Spider Woman Walks This Land: Traditional Cultural Properties and the Navajo Nation

Carmean has written an excellent introduction to Navajo culture and the real-world problems facing cultural preservation of archaeological sites and traditional cultural properties. Using the Navajo Nation as an example, the author clearly illustrates the conflict between federal legislation and and Navajo worldview. Carmean includes coverage of applicable federal laws in language easily understood by undergraduates. — K. F. Thompson, (Northland Pioneer College) ― CHOICE

Laura Gilpin’s excellent photographs of mid-twentieth century juxtaposed with the author’s turn-of-the-century pictures add to the appeal of the volume…the book, much more than a travelogue and not far from an ethnography of present-day Navajo life, will interest those looking for data on cultural change as seen through the eyes of a visitor new to Navajoland. — David M. Brugge, Museum of New Mexico ― Journal Of The Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 9 No. 4 Dec 2003

This unique and enjoyable volume provides the reader with a dynamic human dimension to a critical aspect of cultural resources management. All too often, anthropologists treat traditional cultural properties as a dry intellectual exercise, but not Kelli Carmean. She brings them alive. Her journal entries are a particularly effective way of showing how cultural resources management is applied anthropology that directly affects peoples’ daily lives. The balanced perspective, as well as the tone and level of intellectual engagement, make this an excellent source book for undergraduate and graduate classes. — Roger Anyon, Pima County Cultural Resources Program, Tucson, Arizona