Other Arizona tribes, including Hualapai and Pascua Yaqui, and the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma do not. The White Mountain Apache Tribe in eastern Arizona requires its leader to speak the tribe’s language.

Voters on the largest Native American reservation relaxed the requirements, essentially eliminating the need for key leaders to speak Navajo. Several years ago, the neighboring Navajo Nation grappled with a similar issue over language when a presidential candidate was disqualified after he refused to be the first to undergo a fluency test. government tried to eradicate their culture and assimilate them into white society.Īda Curtis, who is 65 and known by Somi’mana in Hopi, recalled being taught by non-Natives on the reservation and the sickening feeling when she stepped on the bus not knowing English but being scolded and getting her mouth washed out with soap for speaking Hopi. Hopi, like other tribes, have fought to maintain their language while the U.S. The discussion about the language’s role in tribal politics inevitably turns into one about identity, and cultural maintenance, sustainability and preservation. I’m not backing off, and I guess that’s my gamble.” “That’s his gamble,” Talayumptewa said of Nuvangyaoma’s push. Talayumptewa counters the problem lies not with the constitution but in Nuvangyaoma’s leadership style, and the solution is in fostering a resurgence of the language that defines Hopis. We need to be a little more aggressive and aware.” “There’s competition at the state and federal level to seek funding. “We’re never going to ignore our culture and traditions, but we are in 2021 now,” Nuvangyaoma said in an interview. It is completely surrounded by the much larger Navajo Nation. The reservation is composed of 12 villages in the Arizona high desert and is home to about half of the 14,000 enrolled Hopis. He contends nixing it would draw in younger Hopis who were told to leave their homeland, get an education and return to help their people with skills in technology, engineering, law and hydrology but cannot speak Hopi. The rule in the tribal constitution was loosened in 2017 from being fluent, and Nuvangyaoma is pushing to eliminate any language requirement for the top leadership job on the 2,500 square-mile (6,475 square-kilometer) reservation. To be in the place of Chairman Tim Nuvangyaoma or his challenger, David Talayumptewa, Hopis must be able to speak and understand Hopi. The audience is a mix of fluent speakers, Hopis whose language and culture were attacked at assimilation-focused boarding schools, Hopis who fear they might be mocked if they stumble over Hopi words, and others who want to learn. (AP) - Candidates for Hopi chairman move easily between the tribe’s language and English as they make their case for votes from a high school auditorium.

Hope at the crossroads song