Diné Dóó Gáamalii - Lyda Conley Trailblazing Indigenous Futures by Farina King Hardcover

About the Book

"Dine doo Gaamalii is a history of twentieth-century Navajos, including author Farina King and her family, who have converted and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), becoming "Dine doo Gaamalii"--both Dine and LDS. Drawing on Dine stories from the LDS Native American Oral History Project, King illuminates the mutual entanglement of Indigenous identity and religious affiliation, showing how their Dine identity made them outsiders to the LDS church and, conversely, how belonging to the LDS community made them outsiders to their Native community. The story that King tells shows the complex ways that Dine people engaged with church institutions within the context of settler colonial power structures. The lived experiences of Dine in the church programs sometimes diverged from the intentions and expectations of those who designed them"--

Book Synopsis

"Navajo Latter-day Saints are Diné dóó Gáamalii," writes Farina King, in this deeply personal collective biography. "We are Diné who decided to walk a Latter-day Saint pathway, although not always consistently or without reappraising that decision."

Diné dóó Gáamalii is a history of twentieth-century Navajos, including author Farina King and her family, who have converted and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), becoming Diné dóó Gáamalii--both Diné and LDS. Drawing on Diné stories from the LDS Native American Oral History Project, King illuminates the mutual entanglement of Indigenous identity and religious affiliation, showing how their Diné identity made them outsiders to the LDS Church and, conversely, how belonging to the LDS community made them outsiders to their Native community. The story that King tells shows the complex ways that Diné people engaged with church institutions in the context of settler colonial power structures. The lived experiences of Diné in church programs sometimes diverged from the intentions and expectations of those who designed them.

In this empathetic and richly researched study, King explores the impacts of Navajo Latter-day Saints who seek to bridge different traditions, peoples, and communities. She sheds light on the challenges and joys they face in following both the Diné teachings of Si'ąh Naagháì Bik'eh Hózhǫ́--"live to old age in beauty"--and the teachings of the church.

Review Quotes

"King gives those familiar--and those unfamiliar--with LDS and Native American history much to consider. . . .This is a deeply humane book that revels in the diversity of what one might call 'faithways, ' meaning the manifold and contradictory ways people make sense of religious teachings as they navigate their world."--Journal of Arizona History

"An insightful and fascinating study into the lived experiences of Dine Latter-day Saints. It is important as the fullest examination of that history yet published."--Times and Seasons

"In this beautifully rendered autoethnography, Farina King reckons honestly with the injustices of settler colonialism but refuses to grant it a controlling role. Instead, she centers the voices of her own Diné family and other Diné dóó Gáamalii, Navajo Mormons, showing how they have built lives faithful both to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to Diné identity and peoplehood all at the same time."--Tisa Wenger, professor of divinity, American studies, and religious studies at Yale University, and author of We Have a Religion: The 1920s Pueblo Indian Dance Controversy and American Religious Freedom

"This history illuminates the complexity of relating simultaneously to Diné and Latter-day Saint worlds. Richly textured by oral histories and the history of the author's family, it attends closely to the diversity of views and practices among Diné Latter-day Saints."--Matthew W. Dougherty, author of Lost Tribes Found: Israelite Indians and Religious Nationalism in Early America