Ramah chapter house, Ramah, New Mexico

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The Ramah Navajo chapter is located in Ramah, New Mexico and serves the Ramah band of Navajo, who have occupied the area near Zuni Pueblo since the sixteenth century.

A chapter house is a meeting place for Navajo people where they can publicly discuss their opinions about the goings on of the Navajo Nation and its governance. Implemented by Leupp Agency Superintendent John G. Hunter in 1922, the chapter house system quickly transcended the politics of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and gained a communal and cultural relevance of its own. Today, even though chapters are still identified by BIA agency, they have gained and grown at the grassroots level to function as community centers as well as political hubs around the broad territory of the Navajo Nation.

Photo Credit: 

 
"Community meetings at the Ramah Chapter House, Ramah, New Mexico, May 8, 2013," photograph, (elderly a.jpg). Ramah Navajo Chapter. All rights reserved. Use with permission only.