Diné be’ iiná, Inc. (The Navajo Lifeway)

Diné be’ iiná, Inc. Fact Sheet

Dine be' iina, Inc. (The Navajo Lifeway) works in support of Dine producers and weavers, assisting sheep, goat, and fiber producers in the Navajo Nation with technical and educational information in sustaining economic self-sufficiency. Funding for Navajo Lifeway and the Arts: What Plants Can Teach US supported a cultural preservation project that incorporated media arts and cultural technology with fiber and shepherding arts, investigating 10-15 plants and documenting their web of interrelationships, recovering stories, traditional practices, and inter-generational sharing at the heart of the Navajo sheep culture. Activities included two Sheep Camp Retreats in the Carrizo Mountains in Arizona and the Chuska Mountains in New Mexico, both summer sheep grazing sites at higher elevations. The gatherings included nature walks through the mountain where Plant Biologist, Arnold Clifford, Medicine man/Herbalist Anderson Hoskie, and Herbalist Louise Tso shared their knowledge in identifying plants with their Navajo names and stories and songs affiliated with the plant species.  The Sheep Camp retreats also included afternoon workshops in Navajo Weaving, hand spinning, hand carding, dyeing wool, rope braiding and wet/dry felting. Overall, the project maintains cultural values in a contemporary world and cultivates traditional knowledge through community dialogue and active participation in cutlural practices.