24th Diné Studies Conference
Conference agenda · October 9–11, 2026 · Fort Lewis College, Durango, CO
Click any session for abstract details
Friday
October 9, 2026
06:00–08:00 P
Pre-Conference Reception
Location TBD · Hors d'oeuvres and drinks
Saturday
October 10, 2026
07:30 A–04:00 P
Registration
Location TBD · Open all day
08:00–09:00 A
Breakfast
09:00–09:30 A
Blessing and Welcome
09:30–10:30 A
PLENARY SESSION BOOK TALK: THE NAVAJO POLITICAL EXPERIENCE
Wendy Greyeyes, Lloyd L. Lee, & Tiffany S. Lee, moderated by Andrew Curley
Coffee break · 10:30–10:45 A
NOBLE 130
NOBLE 135
NOBLE 140
SENATE CHAMBERS
VALLECITO ROOM
10:45–11:45 A
ROUNDTABLE PANEL
Diné Oral Histories: Continual Connections across Time, Material Worlds, and K’é
Davina Ruth Two Bears, Teyanna Kaibetoney, Farina King, Miranda J. Haskie, & Kendall Lovely
Abstract
CONSTRUCTED PAPER SESSION
The Archaeology of the Lukachukai Mountains Uranium Mining District
Adesbah Foguth
Abstract
Petrography of Dinétah Gray Pottery: Investigating Ceramic Production in the Greater Chaco Region
Liv Winnicki
Abstract
EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE
Native languages campus sign initiative featuring Diné Bizaad
Byron Tsabetsaye
Abstract
STORYTELLING
Reconnecting Diné Youth, Reclaiming History, and Restoring the Land
Andrew Atencia, Adrian Herder, & Makaius Marks
Abstract
FILM
EXTRACTED: Stories from Diné Bikéyah
Cherylee Francis
Abstract
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This roundtable brings together Diné scholars and emerging researchers to reflect on how Diné oral histories connect people across generations, places, and relationships of k’é while informing contemporary research, teaching, and community-engaged practice. Drawing on oral histories recorded with families, elders, artists, and communities, participants consider the responsibilities, ethics, and possibilities that emerge from this work. Dr. Davina Two Bears examines oral histories related to the Leupp Boarding School and its later use as a Japanese American isolation center. Dr. Miranda Haskie explores how oral histories continue to shape students’ understandings of culture, history, and community. Dr. Farina King considers questions of kinship, consent, and care in scholarly and public-facing work. Teyanna Kaibetoney reflects on how her grandmother’s stories inspired her engagement with oral history and how storytelling informs education, memory, and Diné ways of knowing. Dr. Kendall Lovely explores how oral interviews with Diné artists intersect with material culture, museums, and visual media, revealing distinctive Diné perspectives on interpretation and representation. Together, the panel invites dialogue about methods, ethics, and intergenerational responsibilities in Diné oral history work.
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The uranium mining boom of the 1940-1980s on the Navajo Nation marked a profound turning point in Dine life. It introduced industrial wage labor and mass-produced goods into Diné communities who previously lived a traditional pastoral lifestyle. This PhD project investigates how industrial uranium mining in the Lukachukai Mountains reshaped Diné cultural values, interrupted traditional relationships to sacred landscapes, and altered traditional Diné social organization (i.e., the aggregation of Diné into towns). Using archaeological survey and lidar mapping, and drawing on the both the anthropology of mining and the archaeology of supermodernity studies, this research project examines the Lukachukai Mountains Mining District in Lukachukai and Cove, Arizona, as a landscape of environmental destruction but also as a place where Diné people balanced competing cultural obligations and the imperative of economic development.
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The eighteenth-century Diné communities of Chacra Mesa, located south of Chaco Canyon near Pueblo Pintado, occupied a landscape marked by the construction of defensively positioned pueblitos and associated habitations during the Gobernador Period. While these sites have long been interpreted through their defensive architecture, comparatively little is known about the production and circulation of the ceramics used by the families who lived within them. This study presents a petrographic analysis of Dinétah Gray pottery recovered from multiple Chacra Mesa sites to investigate ceramic production, raw material procurement, and patterns of exchange within the greater Chaco region. By identifying mineralogical and textural characteristics of ceramic pastes and tempers, this research evaluates whether vessels were manufactured locally or acquired through interaction with neighboring communities. These data provide insight into the organization of defensive settlements, the organization of household labor, and the social and economic relationships that linked Diné communities across the region. The analysis contributes to a more nuanced understanding of eighteenth-century Diné lifeways in the greater Chaco Canyon region.
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The University of Arizona launched a Native Languages Campus Sign Initiative in 2022 to help build a more welcoming and inclusive campus community. So far, the initiative has honored 14 Native Nations in Arizona including the Navajo Nation. The Office of Native American Advancement & Tribal Engagement (NAATE) worked directly with tribal leaders, cultural liaisons, and language experts/teachers to develop phrasing in Diné Bizaad to be permanently included on a university campus sign. Foundationally, this initiative brings a deep sense of connection to Native American communities when they visit campus. Students, staff, and faculty have expressed positive emotional connections to “home” when they see their language represented on campus. For non-Native folx, the sign serves as an opportunity to understand more about Native Peoples, languages, and the importance of land history. This session will provide participants with an overview of the initiative and examine the deep cultural connections to language, land, and history.
