The Eagle Eye

Issue date: 4/2/09 Section: News

Students will have the chance to visit the Canyon de Chelley, above.

Students will have the opportunity to experience Navajo culture in the Southwest this spring on a trip lead by Dr. Barbara Toth, an assistant professor of communication.
"This is something I've wanted to do for a number of years," said Toth.
The group will be traveling to Winslow, Ariz., where they will begin their activities.
"We've got lots of activities planned in terms of explorations and assignments," said Toth.
In Winslow, they will do volunteer for a week through the Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program.
They will then head to an area near Flagstaff, Ariz., where they will camp out in the high desert and explore ancient lava flows and the ancient dwellings of people who lived there thousands of years ago.
Next, they will travel to Sedona, Ariz., where they will spend several days camping in a canyon along a creek, before making their way to the Grand Canyon.
The next stop for the group will be Tuba City, Ariz., where they will meet up with Toth's adopted native grandmother.
Then it is on to Chinle, Ariz., where they will visit the Canyon de Chelley.
At the canyon, they will explore ancient Anasazi ruins.
The group will then go to the Four Corners area and Monument Valley.
Next they will go to Mesa Verde, Colo., to visit ruins.
Then the trip heads to Chaco Canyon for more camping and exploring.
The final stop on the itinerary is Santa Fe, N.M., where they will tour museums and universities.
Toth hopes the group will learn through experience.
"The biggest thing is for students to have experiences with a capital 'E,'" she said. "Experience where they think I've never thought about that before, I've never felt that before, I never saw that before. Now I understand that better," said Toth.
She also thinks it is important for students to look at other cultures as outsiders.
"One of the important things for me to focus on throughout the trip is, because 98 percent of our travels will be on and through the Navajo reservation, I think it is important for students to truly experience being 'the other,'" she said, "that there are completely different cultural rules and norms and expectations, that we are on the reservation, we are not Navajo, and even though we are members of the dominant culture, we are in their home and we should act accordingly."
The Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program, www.anelder.org, is an organization that provides supplies such as medicine, food, firewood, blankets, walkers and canes to Native American elders. The group also works with children.
"Their job is simply to preserve the culture," said Toth.

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