Tó éí ‘iiná até (Water Is Life) Documentary
Tó éí ‘iiná até is Navajo for 'Water is Life,' and is the name of an upcoming documentary produced by Deidre Peaches and Jake Hoyungowa. I spoke with them about their documentary which explores the sacredness of water and the effects of industrialization on Native communities in the southwest of what is now known as the United States.
Tó éí ‘iiná até (Water Is Life) Documentary
Tó éí ‘iiná até is Navajo for 'Water is Life,' and is the name of an upcoming documentary produced by Deidre Peaches and Jake Hoyungowa. I spoke with them about their documentary which explores the sacredness of water and the effects of industrialization on Native communities in the southwest of what is now known as the United States.
Here is an excerpt from the film's website (which you can visit by clicking here):
Our documentary explores the sacredness of water and how the industrialization of the Navajo Nation continues to disrupt our traditional way of life. We feel it is important for our audience to visually experience a piece of the Navajo Way Of Life. It is vital to the documentary to include the connection between Navajo Mythology and the importance of the lands that have been desecrated by industrial development.
Many Navajo families do not have access to potable running water and are forced to haul unregulated and untreated water for their daily needs. Many elderly Navajo’s are forced to allow livestock to drink from toxic water sources, thus contributing to numerous health risks among families throughout the Navajo Reservation.
From a youth perspective we’re telling a story of a Navajo Philosophy that is being endangered by an overwhelming change in politics, resource management and modern society. We understand the obligations our ancestors passed onto us and have devoted much of our time to tell this story about our people.
Excerpt from audio interview (Click here to listen to the interview):
DGP: You talked a little earlier about industrialization... Many people today take industrialization as a given, and think the industrial capitalism that we're living under has given us all of these different wonderful things; but it seems that you're trying to put things in a different perspective. Can you talk a little bit about the effects that industrialization has had on the Navajo Nation and on your traditional ways of life?
Deidra Peaches: OK, so industrialization... Back in the 1920's the Navajo government was formed [beginning] around 1928, and that's when this whole process of having different governmental systems, having a Navajo Nation Council Delegation, and having I think what was a chairman at the time – that whole ideal was put upon the Navajo people. [Originally] there was a group of people who lived not in the conventional western thinking of there being a president and leaders; there was just a people who had their own separate communities, like a township, like groups of families living and surviving off of each other. They didn't really have an interpretation of industrialization [as being necessary] and that was never a part of their culture.
And so, as time persisted, in the 1950's the oil companies started coming in. Oil and uranium companies started coming in and they basically wanted to find a way to make agreements with the Navajo people. How they were able to make agreements was based on the structure of the government. Instead of going to the people, they went directly to the Navajo government, and these were all Navajo people who went through boarding school and were educated through the western system. So, in a lot of respects, these were people who were already put into that mindset and were really just puppets in a sort of way. That's when these unfair lease agreements came in with coal, with uranium, with oil, with natural gas; all of that entered in around that era.
The impacts of industrialization haven't been for the greater good of the Navajo people. I mean, when you look at the effects uranium [mining] has had on continuing generations of Navajo people, or how the coal [mining] continues to effect the lifestyle of the Navajo people, it's really daunting seeing how the repercussions of that industrialization has definitely impacted the culture and traditions. What was once a harmonious way of life is now slowly depleting because of the effects industrialization has had upon the government, the livelihood, and everything. It seems like tribes nowadays, especially Navajo, they rely a lot on governmental benefits and governmental assistance, and that was never the Navajo way of life.