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Language guides how we document the community narratives that shape Tó Nizhóní Ání's Watershed Restoration approach, Keyah Nabiyilaah (“to bring beauty back to the land”). Many of our Diné communities face erosion, drought, and a lack of employment. Keyah Nabiyilnaah is our solution; its goals are to reconnect youth with the land, reclaim history, build stakeholder support, and restore watersheds. Centered in the Black Mesa region, we train a local workforce and develop leaders in Ecological Restoration. In collaboration with communities and Chapters, we train members in watershed restoration to document and map the cultural stories of these spaces while inviting community members to participate in community-led projects that sustain our environment and culture. As part of educating community members in restoration, our watershed crew leads Field and Volunteer Days, including Discovery Days for students from elementary to high school. Watershed Restoration, Keyah Nabiyilnaah, develops confidence in Dził Yíjiin (Black Mesa) youth’s ability to create positive change through hands-on experience, environmental stewardship, a sense of responsibility for our culture, and revival of a Restorative Economy.
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A Diné filmmaker is witness to her homeland and chronicles her people's generations-long fight for survival on Native lands historically coveted and abused by outside powers. Now, their land, water, and survival are once again in danger of reawakening the monsters as renewed demand for uranium mining to restart the nuclear energy industry and an insatiable thirst for water to fuel AI data centers threaten the people of the Navajo Nation and their ancestral lands. The determination of some courageous indigenous protectors who stand up for their people illuminates the fight to prevent extraction and restore the sacredness of the land, protect their communities’ health, and preserve their way of life. This film highlights the historical and ongoing environmental, health, and social issues while addressing the political landscape, the need for renewable energy, and the importance of community advocacy and education.
11:45 A–01:00 P
Lunch
NOBLE 130
NOBLE 135
NOBLE 140
SENATE CHAMBERS
VALLECITO ROOM
01:15–02:15 P
PAPER SESSION
Diné Studies and the Impact for Native Communities and People
Lloyd Lee
Abstract
PAPER SESSION
“Shí Naashá” across the anthro-musicological record
Renata Yazzie
Abstract
CONSTRUCTED PAPER SESSION
Dinétah Bee Hołdzil – An Archaeological Survey and Stabilization Project by NMSLO
Adesbah Foguth
Abstract
Navajo are All Over the Place: Navajo Subject Matter in Plains Indian Ledger Art
Matthew Kirk Tafoya
Abstract
INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION
BY, FOR, WITHIN, a youth-led grassroots movement to combat neocolonial development practice on Navajo Nation [A Dine youth return to the homeland]
tylee nalwood nez
Abstract
FILM
System Breakdown
Cherylee Francis, Kristen Bitsuie, & April Hale
Abstract
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Diné Studies is a growing field for the past thirty years. Diné scholars, educators, knowledge holders, students, community members, and elders are discussing, examining, and writing on relevant scholarship to communities, peoples, and the Navajo Nation overall. The range of topics include the Diné language, education, community planning, environmental protection, water rights, land, government, history, economics, and youth. This presentation will discuss the history of Diné Studies, relevant research/scholarship, future of the field, and a current book project.
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Since 1868 our people have been consistently engaging with the idea of “music” based on the European expression of the word. Diné Bizaad historically does not have a word for this kind of music, as our historical forms of sonic expressions are most commonly defined by the word “sin” which I translate as a “prayerful song.” Anthropologists have long attempted to define “sin” through musical frameworks that are incompatible with the way Diné songs sound, function, and are expressed both then and now. This presentation explores the ontological differences between music and song in order to understand how the Diné song called “Shí Naashá” or the “Navajo Happiness Song” came to be recognized and categorized as “music” through the anthro-musicological record. The anthropological neglect to differentiate between sin and music is a form of violence on and against Diné sonic practices and forms of expression. Understanding the difference between songs and music in function, movement, kinships, sounds and history can also reorient the way we consider, interrogate, research and teach Diné songs and music to our future young people.
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The New Mexico State Land Office (NMSLO) conducted 280 acres of archaeological survey around five bee hołdzil structures (formerly known as Pueblito) on State Trust Land in Dinétah in 2025/2026. Each of the five bee hołdzil structures was updated and a condition assessment completed in preparation for stabilization work. Simultaneously, a small ethnographic study was done with Diné informants who discussed the cultural significance and history of these sites. This presentation will discuss the results of the survey, site updates, the stabilization work completed at LA 61134, and insights gleaned from the ethnographic interviews. Adesbah Foguth (she/her) works as an archaeologist for NMSLO Cultural Resource Office in Yootó (Santa Fe). Tó’aheedléenii nishłí dóó Táchiinii báshishchíín, áádóó Lók’aach’égai déé’ naashá.
