Language Loss in Navajo Nation

Daymein Billy

Navajo Nation, Farmington NM

Daymein Billy- Final Presentation.webm

The Article was about how the author feels about their tradition or tribe as they put how the Okanagan people are good. The whole article was about sharing one skin and how her culture and people shame her. She doesn’t care but she cares about being called Okanagan. She mentioned that there are four selves to the Okanagan people. These are like our ten elements. The four selves are the physical self, emotional self, thinking- intellectual self, and the spiritual self. She says that there is a connection between all of these and this is what makes a Okanagan person’s identity.

I relate to this article because it made me think about what it means to be Navajo and that I am at this age where I am not little anymore. I realized that help isn’t easy to get and when you get older and live on your own, it isn’t that easy. There are more responsibilities as you get older.

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pp 460-470.

In the Horse’s article the author states that his grandmother said in the 1950’s she said that someday we will all be like white people. The reason the author said that was because he knew that his grandma was right because younger people were later not able to speak their own language. Language is connected to a person’s identity because it is part of their tradition and culture where they come from and it is passed down from generation to generation.

I understand what the author is talking about. He is talking about what it is like to be called “something else” and he explains that some people prefer to be called Native American versus American Indian. I prefer to be called Native American. This is connected to my topic because of the loss of language and there are many young people who don’t know the language. My best advice is to hang out with your grandparents and to be in the spaces where Navajo is being spoken.

Horse, Perry G. “Native American Identity.” New Directions for Student Services, no. 109, © Wiley Periodicals, Inc, 2005. Pp. 61-68.

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