Documenting the multisensory and ephemeral: Navajo Chantway singers and the troubles of a "science" of ceremonialism.

Publisher: Wiley Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 18020010R Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1520-6696 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00225061 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Hist Behav Sci Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: New York : Wiley
Original Publication: [Brandon, Vt.]

Anthropology, Cultural* ; Culture* ; Indians, North American* ; Singing*; History, 20th Century ; Humans

Even as American ethnology in the late-nineteenth century continued to accumulate data about indigenous groups for comparative study, the surgeon-turned-ethnographer Washington Matthews found standardized documentary methods constricting, unable to reflect the complexity of a community's spiritual practices. Through studies of Navajo Indians in the 1880s and 90s, Matthews experimented with documentation techniques to capture the multisensorial and ephemeral elements of Navajo healing ceremonialism, such as the design of sandpaintings that were later destroyed as the rites concluded. Investigating his ethnographic strategies and his relationships with Navajo knowledge stewards, this article charts Matthews' emerging conviction in social immersion and bonding with indigenous informants, tenets that predated the rise of cultural relativism in anthropology. The article argues that his experience among and tutelage from Navajo medicine "singers" reshaped Matthews' documentary practices to emphasize the irreducibility of cultural facets to tabular columns, raising doubts about then-dominant theories of social evolution.
(© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Date Created: 20190713 Date Completed: 20200107 Latest Revision: 20200107

20221213

10.1002/jhbs.21980

31297838