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The presenter shares a brief history of Plains Indian ledger art, Navajo stories about visiting the Plains, and examples of Navajos in 1800s Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa ledger art. Dr. Tafoya's research in traditional Navajo material culture led him to explore how Navajo were perceived by other Tribes during the 1800's. Careful study of Plains Indian ledger art reveals that Navajo had diverse male material culture not usually associated with modern perceptions of Navajo male material culture. The ledger art examples depict meetings, conflicts, slave raids, and warfare.
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This presentation explores the work of a youth-led grassroots initiative, BY, FOR, WITHIN: COMMUNITY working to counteract extractive industries and empower local communities through education and action. Liberal capitalism has driven our communities to become increasingly disconnected from our traditional, fundamental laws and ultimately, the land, under the guise of progressive economic development. Our youth are encouraged to leave the reservation to become educated and return with the tools to improve the material conditions of our communities. However, they are often forced into lucrative, extractive industries like gas, oil, and mining, which are designed to limit our ability to practice our sovereignty. This route prioritizes individual capital gain at the expense of our land, relations, and community. BY, FOR, WITHIN: COMMUNITY centers Diné values and beliefs. It is rooted in the understanding that community members are the experts in their lands through lived experiences and hold the solutions. This session aims to increase awareness of grassroots work, showcase approaches to grassroots environmental justice, and recruit Diné youth, elders, community members, artists, and activists.
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An 11-minute short film that highlights the challenges faced by Native Americans in accessing quality healthcare. This film shares the stories from four Diné interviewees who discuss the reliance on IHS, 638 clinics, and purchase referred care, voicing the difficulties of often not having proper insurance or understanding of services like Medicare. There's a significant communication gap, especially for elders who may not speak English. Traditional Diné practices and medicine are often misunderstood by Western doctors. Speakers emphasize the need for better education, training, and cultural sensitivity in healthcare services. They call for full funding for Native American facilities and programs, advocating for the recognition of treaty rights and the right to quality care equal to others. This film is an example of decisions that reverse efforts by previous administrations to increase opportunities for historically underrepresented groups. The words of non-Diné promises that say, “trust us", "we can help you”, result in gatekeeping our stories and silencing Diné voices.
Coffee break · 02:15–02:30 P
NOBLE 130
NOBLE 135
NOBLE 140
SENATE CHAMBERS
VALLECITO ROOM
02:30–03:30 P
PAPER SESSION
Diné Defensive Sites of the Southern San Juan Basin: Ethnoarchaeological Insights into pre-Reservation Era History, c. 1750-1864 CE
Wade Campbell, Leonard Perry, & Cherie DeVore
Abstract
ROUNDTABLE PANEL
Consequences of the nuclear age for Diné futures
Doug Brugge, Esther Yazzie, Kathleen Tsosie, & Kevin Patterson
Abstract
PAPER SESSION
Competitive Localism, Land Preclearance, and Housing Construction
Ezra Rosser
Abstract
POETRY READING
From Darkness to Light: Poems and Short Stories
Aretha Matt
Abstract
FILM
Crossing the Line -
Ramona Emerson, Jennifer Denetdale, & Melanie Yazzie
Abstract
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From Dinétah in the east to Black Mesa in the west, nearly two hundred stone fortresses are scattered across the landscape of Diné Bikéyah. These buildings are not Ánaasází in origin, but were instead built during the 17th and 18th centuries by previous generations of Diné people in order to protect their communities from enemies. Commonly referred to as “pueblitos” by archaeologists and historians, these pre-Reservation Diné defensive sites most commonly take the form of stone-built fortresses located in close proximity to clusters of everyday hogan camps. The majority of prior archaeological research has focused on the ~150 defensive sites in the Largo-Gobernador region. This presentation presents the results of recent research along the southern edge of the San Juan Basin from Borrego Pass to Mexican Springs, NM. Archaeological data is combined with published historical accounts and local oral histories in order to gain insights into the experiences of 18th/19th century Diné communities in the region. Together, this information will demonstrate why these unique repositories of Diné strength and resilience in the Southwest must be better documented and protected going forward.
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This panel addresses the legacy and impact of uranium mining on indigenous communities globally. The experience of the Navajo Nation with uranium mining is central to this presentation which will review the range of issues with nuclear power, including accidents, disposal of waste, and cost. It will also further explore the range of adverse consequences of expanding nuclear power in the US as it might affect the Dine, especially pressure to revive uranium mining and processing in the Southwestern US. The presentation will also consider the impact of uranium mining on indigenous communities in Canada, Africa, India and Australia. The conclusion is that nuclear power, while not located on indigenous lands, has a disproportionate impact on Native and indigenous populations without providing sufficient benefits in terms of economic development or power generation. This panel emerges from a chapter “The Dirty, Working Class Problem,” in the co-authored book Dirty Secrets of Nuclear Power in an Era of Climate Change. This panel will further characterize the cultural, social, psychological, and overall health implications associated with uranium exposure and how existing evidence is communicated to lay and affected community members.
