Trudy Griffin-Pierce

To the Navajo, sandpaintings are sacred, living entities that reflect the interconnectedness of all living beings--humans, plants, stars, animals, and mountains. This book, now available in paperback, explores the circularity of Navajo thought in sandpaintings, Navajo chantway myths, and stories reflected in the celestial constellations.

Beautifully illustrated by the author, this well-documented book explores the spiritual world of the Navajo, their ceremonial practices, and their show more conceptions of time and stellar motion. Griffin-Pierce shows how the images of sacred sandpaintings not only communicate the temporal and spatial dimensions of the Navajo universe but also present, in visual form, Navajo ideas about relationships among nature, self, and society.
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Quoting from the book's back cover. M. Jane Young, author of "Signs from the Ancestors: Zuni Cultural Symbolism and Perception of Rock Art, said of this work, ""[Trudy] Griffin-Pierce's approach is highly original, brining this material together in an innovation and creative manner while grounding it holistically within the context of Navajo world view." At the time of her death Griffin-Pierce was an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She was the show more author of several books on American Indian cosmology. This book has intensive chapter notes, a bibliography and is well-indexed. show less