Speakers Bureau Speaker
Laura Tohe, Ph.D., Tempe
Laura Tohe is Diné and was raised by her family and relatives on the Navajo reservation. She has written and co-authored four books. Her most recent book, Tseyi, Deep in the Rock won the 2007 Glyph award for Best Poetry and Best Book by Arizona Book Association and is listed as a Southwest Book of the Year 2005 by Tucson Pima Library. She is currently working on a book of oral history on the Navajo Code Talkers. She is the 2006 Dan Schilling Public Scholar for the Arizona Humanities Council. She writes essays, stories, and children’s plays that have appeared in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. She wrote a commissioned libretto, Enemy Slayer, A Navajo Oratorio, for the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. She is Professor with Distinction in the English Department at ASU where she teaches Indigenous American Literature, Poetry, Women’s Literature, and Film Studies
Oral and Written Literature Among Southwestern Indigenous Writers and Storytellers
This presentation focuses on oral literature such as songs, stories, prayers, and the traditional art of storytelling and its links to the contemporary works in a selected survey of Southwestern Indigenous writers. Audiences will gain an understanding and appreciation of indigenous literature and how some contemporary writers draw on the oral tradition and the visual quality in language to write stories, poetry, and narratives. Short excerpts from works by the writers are read and discussed so that the audience will understand the themes of these writers.
Host organization provides PowerPoint setup (optional)
“Armed with Our Language, We Went to War: The Navajo Code Talkers”
During WWII a small group of Navajo men from the Navajo homeland enlisted in the Marines with a unique armor. This select group of men devised a code using the Diné (Navajo) language to pass secret information without the enemy ever deciphering or breaking the code. For years a cloak of secrecy hung over the service these Code Talkers gave to the U.S. government and country. Over 40 years later, the code was declassified and the Code Talkers were recognized and honored for their military contributions to the war effort by Presidents Reagan and Bush, and the Navajo Nation. This presentation discusses how the code was devised and used, personal quotes from the Marines, why the young Marines enlisted in the military, and photos of the Code Talkers. Personal family photos from the Dr. Tohe are included.
Host organization provides PowerPoint setup (optional)