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Lots of reasons are given for the ongoing challenges in spending down federal funds meant to support low-income housing on the Navajo reservation. Periodic newspaper accounts tend to highlight dysfunction at the Navajo Housing Authority for its struggles to convert NAHASDA dollars into completed and occupied units. Tribal leaders tend to focus on structural challenges such as the trust status of land, the limited number of companies that can be relied upon, and the extreme distances involved in reaching some parts of the reservation. But whatever the reason, a real danger exists that the federal government might claw back previously granted funds and make it more difficult to receive funding in the future. This talk will explore the possibility of using the Diné tradition of local governance as a way to pre-clear land necessary for housing and use pre-clearance and construction partnerships to allocate existing funds efficiently. An advantage of cooperative and competitive localism is that it would create space for grassroots activism at the same time as it helped solve the housing spend down and construction backlog problems.
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The poems are about my upbringing and about my homeland. The themes in my poetry and short stories include living on the reservation, farming, family gatherings, living away from the Navajo reservation, missing the homeland, border towns, and being and feeling at home. Some of the poems are published in Red Mesa Review, and one micro essay is published in an anthology, Nonwhite and Woman: 131 Micro Essays on Being in the World. I am currently working on a book of poetry and short stories, with the working title, From Darkness to Light: Poems and Short Stories, which I hope to publish through Sun Tracks, UA Press, by the end of the year. I will read some of the poems and short stories that I am currently preparing for the book.
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Out beyond the vast and expansive landscapes of the Navajo reservation, a decade’s long epidemic of violence and discrimination continues to exist and thrive in the towns and cities that border Navajo communities. In border towns like Gallup, Farmington and Albuquerque, New Mexico and Flagstaff and Winslow, Arizona, Native Americans are statistically twice as likely to be victims of violent crime and also just as likely to be victims of the police department. Crossing the Line examines the epidemic of violence that surrounds Navajo communities, identifying and exposing much of the racial tension that exists in these towns and hearing the stories of not only the victims of the violence but of those who are fighting to make change in these spaces.
Coffee break · 03:30–03:45 P
NOBLE 130
NOBLE 135
NOBLE 140
SENATE CHAMBERS
VALLECITO ROOM
03:45–04:45 P
ROUNDTABLE PANEL
Building Navajo Identity in Youth Through Innovative Education and Culture Programs
Faith Roessel, Maribelle Harvey, & Sheila Goldtooth
Abstract
INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION
Bridging the gap towards intergenerational Diné Land stewardship
Sicada Sloan & Danya Carroll
Abstract
INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION
Kinship as Sentience, Reciprocity, and Collective Survival
Danelle Woodman
Abstract
FILM
A Diné Story of the First Death: An Educational Video
Jennifer Denetdale & Steven A. Darden
Abstract
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Every Navajo child deserves to understand who they are—their people, language, land, culture, and lifeways. Navajo parents, grandparents, and community members should feel supported in practicing Navajo traditions and culture that teach powerful values, ethics, stories, K’é, health and wellbeing. Based in Round Rock on the Navajo Nation, CHEII has worked for several years with elders, educators, knowledge holders, and community members in Round Rock and nearby communities to support programs for children, youth, and families. This panel will explore several of CHEII’s projects, including the Round Rock Community History Project, cultural enrichment activities, a writing workshop, and culture camp, each designed to share Navajo knowledge in creative, engaging, and innovative ways. Panelists will reflect on the development of these programs, lessons learned, challenges addressed, and how investing in children and youth can help strengthen their connection to family, community, healthy relationships and a positive Navajo identity grounded in the place-based knowledge of Diné Bikeyah. The session will also invite attendees to share their reactions, discuss why this work is important, and consider how they can do it themselves.
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Add this session's abstract here. Two or three sentences of the presenter's own description read best in this space.
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Diné sovereignty, health, wellbeing and prosperity are intrinsically tied to the health of our homelands. However, multiple environmental concerns continue to present challenges for Dinétah and our Peoples including climate change, industrial pressures, and limited resources. Building intergenerational Land and Water stewardship is vital to continuing the care and nourishment of our homelands. Likewise, Diné food sovereignty and security is dependent on ensuring that younger generations of Diné Land and Water stewards are able to continue this responsibility. This interactive discussion will draw on the strengths of both Diné and Western knowledge to address these uncertainties. As an outcome of this discussion, we hope to further develop a community-informed understanding of how the gap between current and future stewards can be intergenerationally bridged in a way that maintains and platforms cultural knowledge and fosters supportive systems changes. In this session, we also seek to facilitate a supportive environment that honors the gift of multiple perspectives (Two-Eyed Seeing) and provides participants with tools to take back to their home communities.
