Diné Participant 2

• In Event: Unforgetting Indigenous Education Histories to Cultivate Hwił Haahodinééh: Diné Experiences in the Mormon Indian Placement Program

Abstract

Participant 2 is “a descendant of the Naakai Diné’e (Mexican People clan) born for
Hónágháahnii (The One-Who-Walks-Around clan). [His] maternal grandfather is of the
T’ódíchííníí (Bitter Water clan) and [his] paternal grandfather is of the Tsi’naajinii (Black Streak
Wood People clan).” He is originally from a place called “Łichíí’ sinil (Where the Reds are
Placed)” on the top of a mesa, within the boundaries of the community commonly known in
English as Round Rock, Arizona. Throughout his life, and before, during, and after the time he
spent “on Placement,” he has carried the stories and teachings of his “Másání (maternal
grandmother), Nalí (paternal grandmother), and Cheii (maternal step-grandfather),” as well as
“the People [sic] he calls “Shimá (my mother) and Shizhé’é (my father).” In the wake of his
experience with the Mormon Placement Program, he dedicated himself to becoming a “Diné-
centered educator to the Alchíní (Precious Little Ones).” He has earned four university degrees, including a Ph.D. from Oregon State University in Education, for the purpose of ensuring that what happened to him as a child would never be repeated. To this day, he maintains that the cultural and linguistic traditional teachings from his family relations have been “the most powerful tool” for moving through the world. It is these teachings that he “[carries] now,” and that have enabled and continue to ensure his survivance.

Author

• Oliver G. Tapaha, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign