American Indian Culture and Research Journal

In 1939, Gladys A. Reichard published Dezba: Woman of the Desert, a fictional account based on the author’s sixteen years of anthropological work among the Navajo. Although the characters were imaginary, the events and feelings portrayed in the book showed depth in understanding the struggles of a “traditional” mother. Shocked at the younger generation’s adaptation to Anglo-American culture and their growing unfamiliarity with Navajo customs, Dezba remained outwardly passive yet emotionally torn and frustrated as she watched the old lifestyle start to melt before her eyes. Reichard, through Dezba, outlined this dissolution when she wrote, “A reservation mother had no means to cope with white man’s customs which led girls first to change dress and personal appearance. Next, children began to scorn social customs and became fastidious about food and the Navajo custom of sleeping on the ground. At worst, they took to drinking and became loose in morals.”’ Since Dezba’s time, this process of change has intensified and assumed new directions, as contact with the dominant society has increased. Perhaps it was not by chance that this important character was named Dezba, translated as ”Going to War.”