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This interactive discussion invites participants to explore the intersection of kinship and survival through the lens of K’e. Moving beyond a traditional presentation to collectively identify community and share relations, we will collaboratively articulate how foundational concepts of sentience, non-hierarchy, and reciprocity sustain collective survival amidst systemic chaos. By framing the community as a living, sentient entity, we will discuss our responsibility to our kin and the decolonization imperative for collective growth. We will contrast these living human systems, which utilize adaptive ecological learning to resist settler-colonial erasures, with the limitations of Colonized nuclear family models. This session will focus on transforming toward deeper, resilient forms of kinship that transform our shared history into a framework for present-day survival.
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Based on the research around Diné Perspectives on Death as part of the cycle of life, Steven Darden will screen his education video featuring a story about death and grief from the perspective of a traditional practitioner. Based on interviews he collected from traditional practitioners, Darden will share one story and offer an analysis. Jennifer Denetdale will provide an introduction about the research and serve as moderator.
Sunday
October 11, 2026
07:30–09:00 A
Breakfast
09:00–09:30 A
Blessing and Welcome
09:30–10:30 A
PLENARY SESSION: HODEEYÁÁDĄ́Ą́ʼ HANÁÁʼDIISTS'Ą́Ą́ʼ
Esther Yazzie
Coffee break · 10:30–10:45 A
NOBLE 130
NOBLE 135
NOBLE 140
SENATE CHAMBERS
JONES 140
10:45–11:45 A
ROUNDTABLE PANEL
Fifty Years of Action to Protect the Land: An Intergenerational Conversation With Diné Activists
Robyn Jackson, Michelle Cook, Melanie K. Yazzie, Chili Yazzie, & John Redhouse
Abstract
ROUNDTABLE PANEL
Emergency management systems on the Navajo Nation: Lessons from a global pandemic
Michael Lerma, Parnell Perry, Emery Denny, & Milton Bluehouse Jr.
Abstract
PAPER SESSION
Restor(y)ing Kaibah in Dinétah and Beyond: A Changing Woman in a Changing World
Renae Watchman
Abstract
PAPER SESSION
Rebuilding Navajo Community Supported Agriculture
Matthew Kirk Tafoya
Abstract
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When you think of Navajo politics, what comes to mind? How about community leadership? We typically associate Navajo politics and leadership with the formal political process that resides in Window Rock. But our people have long participated in the Navajo political process through avenues that are often unnoticed or marginalized. Grassroots activism is one of these avenues. Although not always acknowledged for its contributions to Diné society, grassroots activism has always held an important place in the Diné political process. This roundtable panel brings together an intergenerational group of Diné grassroots leaders who represent over fifty years of experience organizing on the ground to address some of the most important issues—and challenges—we have ever faced as a people. Alongside many other extraordinary Diné, they have played a pivotal role in shaping not only Diné politics, but Diné futures more broadly. While their experience is vast, this roundtable will focus on their contributions to land, water, and climate stewardship between the four sacred mountains and beyond. This session will be conducted in both Diné Bizaad and English.
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This presentation draws on a 2024 Diné Policy Institute report examining the Navajo Nation's emergency management systems through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the Navajo philosophical framework of Sihasin—commonly understood as resiliency or regeneration—the research evaluates the Nation's public health response between 2020 and 2021. Findings are grounded in interviews with Hataałii, elected officials, chapter government staff, and Navajo citizens, and are organized through a Diné philosophical lens: Nitsáhákees (thinking/planning), Nahat'á (policy), Iiná (implementation), and Sihasin (reflection and resiliency). The research identifies three urgent systemic failures: inadequate emergency resource management, breakdowns in emergency communication and information-sharing with tribal communities, and insufficient coordination between the centralized Navajo Nation government and local chapter institutions. Applying the K'é principle of accountability, the presentation frames these failures not as grounds for blame but as powerful learning opportunities that strengthen the Nation's capacity to respond to future crises. Along with policy, the presentation reflects on the pandemic's most profound wound: the loss of elders, ceremonial knowledge keepers, and Navajo language speakers.
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This presentation explores the diverse contexts and contributions of Kay “Kaibah” Bennett (neé Curley) (c.1920–1997). She was a fluent Diné language speaker and interpreter, an author, a boarding school thriver, a pageant winner, a singer songwriter, an active labourer in California and Arizona, an educator, a global dignitary, a fashion designer, a doll maker, and a politician. The project spotlights Bennett’s significance to Diné literary and creative arts, and Diné governance and politics in and beyond Dinétah. Despite her remarkable career and record of community leadership, Bennett has almost wholly escaped scholarly attention. Moreover, the publicly available information on Bennett is sparse and sometimes conflicting. To address this gap, the talk fuses Diné literature, historical and archival records, Diné culture, material cultural items, oral histories, and Federal Indian Law that places Bennett in the diverse contexts she inhabited. Centering Bennett’s life story amid her political, cultural, and historical contexts will nourish the Diné community at large, restore a Diné woman’s voice, presence, brilliance, and hózhǫ́, and advance scholarship in critical Indigenous and Diné Studies.
