able to separate members from the other clans from their own. In these situations, the leaders of the clan will offer prayers to the gods so as to appease them for the act considering that it was due to lack of understanding (Warburton, 2005). According to a research that was conducted on the kinship behaviors of the Navajo people, it was found that incidences of this nature have been on the increase in recent years.
Another major aspect of kinship that has been affected by their primary mode of subsistence is age-sets whereby every clan within the Navajo society has a different age-set. Because of the pastoralist movements; the young men in the society have had to work in collaboration with the older men of different age-sets when moving the animals and shelter (Warburton, 2005). In the traditional Navajo community, the young men had their own tasks and were not allowed to work with the older men belonging to a different age-set but that fact has since changed. It is clear from this discussion that kinship has been affected adversely by pastoralist nature of the Navajo society especially in two different aspects, which are marriage and age-sets (Warburton, 2005). It is also clear that the values that had been set by the traditional society have since been changed considering that community has adopted the pastoralist behavior where they have to move around in search of pasture and safe weather conditions both for them and their animals (Warburton, 2005).
Social Organization
Social organization is another major aspect about the Navajo group of people that has been greatly affected by the adoption of the pastoralist behavior but the community. In the Navajo community, the central symbol that is used to unite the member of the society is motherhood, which is used to represent life, reproduction, and subsistence (Campbell, 2001). The social system of the Navajo people is expressed through affectionate care from the mother to the child, and through giving and providing of food (Campbell, 2001). This is used to symbolize the respect that an individual holds towards the symbol of motherhood in the society. In recent years, the Navajo have suffered from social disorganization in different aspects that have been impacted by the pastoralist nature of the society. In the traditional Navajo community, the women were the decision making body and held most of the leadership roles in the society due to them being the most important factor in the society (Campbell, 2001).
This has since changed because; as they move around, both the people and the animals will need to have protection, which is offered by the men. The women in the society have since stopped being the only decision making bodies in the clans, but the men have also taken up these roles. This is mainly because the men are strategic; thus may plan for any attacks or any other incidences that may take place as the clan moves. The family was considered to the corporate unit of authority in the society, in that, decisions to be made were made among individual families, but since the adoption of the pastoralist nature, this has since been affected because the society will only move as a basic block, which is the clan.
According to numerous researches, the social organization of the Navajo was well organized during the 18th and 19th Century; considering that the communities did not move around a lot. Thus, because of the change in weather patterns, the community has had to move around more often in recent years in search of favorable conditions (Campbell, 2001). The other factor that has affected the social organization of the Navajo is the increase in population as the clans are moving from one place to the other. A census done in the Navajo country found that there are ten times as much houses today as they were in the traditional society, which has prompted need for a change in the social scenario (Campbell, 2001).
Beliefs and Values
An important aspect that the Navajo people hold most dearly is the beliefs and values they have towards their culture. The first aspect about beliefs and values that has been affected by the pastoralist nature of the society is burying the dead. In the traditional Navajo society, when a person passes away, he / she is to be buried by people from a different clan (Connors, 1993). When the Navajo people are moving from one place to the other, they move in basic units of clans. This means that, in the case a person passes away, he / she will be buried by members of his / her own clan. This is contrary to the traditions of the original society (Connors, 1993). According to different anthropologists, this is one of the greatest changes that the Navajo have had to undergo considering that the dead have to be buried. Although this may was considered to be wrong in the traditional society, it has come to be accepted in modern society, which has to move around a lot in search of greener pasture for the animals.
The second aspect that has been affected by the pastoralist nature of the Navajo is the events and ceremonies that are held before or after every major event in the society. The normal life of a Navajo person is filled with different ceremonies that represent different aspects of life. This has changed because of the frequent movements from one place to the other. Therefore, the society has had to forego some of the ceremonies considering that some of them come about as they are travelling with their animal in search of greener pasture (Connors, 1993). This has been of great effect to the cultural values of the modern society in the sense that, some of the children have grown up with lack of respect for some of the ceremonies celebrated in traditional Navajo society. In addition, the children in the modern society do not understand the symbolism of some of ceremonies that are being held by the society. This poses a great challenge when outlining the social values of the Navajo people (Connors, 1993). According to anthropologists, beliefs and values has been one of the aspects about the Navajo people that has been affected the pastoralist nature of the community. This is because most of the event and ceremonies are based on this aspect (Connors, 1993).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Navajo people are found in the Southwestern part of the United States of America, and parts of Mexico. They have great survival skills for harsh weather conditions for the mountainous regions, as well as desert regions. The primary mode of subsistence for the society is pastoralism, which has greatly affected different aspect about the society. The three different aspects that have mainly been affected by the primary mode of subsistence are kinship, social organization, and beliefs and values. Out of the three values discussed, beliefs and values have been the most affected by the pastoralist nature of the community; considering that this aspect has different events and ceremonies that are to be celebrated by the community. Most of these events and ceremonies are not celebrated due to frequent movements of the clans.
References
Campbell, T. (2001).The Navajo Mountain Community: Social Organization Terminology. Journal of Social Science, 52(1), 219-223.
Connors, J. (1993). Beliefs and Values: the role of people in Navajo society. The Journal of Cloth & Culture, 8(3), 265-280.
Warburton, M. (2005).An Exploration of Navajo Kinship Relationships. Journal of Ethnohistory, 52(3), 533-561.
