Abstract
The conclusion reflects on how a politics of difference and belonging—and the idea of indigenous social authenticity more broadly—is negotiated by Diné citizens. Focusing on the language fluency controversy in the most recent Navajo Presidential election with Presidential Candidate Christopher C. Deschene, I address what the stakes might be in reifying social difference through the lenses of linguistic knowledge and performance, place of residence, musical taste, and phenotype. I then examine language use and vitality in Navajo language immersion schools on the Navajo Nation. Bringing together ethnomusicology, linguistic anthropology and Critical Indigenous Studies, I examine the parts of Navajo identity that are either publicly celebrated or hidden from view, and I interrogate what these categories of difference mean for those that utilize—or refuse them—today.
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