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This presentation is a 10 year follow up study of 30 community supported agriculture sites that were partnerships and sponsored by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Grant known as the Partnership to Improve Community Health (PICH) which was awarded to a Navajo run hospital located on the Navajo Nation. Initially, the grant had seven areas of focus and deliverables, but that changed after year 2 when community needs assessments revealed that Navajo people wanted to grow their own food and ground the program in Tribal sovereignty and traditional Navajo culture. Most of the gardens were actuated in 2015 and then re-assessed in 2025 to see if the gardens were still active, if the gardens improved the social ecologies, if the gardens produced healthy food and beverages, and determine any risk factors and protective factors. The results of the study found that Navajo CSA interventions are fragile, have both things that help and hinder it, and even though aligned with Navajo food policy, the sites did not access the funding, or other resources.
11:45 A–01:00 P
Lunch
NOBLE 130
NOBLE 135
NOBLE 140
SENATE CHAMBERS
JONES 140
01:15–02:15 P
PAPER SESSION
The Colonial Archives, Affect, and Remembering
Jennifer Denetdale
Abstract
CULTURAL TEACHING WORKSHOP
Restoring Fallow Ground – Nihizaad Háádílnéé: Using Planting Terms to define the importance of perpetuating Diné language
Delores J. Noble
Abstract
PAPER SESSION
Diné Engineering Rooted in Diné Bi Beenahaz'áanii
Alvin Harvey
Abstract
CONSTRUCTED PAPER SESSION
Land as Epistemology: Indigenous Knowledge and More-Than-Human Relations in Igbo and Diné (Navajo) Thought
Okechukwu Iroegbu
Abstract
Diné Cosmic Geography and Deuteronomy 32: Reframing the Theological Connection between Navajo Creation and Scripture
Wade Adakai
Abstract
PAPER SESSION
The Navajo Nation Commercial Tobacco Tax Increase: An Act of Tribal & Cultural Sovereignty
Hershel Clark, Peter Nez Jr., & Thomas Walker Jr.
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This presentation will cover the uses of colonial archives in Diné Studies and how they may be sources for storytelling and reminding us of critical junctures in our history as Diné. Sources covered include photographs, primary documents, interviews, and assorted reports that have been written about Diné by non-Indians and are still consulted as a way of knowing about Diné and Diné Bikéyah and privilege a Diné perspective on archives and how we have used them to address the critical issues of our times.
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Returning to our homeland means returning to our home language. Despite the many hardships the Diné people have endured—including the Long Walk—we have survived and remained resilient. Our people have adapted to changes in the world and the environment. Yet each year, we lose more Diné speakers, and with them our home language, making it essential that we return to and strengthen it. Our language carries sacred teachings and core values; it heals, sustains, and empowers us. It nurtures us just like our sacred plants—corn, beans, squash, and tobacco—nurture us. One way to perpetuate the Diné language is through effective communication at an early age, much like planting seeds in fertile ground. To support this goal, I use planting terms: ‘Ílástsii’ – K’eelyéí. This presentation explores the importance of creating a healthy, healing environment for language development. Using the analogy of fertile and unfertile ground, I will examine the farmer’s duties and responsibilities, along with the work required for a bountiful harvest. I will also share instructional strategies that challenge, encourage, and support language growth.
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Engineering education and practice has often been treated as separate from Diné lifeways, yet our philosophies, ceremonies, and governance have always been a legitimate science and engineering. This paper offers a model for Diné Engineering that centers Diné Bi Beenahaz'áanii – our Traditional, Customary, Natural, and Common Law. The model is animated by the foundational cycles the Diyin Dine'é instituted within us: Nitsáhákees (thinking), Nahat'á (planning), Iiná (living), and Sihasin (reflecting/regenerating). Following the Six Sacred Mountains and Four Sacred Elements and guided by Sa'ah Naaghái Bik'eh Hózhóón and Ałch'į́' Sila, the balance of healing and protection, Diné Engineering treats every design as a relationship to be kept in Hózhó rather than a problem to be optimized. I offer that Diné Natural Law's mandate, that it is our duty to protect and preserve the beauty of the natural world for future generations, makes Diné Engineering a tool for our greatest challenge: climate healing and stewardship. Practiced this way, engineering becomes an act of restoring our Traditional Knowledge and of healing our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual selves.
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This presentation brings Igbo cosmology from southeastern Nigeria into dialogue with Diné (Navajo) philosophy, it examines how concepts such as Ala and Hózhó position land as morally authoritative, animate, and embedded within networks of reciprocal obligation. Shifting from Western epistemologies that reduce land to property, resource, or territory, the presentation instead advances a framework grounded in relational accountability and place-based knowledge practices. Building on Vicente Diaz’s concept of sensory historiography, the talk introduces ecological memory as a framework for understanding how landscapes function as living archives that retain and transmit histories beyond textual and visual records, particularly in contexts of colonial displacement. Through analyses of ritual, oral tradition, and embodied practice, it demonstrates how knowledge is produced through ongoing relationships among humans, land, and more-than-human life. By placing Igbo and Diné perspectives in comparative dialogue, the presentation highlights shared commitments to relational ontology, ethical reciprocity, and the inseparability of land, identity, and sovereignty. It ultimately calls for decolonial research practices grounded in responsibility to land, community, and more-than-human worlds.
