Archives West Finding Aid

Interview audiotapes and transcripts from Maureen Trudelle Schwarz’s research on Navajo views of Kinaaldá, the female puberty ceremony; 1992. Also includes a typed list audio tapes and transcriptions, and entries of her journal of the research period; summer 1992. This collection of interviews connects to Schwarz’s past work with the Navajo tribe, where she previously interviewed Navajo women about the role of traditional attire in contemporary ceremonial life the year prior. For her 1992 research involving the Kinaaldá ceremony, Schwarz interviews these same women, centering their remembrances and attitudes toward their own experiences with the ceremony. The researcher spent six weeks in Dinétah (the traditional homeland of the Navajo tribe), where she was also involved in helping with the preparation of the ceremony. Aiming to develop a historical perspective on the changes in the role of the Kinaaldá over the last 50 to 70 years, Schwarz included two to three generations of women from each Navajo family involved in her research project.