A01=Jerrold E. Levy
american southwest
Author_Jerrold E. Levy
Category=JBGB
Category=JBSL11
Category=JHM
Category=NHTB
Category=QRA
Category=QRRT
christianity
comparative religion studies
creation myth
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
good and evil
health rituals
herding
humanity
hunting and gathering society
indigenous peoples
internal historical conflict
judaism
native american culture
native american religion
native peoples
navajo
navajo creation myth
navajo narratives
navajo origin myth
navajo religion
navajo society
order and chaos
religion
religious studies
social organization
the underworlds
tricksters
Product details
- ISBN 9780520212770
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 30 Jul 1998
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Jerrold E. Levy's masterly analysis of Navajo creation and origin myths shows what other interpretations often overlook: that the Navajo religion is as complete and nuanced an attempt to answer humanity's big questions as the religions brought to North America by Europeans. Looking first at the historical context of the Navajo narratives, Levy points out that Navajo society has never during its known history been either homogeneous or unchanging, and he goes on to identify in the myths persisting traditions that represent differing points of view within the society. The major transformations of the Navajo people, from a northern hunting and gathering society to a farming, then herding, then wage-earning society in the American Southwest, were accompanied by changes not only in social organization but also in religion. Levy sees evidence of internal historical conflicts in the varying versions of the creation myth and their reflection in the origin myths associated with healing rituals. Levy also compares Navajo answers to the perennial questions about the creation of the cosmos and why people are the way they are with the answers provided by Judaism and Christianity.
And, without suggesting that they are equivalent, Levy discusses certain parallels between Navajo religious ideas and contemporary scientific cosmology. The possibility that in the future Navajo religion will be as much altered by changing conditions as it has been in the past makes this fascinating account all the more timely.
Jerrold E. Levy is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. His earlier books include Orayvi Revisited: Social Stratification in an "Egalitarian" Society (1992), and Drinking Careers: A 25-Year Study of Three Navajo Populations (with Stephen J. Kunitz, 1994).
