This post of quite the throwback to one of my favorite and impactful experiences from my career as a Ph.D. student at ASU. The year was 2019 and the place was downtown ASU campus. My advisor, Dr. Gyan Nyaupane, informed me that I would be joining him and a team of international scholars to visit the Navajo Nation as part of a study to seek out the community's insights towards their changing relationship with their native lands as part of a cross-cultural study of Indigenous peoples around the world. I was so excited, honored, and humbled to be a part of this epic study.
The first step of this journey was to submit a Navajo IRB (internal review board) application to ensure that the tribe approved of this study. This step consisted of organizing a ton of paperwork and then mailing in the application. Nothing to life changing...yet. The next step came a month later where we traveled up to Window Rock, the capital of Navajo Nation, to present the study to the Navajo IRB board. On a cold, February morning, Gyan and I set out in a rental car from downtown Phoenix towards the Navajo Nation. Little did we know that our trip was soon to become perilous as we found ourselves in an unexpected Arizona blizzard in the Superstition Mountains. Long story short, with the help of my Minnesota driving skills, we made it through the mountains in one piece. Barely!
What I found so cool about this trip was that Gyan views work and life much like I do. He told me that since we were going to be so close to some national parks and monuments, we might as well make a couple pit stops. So on the way to Window Rock, we stopped by Canyon de Chelly to check out the famous Spider Rock overlook. It was snowy and cold, but incredibly beautiful! We had some fun taking a few pictures and then made it to our hotel late at night.
The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and head off to the Navajo government buildings where the Navajo IRB meets. Because of the snowstorm, many of the board members were delayed a couple hours, forcing use to sit and wait. Once they came, they called us in eventually and Gyan laid out our study plans. All of our nerves and anticipation were soon over as they approved the project rather quickly. Relief!
The third step of the journey was for me to set up a bunch of interviews for the team's week long stay in Paige, Arizona. This part was pretty natural to me as this is all I did for several of my sales jobs from my past lives. Finally, we took the trip up to Paige and had a truly memorable experience meeting with Navajo Elders, community members, and government leaders. It was incredibly eye-opening to listen to the voices of a people I have known of my entire life, yet wasn't too familiar with so many of the issues that they face after hundreds of years of persecution and oppression. I heard stories of heartbreak regarding places like Lake Powell, which was created after the Glen Canyon dam was built in the mid-1900s. This place is a popular vacation site for so many Americans and the site of one of my favorite childhood memories, yet I had no idea when I was an 8-year-old kid that this lake sits on top ancestral Navajo lands that were taken from them. This was truly an unforgettable experience!
Similar to my trip with Gyan to Window Rock, we took some time to take pictures at some tourist hotspots during the trip. This part was tons of fun as well!
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