Andrew Needham
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691139067
- eISBN:
- 9781400852406
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691139067.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter focuses on how Navajo nationalism attempted to alter the spatial dynamics that subordinated Navajo claims to control their land to metropolitan demands for inexpensive power. ...
More
This chapter focuses on how Navajo nationalism attempted to alter the spatial dynamics that subordinated Navajo claims to control their land to metropolitan demands for inexpensive power. Metropolitan demand produced the notion that Navajos possessed massive mineral wealth, and this allowed young activists to imagine the Nation as space colonized by the greedy cities of the Southwest. It allowed Navajo leader Peter MacDonald to imagine the formation of a Navajo state powerful enough to control the distribution of power in the region. Moreover, all versions of Navajo nationalism recognized that metropolitan growth depended on the resources located on their land. As such, Navajo nationalists attempted to manipulate the Southwestern cities' dependence on Indian resources to produce meaningful power within the region.Less
This chapter focuses on how Navajo nationalism attempted to alter the spatial dynamics that subordinated Navajo claims to control their land to metropolitan demands for inexpensive power. Metropolitan demand produced the notion that Navajos possessed massive mineral wealth, and this allowed young activists to imagine the Nation as space colonized by the greedy cities of the Southwest. It allowed Navajo leader Peter MacDonald to imagine the formation of a Navajo state powerful enough to control the distribution of power in the region. Moreover, all versions of Navajo nationalism recognized that metropolitan growth depended on the resources located on their land. As such, Navajo nationalists attempted to manipulate the Southwestern cities' dependence on Indian resources to produce meaningful power within the region.
Andrew Needham
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691139067
- eISBN:
- 9781400852406
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691139067.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter explores how a new infrastructure of coal mines and power plants on the Navajo Reservation, and of power lines that stretched across the Southwest, changed the landscape of the Navajo ...
More
This chapter explores how a new infrastructure of coal mines and power plants on the Navajo Reservation, and of power lines that stretched across the Southwest, changed the landscape of the Navajo Reservation. The political terms in which this infrastructure took place—terms set largely by the belief held by businessmen from Phoenix and elsewhere that the state should facilitate capital location—shaped this infrastructure's meaning and future. These politics meant that private companies, rather than the federal authorities, mined coal and set it alight. They meant that federal policy focused increasingly on unlocking resources on Navajo land rather than ensuring that employment accompanied development. Moreover, they meant that the power lines leading from Four Corners Power Plant became the main supply for the electricity demanded in Phoenix, rather than primarily being a source of Navajo economic modernization.Less
This chapter explores how a new infrastructure of coal mines and power plants on the Navajo Reservation, and of power lines that stretched across the Southwest, changed the landscape of the Navajo Reservation. The political terms in which this infrastructure took place—terms set largely by the belief held by businessmen from Phoenix and elsewhere that the state should facilitate capital location—shaped this infrastructure's meaning and future. These politics meant that private companies, rather than the federal authorities, mined coal and set it alight. They meant that federal policy focused increasingly on unlocking resources on Navajo land rather than ensuring that employment accompanied development. Moreover, they meant that the power lines leading from Four Corners Power Plant became the main supply for the electricity demanded in Phoenix, rather than primarily being a source of Navajo economic modernization.
