Voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters

Overview

"(A) deeply moving, must-read for mothers and daughters everywhere." - Chanticleer Reviews

In a series of intimate, revelatory personal histories, Navajo grandmothers, mothers, and daughters in twenty-one families tell their stories. They open up about how they have been shaped by powerful cultural and historical forces—and by their love for each other.

In these compelling, multi-generational oral histories, collected by a former teacher with profound admiration for Navajo culture, women talk about their experiences in their own words. As they do, their faces are captured in defining portraits.

Woven into the women’s stories are tales from Navajo history and culture, including Changing Woman, the coming-of-age ceremony (kinaaldá), the Long Walk, education, and the importance of sheep to Navajo lifeway.

"A valuable look at how Navajo women band together to celebrate life’s joys, push through adversity, and guide the next generation." - Foreword Clarion Reviews

Reviews

"A valuable look at how Navajo women band together to celebrate life’s joys, push through adversity, and guide the next generation. The interviews collected in Voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters illuminate the everyday tasks and special events that mark their subjects’ lives." --Eileen Gonzales, Foreword Reviews

The Independent Book Publishers Association has awarded Voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters: Portraits of Beauty a gold Benjamin Franklin award in the Multicultural category.

Author Biography

Author Kathy Eckles Hooker grew up in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. She was introduced to Native American cultures as a child watching Native dancers perform at the Department of the Interior. She and her husband moved to the Navajo Reservation in the 1970s, where she taught English to Diné students at Dilcon Boarding School. While there, Hooker studied Navajo traditional lifeways and from her research wrote "Time Among the Navajo: Traditional Lifeways on the Reservation." She later taught English at Flagstaff Unified School District for 33 years, where again she worked with Diné students. During nearly 44 years in Los Angeles, professional photographer David Young-Wolff became one of America's top producers of stock photography. He later moved from stock photography to a niche shooting yoga, fashion photography, and creative portraiture, capturing evocative images for his clients while also working on personal photography projects. He now lives and photographs in Bend, Oregon.