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In this paper, I will conduct a comparative study of the Diné rendering of cosmic geography, divine jurisdiction, and image-bearing in regard to Deuteronomy 32:8 (ESV), drawing on the scholarship of Dr. Michael Heiser as well as insights from the Dead Sea Scrolls, which provide a framework of nations receiving an allotted inheritance, sacred borders, and designated divine watcher(s) or “sons of God.” Furthermore, although early adoption of Christianity stemmed from interactions with missionaries, education, and assimilation, the Navajo people’s long-term adherence to the biblical narrative may be rooted in a familiar cosmology. Additionally, an in-depth exploration of cosmic geography may offer an angle for reevaluating events such as The Long Walk and The Navajo Code Talkers’ participation in WWII, in which the Diné exceeded cosmic borders and responded with strength and resilience. Lastly, within the framework, we may convey the current significance of the Diné returning home not solely as citizens of the nation, but as inheritors and children of “The Most High.”
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The Air is Life Health Coalition recognized the need for culturally appropriate tobacco control policies to combat the high prevalence rates of commercial tobacco use in the Navajo Nation, especially among our Navajo youth and young adults. This presentation provides an analysis of the importance of the 2024 commercial tobacco tax increase supported by communal education by several Navajo traditional healer organizations on the Navajo Nation. Earmarked funds will be allocated toward the Navajo Department of Health to support the establishment of the Office of Traditional, Cultural, and Spiritual Healing and provide direct funding to Navajo traditional healer organizations to improve the cultural preservation of Nát’oh and the wellbeing of the Navajo people. This paper argues has been essential that the proposed Navajo commercial tobacco smoke-free policies acknowledge the use of Nát’oh, a sacred plant used for gift-giving, medicinal purposes, and traditional ceremonies, while simultaneously educating the Diné people and leaders on the importance of the ceremonial use of Nát’oh versus commercial tobacco, particularly within Navajo ceremonial settings on the Navajo Nation.
Coffee break · 02:15–02:30 P
NOBLE 130
NOBLE 135
NOBLE 140
SENATE CHAMBERS
JONES 140
02:30–03:30 P
ROUNDTABLE PANEL
Do It Together: Zine-Making as Indigenous Pedagogy
Sierra Edd, Kara Roanhorse, & Marina Perez
Abstract
ROUNDTABLE PANEL
Indigenous Innovation: When Diné Knowledge Comes home
Kaitlyn Haskie, Alvin D. Harvey, Shawn Ray, April N. Horne, & Tommy Rock
Abstract
PAPER SESSION
Ólta’ Siláagi Diné Bi’Óhoo’aahígíí Bee Níjítł’ó: Reweaving Schooling Using Diné Bi’óhoo’aah
James McKenzie
Abstract
Child speakers of Diné Bizaad is a pathway home
Melvatha R. Chee
Abstract
PAPER SESSION
Diné Democracy: The Indigenous Democracy Class & Youth Civic Engagement in Tribal Communities
Tristan Black
Abstract
Diné Naat'áanii: Sixty Years of Political Thought in Navajo Executive Elections
Alex Richard Zhao
Abstract
PAPER SESSION
Hozdo’singo’ Nista’hakis: a Diné paradigm
Bennie Francisco & Lenora Francisco
Abstract
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This roundtable focuses on zine-making as a critical and creative tool for Indigenous knowledge production, organizing, and pedagogy in moments of instability, crisis, or institutional failure. From various perspectives rooted in Native American and Indigenous Studies, Ethnic Studies, American Studies, and Art History, we ask what’s possible when we co-create together with our communities both in and outside of the classroom. This roundtable discussion integrates zine-making and reflective analysis to foster decolonial thinking and creative engagement with Indigenous Futurisms, Feminisms, and other areas where Pedagogy is being redefined. More specifically, we examine the role of zines and zine-making as a youth-centered/driven medium that offers space for improvisation within struggles for liberation created by and for Indigenous youth. We seek to discuss zines to envision futures grounded in equity, sustainability, and justice, by articulating visionary goals and practical action plans as we explore the transformative potential of zine-making as decolonial storytelling and multimodal compositions.
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In the 2020 U.S. Census, 423,412 people self-identified as Navajo, alone or in combination. The Navajo Nation has long invested in the education and professional development of its citizens. In 2024 alone, the office of Navajo Nation Scholarship and Financial Assistance awarded nearly $7 million to 1,214 graduate students pursuing advanced degrees at 203 institutions. These investments are contributing to generations of Diné scholars developing increasingly specialized expertise across science, technology, medicine, engineering, education, and other advanced fields. Halee Bee Nánísdzá invites us to consider what does it mean for specialized knowledge to come home? What could return look like, and what must we build to make it possible?
