The Dark Wind (1982)

The geologic process in which the surface of the earth, including soil, bedrock, and rock fragments, is degraded by natural processes. There are multiple processes by which these earth materials can be eroded including eolian erosion (wind), fluvial (rivers and streams), marine (ocean waves), and glacial. These processes break down rocks in their primary locations and then transport them to secondary locations. Geologic formations such as canyons and mesas are formed by the erosion of bedrock by natural forces. Erosion in the Southwest, in addition to many regions around the planet, has been exacerbated by human impact, such as overuse of sensitive areas; extraction of natural resources, inlcuding water; and land management practices at a large scale.

Most cultures have some form of kinship system, and depending on the culture, who is included and how the system is set up can vary. In many contemporary Western traditions, kinship is determined by one's descent from and connection to the male lineage of an extended biological network. However, depending on the system, kinsmen can include women, men, spirits, or animals. Kinship can be important as it can define what members of society are viable sexual partners for reproduction. For instance, those who are considered your kin are excluded as acceptable matches. On the other hand, kinship can also define social connections, allegiances, and communal networks of reciprocity.

The Navajo are matrilineal, meaning a kinship system based on the mother’s family rather than the fathers, this means that when married all property is owned by women and the men move into the wife’s household. Additionally, the Navajo kinship system is based on clans, and when children are born they have two clans, their mother’s and their father’s. Their mother’s clan is the dominant clan, “born to” and their father’s clan is “born for”. It is considered incest for any Navajo to engage in relations with someone who is part of their mother, father, or grandparent’s clans. The children will have stronger ties to their mother’s clan.

Natural and pharmaceutically-derived substances used to relieve pain that can cause stupor, sleep, euphoria, and addiction. The most common form of narcotics are opiates, such as opium, morphine, and heroin. Morphine was isolated from opium in 1804 by German pharmacist F.W.A. Sertürner, and heroin was developed from morphine in 1898 by the German pharmaceutical company Bayer.

All narcotics were initially developed and prescribed to manage pain. However, due to their highly addictive nature, narcotic abuse led to strict regulation and enforcement of the use of these and other substances. In the 1970s, the U.S. federal government engaged in the War on Drugs, which led to high rates of incarceration for populations who came to be associated with the criminal use of controlled substances, such as narcotics. Targeted populations included counterculture movements, the inner city poor, and the working poor, especially black and Latino communities.

There are over 200 species of owl, a mostly nocturnal bird of prey found on almost every continent. Owls eat small rodents, insects, and other birds. Their acute powers of vision, strong sense of hearing, and silent flight all contribute to their reputations as formidable hunters.

Some cultures traditionally avoid owls, as they are believed to foretell the passing of a loved one. Additionally, as in the case of the Navajo, owls are believed to be inhabited by the ghosts of the dead, thereby causing ghost sickness in those they encounter.

Runoff occurs when water from snowmelt or rain runs along the surface of the earth without being absorbed into the soil. Over time, runoff contributes to erosion. In large amounts, runoff can cause flooding.

The Hopi have lived in the U.S. Southwest for thousands of years, and while their ancestral lands span large swaths of the Southwest, the Hopi Reservation currently covers 1.5 million acres of northeastern Arizona. Within this tract of land there are twelve villages and three mesas. The Hopi Reservation is situated within the Navajo Nation Reservation, a relationship that has caused conflict for over 100 years, as a number of land disputes has resulted in the decrease in size of Hopi land and the creation of a shared Joint-Use territory. While a majority of the Hopi live on three mesas, First, Second, and Third Mesas, there is a Hopi farming community near Tuba City, established in the 1870’s.

Hopi lands first came under control of the U.S. government in 1848 at the end of the Mexican-American War. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, where Mexico ceded the southwest, Wyoming, and California to the United States of America. As the Hopi historically avoided interaction with the U.S. government and have always attempted to maintain privacy and sovereignty, the boundary of the Hopi reservation was not determined until 1882. The 1882 U.S. Executive Order-Hopi Indian Reservation originally allotted 2.4 million acres of land to the Hopi. However, this is only a fraction the original 15-million-acre Hopi Tutskwa, or aboriginal Hopi lands. Additionally, when the boundary was drawn, it exclude a large portion of the historic tribal land on which sacred sites, shrines, and villages existed. Later, Hopi reservation land was further reduced in size to 1.5 million acres. The current Hopi tribal lands include the main reservation, the Moenkopi District Reservation, and the Hopi Three Canyon Ranch Lands.

A Navajo term which means “those who wander around,” in reference to Spaniards who conducted expeditions into the Southwest and Great Plains during the 1500s, beginning with Coronado's search for the Seven Cities of Cibola. The earliest recorded contact between the Spaniards and Navajo occurred in 1583 near Mount Taylor in New Mexico. This term is used colloquially by some Navajo to denote someone who is ethnically Hispanic or Mexican.

Although many indigenous groups in the U.S. Southwest are considered master jewelry makers and silversmiths, with unique designs and methods to their credit, silversmithing did not become a skilled trade in these communities until after European contact in the region occurred. The Navajo, for example, first obtained silver ornaments by trading with the Plains Indians, who had received it from German settlers, and also from the indigenous, Spanish, and later Mexican, further south. It was not until after the 1860s and the war on the Navajo, which culminated in the Long Walk to Bosque Redondo, that Navajo took up silversmithing as their own trade, extracting the silver from U.S. coins. They quickly incorporated turquoise, abundant in the southwest and already used for many purpose, into their work. For Navajo singers and medicine men, medicine bundles and pouches were often decorated with silver, along with fringe and turquoise.

A region defined in different ways by different sources. Narrowly defined, the core Southwest is centered on the states comprising the Four Corners (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona), with parts of other states making up the beginnings and endings of the Southwest. Most of the Southwest was once part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. What is now California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and portions of Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Kansas were part of Mexico before the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and the Gadsden Purchase of 1853.

The Southwest features a semi-arid to arid climate, depending on the location. Much of the region is an arid desert climate, but higher elevations in the mountains feature alpine climates with varying amounts of snow. The term high desert is also synonymous with this region. This area of the desert land generally sits at a very high elevation, much higher than the normal desert land, and can receive very cold temperatures at night in the winter sometimes near zero degrees on very cold nights. Other areas of the Southwest may also be referred to as the high desert, such as the Colorado Plateau.