Abstract
Friendship and happiness research on Indigenous People of the USA, including Navajos, are scarce as most of the scholarship orients on negative elements of their lives. This chapter aims to address this gap by taking a broad approach in investigating the available scholarship on the topic as it applies to the Navajo. This is accomplished by reviewing some of the classic works on Navajos, exploring the historical record (treaty language), and Navajo biographies in order to extract what has been written about friendship and happiness among Navajos. Additionally, an analysis of Navajo lifeways, including discussion on socio-cultural elements of Navajo life such as traditional epistemology, philosophy, and language provides the traditional Navajo perspective on friendship and happiness. Although, the Navajo worldview emphasizes familial relationships, examples of friendship in social and ceremonial life are discussed. Then, the findings on the limited amount of scholarship are reported, showing that friendship primarily demonstrates an adverse effect in the lives of Navajos. Finally, the chapter concludes by considering the effect of social changes and by stating the need for empirical studies to directly examine the impact of friendship on the happiness of the Navajo.
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- 1.
The terms American Indian and Alaska Native, American Indian/Alaska Native, American Indian, Native, Native American, Indian, Indigenous Peoples of North America are used interchangeably throughout this manuscript to refer to the Indigenous Peoples of the United States.
- 2.
The terms Navajo, Diné, and Naabeehó will be used interchangeably throughout this manuscript to refer to Navajos. Also note that the spelling of Navajo with an ‘h’ (Navaho) sometimes occurs in early scholarship.
- 3.
Pueblo is a term to refer to the many tribes that are characterized by dwelling in villages and adobe structures in the southwestern U.S. For example, Acoma, Hopi, Isleta, Jemez, Laguna, Zuni, etc… Diné also have a term to refer to Pueblos, ‘Kiiyaa’sáaanii, but also utilize terms to refer to specific tribes as well.
- 4.
“Shi’kis” is a possessive term which means ‘my friend’; “A’kis” is a more general term which means ‘friend’. In the Navajo language, relationships to one another are typically specified.
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Willeto, A. (2015). Friendship and Happiness in Navajos (Bik’éí Diné Baa’ Hózhó). In: Demir, M. (eds) Friendship and Happiness. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9603-3_12
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