This panel brings together Diné scientists and professionals with specialized training and knowledge to explore how expertise developed within universities, laboratories, research institutions, and other professional settings can return to and benefit Diné communities. Panelists will consider the possibilities of brain circulation, a model in which Diné scholars move between communities and institutions while knowledge, relationships, resources, and opportunities continually flow home. Through reflections on their educational and professional journeys, panelists will discuss the knowledge and skills they have acquired, and the opportunities they envision for translating specialized expertise into mentorship, research partnerships, education, economic development, and community-driven innovation.
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With growing numbers of communities striving to make Indigenous language and knowledge integral to the experience of schooling, some schools are revisiting and redefining what education means for Indigenous communities. Despite ongoing hegemonic structures and mechanisms that constrain such efforts, communities are increasingly implementing schooling with significant levels of Indigenous languages and knowledges. This presentation describes two Diné schools in New Mexico and Arizona that have a significant focus on Diné language, culture and/or lifeways. It identifies elements that relate to the schools’ abilities to contribute to maintenance and revitalization of Diné language, knowledge and lifeways, and the factors critical to success, while also highlighting why students and families choose them, and the roles that they play in people’s lives. Drawing on the voices of students, families, educators and leaders, as relatives, the presentation highlights both the many challenges that such schools face, while also shining light on the successes that they experience in reweaving what education through schooling can be to realize communities’ goals for Diné language and knowledge maintenance and revitalization.
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This presentation examines an innovative, community-centered approach to civic education that honors Diné leadership traditions while preparing Native youth to engage meaningfully in the democratic processes at the tribal, local, state, and federal level. The Indigenous Democracy Class represents an Indigenous lens of teaching Native teachings, history, and values that address a critical gap in educational equity and political representation across tribal communities in Northern Arizona. This presentation addresses these gaps by showcasing a model program that meets students where they are, in their schools, while centering Indigenous knowledge systems, leadership stewards, and community-defined priorities.
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Child speakers are crucial to sustaining a language. Although child speakers of Indigenous languages ensure the longevity of a language, very few are learning it at home as their first language, including in New Mexico. To fully capture a community’s entire linguistic system, the empirical foundation of child speech must not be neglected. With very few L1 child speakers, there are rare opportunities to document and research the first language acquisition process of Indigenous languages. In fact, child language studies of Indigenous voices are severely underrepresented and biased in mainstream child language research where a large majority of the studies focus on English. This presentation looks at Diné children learning to speak Diné Bizaad to provide a description of child-directed speech and begin to understand how they acquire Navajo. The talk will present how children begin to acquire the multi-morphemic Navajo verb to provide a foundation for the acquisition of polysynthesis. Then the presenter will share a three-year comparison of preliminary child-directed Navajo speech and Navajo child speech of an ongoing study being conducted at a Diné language nest.
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For over six decades, elections for Chairman and President of the Navajo Nation have produced one of the richest public archives of contemporary Diné political thought. Yet, these campaigns have rarely been systematically examined as a source of Indigenous political knowledge. This presentation analyzes campaign speeches, candidate statements, public forums, and newspaper coverage from Diné executive elections between 1962 and 2022 to examine how candidates articulated competing visions for the future of the Navajo Nation. Diné candidates seeking to serve as the Nation's naat'áanii consistently debated questions of sovereignty, governance, community development, public services, and the Nation's relationships with federal, state, and local governments. These recurring debates reflect enduring conversations about how to strengthen Diné communities while protecting the Nation's political and cultural foundations throughout time. This presentation illustrates how campaign discourse serves as a valuable archive of contemporary Diné political ideas while remaining grounded in community histories and lived experiences. And reveal long-term patterns that deepen our understanding of Diné governance, democratic practice, and the evolving pathways through which communities imagine the future of Diné Bikéyah.
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This work in progress paper presents Hozdo’singo’ Nista’hakis (Having a Reverent Mindset), a Diné paradigm grounded in relationality, Indigenous knowledge, and the teachings of my matriarchs. Hozdo’singo’ Nista’hakis is organized as a circular framework guided by Shaa’bike’ (clockwise motion) and consists of four interconnected elements: Na’antiin (Teachings), Ké Hozdo’sin (Respect for All), K’éí (Relatives), and Náásgóó (Future). Together, these principles provide an Indigenous framework for ethical inquiry, relational accountability, and knowledge production rooted in Diné philosophy. As a Diné scholar, tribal justice practitioner, and doctoral student, I situate this work through self-location, recognizing that my worldview is shaped by my family, language, community, and responsibilities to all beings. Drawing from Indigenous methodologies and personal narrative, I examine how the teachings of my grandmother, Nina Largo, and my mother, Lenora Francisco, have informed my approach to scholarship, leadership, and community accountability. This presentation offers a pathway for conducting research with reverence, balance, and responsibility while encouraging Indigenous scholars to develop paradigms grounded in their own ancestral teachings, relationships, and ways of knowing.
03:45–05:00 P
Business Meeting
Election of new officers and resolutions
06:00–08:00 P
Community Awards Banquet
Keynote, entertainment, silent auction, raffle
BANQUET HALL
Rethinking Nihikéyah (Navajo Homeland) Consciousness - Coming Home for the People, Wendy Greyeyes