Northern Arizona University: Navajo Housing Authority, NAU develop interactive web app showing Wi-Fi locations on the Navajo Nation. “Most of the Wi-Fi hotspot access points are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, but times vary depending on Navajo Nation curfew hours. Points can be accessed from any mobile device including laptops and smartphones. Most do not require passwords to connect, however, a few hotspots have been identified for student use only. Wi-Fi hotspots will be updated when telecommunication companies submit new geospatial data.”
Navajo
Arizona State University: Native nations are fighting COVID-19 on many levels
Arizona State University: Native nations are fighting COVID-19 on many levels. “COVID-19 has exacerbated infrastructure vulnerabilities in Indian Country and has brought attention to myriad issues that advocacy hasn’t been able to, experts say. Even though the Navajo Nation’s highest per capita coronavirus infection rate has been getting the lion’s share of attention in the media, the lack of infrastructure — especially broadband — impacts civic engagement, education, energy and health care delivery on U.S. reservations affected by the pandemic.”
AZ Central: Navajo Nation president says the ‘curve is flattening’ with COVID-19 cases
AZ Central: Navajo Nation president says the ‘curve is flattening’ with COVID-19 cases. “As of Monday, the Navajo Nation had 4,794 cases of COVID-19 and the number of deaths associated with the disease reached 157. Nearly 1,500 people have recovered from the virus, according to updated numbers from the Navajo Department of Health.”
Stars and Stripes: South Korea to provide 10,000 face masks to help Navajo veterans fight coronavirus
Stars and Stripes: South Korea to provide 10,000 face masks to help Navajo veterans fight coronavirus. “South Korea will provide 10,000 masks and hand sanitizer to help Navajo veterans of the 1950-53 Korean War fight the coronavirus, the government said [May 18]. It was the latest in a series of humanitarian shipments from South Korea to foreign veterans ahead of the 70th anniversary of the June 25 start of the war that pitted the United States and the South against the communist-backed North.”
ProPublica: The Feds Gave a Former White House Official $3 Million to Supply Masks to Navajo Hospitals. Some May Not Work.
ProPublica: The Feds Gave a Former White House Official $3 Million to Supply Masks to Navajo Hospitals. Some May Not Work.. “A former White House aide won a $3 million federal contract to supply respirator masks to Navajo Nation hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona 11 days after he created a company to sell personal protective equipment in response to the coronavirus pandemic…. The IHS told ProPublica it has found that 247,000 of the masks delivered by [Zach] Fuentes’ company — at a cost of roughly $800,000 — may be unsuitable for medical use. An additional 130,400, worth about $422,000, are not the type specified in the procurement data, the agency said.”
CBS News: Doctors Without Borders dispatches team to the Navajo Nation
CBS News: Doctors Without Borders dispatches team to the Navajo Nation. “Jean Stowell, head of the organization’s U.S. COVID-19 Response Team, told CBS News that Doctors Without Borders has dispatched a team of nine to the hard-hit Navajo Nation in the southwest U.S. because of the crisis unfolding there. The team consists of two physicians, three nurse/midwives, a water sanitation specialist, two logisticians and a health promoter who specializes in community health education.”
‘The favour is returned’: 173 years on, Irish donors thank Native Americans (RTE)
RTE: ‘The favour is returned’: 173 years on, Irish donors thank Native Americans. “The organisers of a fundraising campaign for Native Americans hit by the coronavirus have thanked Irish donors for their support. People from Ireland have been sending money through a ‘GoFundMe’ page set up to help Navajo and Hopi families, with many of the Irish donors saying it was a way of saying thank you for the support shown to Ireland during the Great Famine.”
Native News Online: Navajo Nation Covid-19 Cases Increase By 124; 1,321 Total Cases – Death Toll At 45
Native News Online: Navajo Nation Covid-19 Cases Increase By 124; 1,321 Total Cases – Death Toll At 45. “The Navajo Nation released an update last Monday evening that show an increase of 124 new COVID-19 cases since Saturday, which brings the total to 1,321 confirmed cases. The overall number of positive cases includes cases on the Navajo Nation and nearby border towns.”
Salt Lake Tribune: Navajo Nation has a higher coronavirus testing rate than Utah and most states
Salt Lake Tribune: Navajo Nation has a higher coronavirus testing rate than Utah and most states. “The Navajo Epidemiology Center announced 1,127 confirmed cases of the disease and 44 deaths as of Saturday, and Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez has warned the peak may still be weeks away — a startling trend for a Native American nation that has an on-reservation population of about 174,000. As The Salt Lake Tribune previously reported, if the Navajo Nation were a U.S. state, it would rank behind only New York and New Jersey for per-capita confirmed cases.”
AP: Virtual reality used to highlight uranium contamination
AP: Virtual reality used to highlight uranium contamination. “Activists are using virtual reality technology to focus on areas of the Navajo Nation affected by uranium contamination. The arts collective Bombshelltoe has collected 360-degree footage of Churchrock, New Mexico, to show how people and the land have changed since a 1979 uranium mill spill, Gallup Independent reports.”
New Mexico State University: NMSU launches mobile-accessible web database of Navajo Nation rangeland plants
New Mexico State University: NMSU launches mobile-accessible web database of Navajo Nation rangeland plants. “The ‘Selected Plants of Navajo Rangelands’ website includes information about 198 Navajo rangeland plants. Plants are identified by both their English and Navajo names. They are also searchable by plant type, common name, scientific name, flower color, habitat, growing season or special concerns.”
Miami Herald: Oral Navajo history, culture preserved on reel-to-reel tape
Miami Herald: Oral Navajo history, culture preserved on reel-to-reel tape . “About five decades have passed since Etsitty Bedonie talked about the ‘Beginning of the Enemies.’ His account about the enemies of the Navajo, as he heard it from his grandfather, was recorded with a reel-to-reel magnetic tape recorder, most likely, at Bedonie’s home in the Crownpoint area around 1969. The interviewer was Tom Ration, a member of the Navajo Cultural Center – a group of Navajos who in the 1960s-1970s traveled around all five regions of the Navajo Nation and interviewed about 450 Navajo men and women and preserved their oral history on audio tape.”
Archivists Hope to Digitize and Preserve Tapes of Navajo Oral History
Big thanks to Jessica G for the pointer to this one! Archivists hope to receive funding to preserve tapes of Navajo oral histories. “Misplaced for years, only to be discovered sitting in a jail cell, their backups destroyed in a fire, their entire contents never cataloged, the tapes must be preserved so that generations to come can hear the ‘knowledge, legends, stories, traditions stored on these tapes,’ advocates say. The library is asking the Navajo Nation Council for $230,520 to digitize the five dusty filing cabinets of tapes so the collection can be protected, distributed to schools and made available to others.”
Nevada State Museum Creates Navajo Art Catalogue
The Nevada State Museum has created an online archive of Navajo and southwestern art. “The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded the Nevada State Museum a grant to rehouse, inventory, digitize, and publish the Museum’s Native American textiles and Southwestern ceramics. Digitized images of these artifacts are now accessible to the public for the first time through the PastPerfect online portal.” I can’t give you a direct link to the announcement, but look for the article on the front page called “Online Catalog of NSM’s Navajo Weavings and Southwestern Ceramics Available!”
