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155 Sustaining a Diné Way of Life Kim Baca They wear tennis shoes, T-shirts, and jeans. They listen to popular music like other teens. They are also Navajos, citizens of the largest American Indian tribe in the United States. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Navajos make up a significant part of the Native American population in this southwestern city, which is surrounded by several reservation lands. Many Navajo teens can be seen shopping, playing sports, and doing similar typical activities of youths their age. But life for at least two Navajo teens is a bit different. Shania Lee and Phillip “Nez” Evans are students at a Native American public charter school, where they are learning their language and culture yet struggling with knowing and maintaining a Navajo way of life. The concept of Sa’a ˛h Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhó ˛ó ˛n is not foreign to them. Twice a week students sixteen and seventeen years of age at the charter school who attend a Navajo-language class, where they are taught the meaning of clanship and the importance of carrying on the culture. The students also go on field trips to enhance their learning, such as to Diné College, where they can learn more about Navajo ways. “I don’t want my Native language to die,” says Shania, who is glad that such a class is offered at her school. She eventually wants to teach the language to her children. “I want them to know who they are and where they come from and their background.” Shania’s mother and grandmother are fluent Navajo speakers, and Shania spent her early years in the Navajo community of Torreon, New Mexico, where she heard the language spoken at home constantly. She says that she spoke a few words until she moved to the city to live with her 156 • Paths for the Future parents. Her mother speaks to her in Navajo daily, and Shania says that she wants to learn so she can figure out what her mother and grandmother are talking about “instead of just sitting there trying to figure out what they are saying. I also know they are sometimes talking about me and I say, ‘Mom, I know what you are talking about.’ She says, ‘Oh, I guess I can’t do that anymore.’” But learning the language has greater meaning for Shania. “I wish I could speak it,” she says. “I wish I knew my language and culture. I wish I knew what my grandparents were saying in ceremony—having it translated by my mom is disappointing to me. I want to know which ceremonies are for protection or keeping yourself healthy.” Both Shania and Phillip have attended public school in Albuquerque since they were in elementary school. Phillip, a junior who prefers to be called Nez because “it’s shorter” and “it doesn’t sound funky or typical,” is also part Yuchi and Chippewa. His father is a full-blooded Navajo but does not speak the language. Although Nez is not a fluent speaker, he also hopes that he will be someday for his children. “I want them to definitely know the language, the core concepts on how to live, the thought process, and anything I can remember. If I wasn’t to teach my children it would kind of be lost by me,” Nez says. “To have that culture be lost, the Navajo Nation would lose their uniqueness, and that’s happening throughout the Navajo tribe because parents aren’t teaching their children the language or culture. Once that uniqueness is lost, that would just make them a group of Indian people.” While Nez is yearning to be connected, he also senses how his life is unlike that of teens growing up on the reservation. “Sometimes I feel like I had a different upbringing,” Nez says, adding that he did not get much traditional teaching, which he defines as going to ceremonies, fluently speaking the language, and being a part of the tribal community. While many young people learn traditions from family or community members, Nez does not ask his grandmother, who is a social worker, any questions about culture. He also does not ask his father, who nonetheless tells Nez “what I need to know. He likes to get up at dawn and pray. He also tries to convey what he can in English. He also says to live a pure, clean life and believe in what you do. He tells me how you should...

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