Returning Navajo-Churro Sheep for Navajo Weaving

Abstract

Navajo-Churro sheep provided a traditional fiber resource for handwoven textiles produced by Navajo people. Sixteenth-century Spanish explorers seeking riches in the American Southwest introduced their Spanish Churro sheep, a hardy desert variety whose descendants are the breed known today as Navajo-Churro. As a stable base for Navajo pastoralism, these sheep adapted to the harsh desert landscape of Navajo homelands and provided wealth, food, wool, and social cohesion for the Navajo people. After the mid-nineteenth century when more Anglo-Americans migrated into the Southwest, vast herds of Navajo-Churro sheep were reduced to near extinction through outright destruction and by crossbreeding with high-production breeds. During the 1970s, Navajo and non-Navajo herders and weavers joined in coordinated efforts to return the Navajo-Churro breed to Navajo lands and people. The contemporary Navajo organization Diné be' iiná (abbreviated to DBI and translated as The Navajo Life way) provided leadership for the return of Navajo-Churro sheep. In this article, we explore how the return of Navajo-Churro sheep and wool can strengthen cultural identity, rekindle ideological teachings, and revitalize material culture. The analysis provides an example of development intervention at the level of raw materials, as opposed to design, product development, or marketing intercession with textile traditions.

Keywords:

• Navajo
• sheep
• weaving
• wool
• cultural identity
• local breed