Relocation of Navajo from Hopi Partitioned Land in Pinon

Abstract

Host—relocatee relations in Pinon, a Navajo community where relocation is still an ongoing process, are studied. Both Cernea and Scudder indicate that omitting the host population from pre-relocation considerations is common and invariably result in hostrelocatee conflicts. Although host—relocatee relations are important, the issue has not been explored. This paper examines local and external economic and political forces that were generated by the Navajo—Hopi land dispute and the subsequent relocation of Navajo people. It focuses on the variation in host and relocatee households' responses to relocation in Pinon. It examines the ways in which this variation is shaped by local and external elements, and how response variation in general is linked to local host—relocatee disputes and community development projects. In so doing, the paper addresses some key issues in the study of relocation, issues obscured in previous, more general studies