The Ghostway (1984)

Also spelled Hastiin, Hosteen is a term of respectful address in Navajo meaning man or husband. In Navajo, "First Man," from the Navajo Origin Story, is called Áłtsé Hastiin. Often, Hosteen is used before a last name, functioning in a way that is similar to the usage of Mister (Mr.) in English.

The power to rule on legal issues within a certain geographic area. Different courts (for example municipal, district, or federal) will be assigned authority over particular areas or particular cases, depending on state and federal divisions and regulations.

In the United States police force, the term refers to a police officer ranking below captain or lieutenant.

This mountain range runs north to south and is located east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The highest peak, Sandia Crest, is 10,678 feet in elevation. The range may have originally been called “San Diaz” or Saint Diaz. Another theory suggests that, because Sandia is Spanish for “watermelon,” Sandia could refer to the pink color the mountains reflect at sunset. The name for the mountain in Navajo is, “Dził Nááyisí” or “Mountain that Revolves,” perhaps referring to the large circular bowls that form the west-facing aspect of the range.

In 1865, in order to subdue the Navajo, the U.S. Army rounded up the Navajo and forcibly made them walk 450 miles from their homeland, centered near Canyon de Chelley in northwestern New Mexico, to the Fort Sumner/Bosque Redondo reservation in southeastern New Mexico. Known as “The Long Walk,” four primary routes comprised the forced march: two skirted the western edge of the Sandia Mountains and two cut through Tijeras canyon and across the Sandia Mountains. Therefore, this unfortunate part of Navajo history is tied to the mountain range.

Additionally, there is a Paleolithic site on the north end of the mountain range in Sandia Cave. This site includes stone tools from the ancient Sandia Culture, which were excavated in the 1930s and 1940s by Frank Hibben, an archaeology professor from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

A non-contiguous section of the Navajo reservation located approximately 75 miles from the main Navajo reservation. Cañoncito Reservation is located in central New Mexico, approximately 30 miles west of Albuquerque and about six miles north of Interstate 40. Formerly known as Cañoncito, or “small canyon” in Spanish, the reservation changed its name to To'hajiilee in 2000 meaning "drawing up water from a natural well" in Navajo.

Colonizing excursions caused many internal disputes among the Navajo. In 1787, ancestors of today's To'hajiilee people joined the Spanish in campaigns against their own people. This group of Diné are called Diné Anaa'i or the enemy Navajo.

Also known as hatałii in Navajo, singers, like medicine men, perform traditional ceremonial healing cures targeted at body, mind, and spirit, and call on the patient, his kin, the singer himself, and divine people to restore an individual's harmony with the world. Before a singer, or medicine man (they are seldom women), is called, a hand trembler (ndilniihii), often a woman, will diagnose the source of illness. Through prayer, concentration, and sprinkling of sacred pollen, her hand will tremble and pinpoint the cause, which then determines the proper ceremonial cure. Then a singer who knows the proper ceremony is called and preparations for the sing are set in motion.

There are nearly 100 Navajo sings, or chants, of varying range and intricacy. Originating from the Navajo Creation Story, they are so nuanced and complex that a singer learns only one or two sings over many years of apprenticeship. Sings last anywhere from one to nine days and include chants, songs, prayers, lectures, dances, sweat baths, prayer sticks, and sand paintings. In order for a sing to be effective, everything must be done as prescribed in the legends.

A term used as a general reference to an indigenous community's spiritual leader or traditional healer. Such a person has the skills and knowledge to perform rituals, heal sick or injured individuals, communicate with ancestors and the otherworld, prepare traditional medicine, and provide spiritual counseling.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the United States’ national security and law enforcement agency, which conducts intelligence-driven investigations of terrorism, counterintelligence, public corruption, fraud, and large scale theft, violent crime, cybercrime, and organized crime. The agency belongs to the Unites States Department of Justice, and its headquarters is located in Washington D.C. There are also local FBI offices in different states. For example, the New Mexico division of the FBI is located in Albuquerque, giving agents access to the area’s various Native American reservations, to which the FBI has access under the Major Crimes. The New Mexico division is frequently referenced in Hillerman's fiction, often as a cause for tension between Navajo police, local state police, and FBI agents all involved in the process of solving a crime.

A social, cultural, and political category that refers to the "dominant" culture of the U.S., a category primarily understood as a racial construction that expresses the legacies of Western European hegemony. Many critiques of "whiteness" exist. General analysis suggests that whiteness has functioned since the early Enlightenment period in Europe (the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries) as an expression of increasingly dogmatic, or strict, white supremacist, patriarchal, heteronormative, and classed biases. Although since at least the 1960s critical racial and comparative ethnic frameworks, in addition to versions of feminist and queer theories, have challenged the privileges that have inhered in "whiteness," critical indigenous critiques comprise a burgeoning field of scholarship and activism that also challenge the colonial settler histories and contemporary practices associated with whiteness.

A public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is the state's flagship research institution. Founded in 1889 and commissioned by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of New Mexico, the first president was Elias S. Stover. UNM offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degree programs in many disciplines. In addition to the North and South Campus locations, found in the center of Albuquerque, there are five branch campuses associated with the university, with locations in Rio Rancho, Gallup, Los Alamos, Taos, and Los Lunas. UNM has one of the largest student and faculty populations of Hispanics and Native Americans in the country. Additionally, the university’s main campus is known for its Pueblo Revival style architecture and award-winning landscape designs.