In Following the Elephant, Bruno Nettl edits articles drawn from fifty years of the pioneering journal Ethnomusicology. The roster of acclaimed scholars hail from across generations, using other works in the collection as launching points for dialogues on the history and accomplishments of the field. Nettl divides the collection into three sections. In the first, authors survey ethnomusicology from perspectives that include thoughts on defining and conceptualizing the field and its concepts. The second section offers milestones in the literature that critique major works. The authors look at what separates ethnomusicology from other forms of music research and discuss foundational issues. The final section presents scholars considering ethnomusicology--including recent trends--from the perspective of specific, but abiding, strands of thought. Contributors: Charlotte J. Frisbie, Mieczylaw Kolinski, Gerhard Kubik, George List, Alan P. Merriam, Bruno Nettl, David Pruett, Adelaida Reyes, Timothy Rice, Jesse D. Ruskin, Kay Kaufman Shelemay, Gabriel Solis, Jeff Todd Titon, J. Lawrence Witzleben, and Deborah Wong

This life history of a Navajo leader, recorded in the 1960s and first published in 1977, is a classic work in the study of Navajo history and religious traditions.

A skillful, meticulous, and altogether praiseworthy contribution to Navajo studies. . . . Although the focus of Mitchells autobiography is upon his role as a Blessingway singer, there is much material here on Navajo history and culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Mitchell attended the government school at Fort Defiance, worked on the railroad in Arizona, served as a handyman and interpreter at several trading posts and the Franciscan missions, and later served as a tribal councilman in the 1930s and as a judge in the 1940s and 1950s. His observations on these experiences are relevant to our understanding of contemporary Navajo life.Lawrence C. Kelly, "Western Historical Quarterly"

This book stands easily among the best of the native autobiographies. Narrated by a thoughtful and articulate Navajo leader over a span of eighteen years, this life history is brought into English with none of the selective romanticizing that has spoiled some books. . . . �It is� a superb job of bringing one culture ever closer to another.Barre Tolken, "Western Folklore"

Translated from her own words, this story of a Navajo woman who lived for more than 102 years is a vivid account of traditional lifeways in a harsh and challenging environment. Tall Woman was raised in a family of foragers and herders. Forbidden to go to school, she learned traditional skills and knowledge from her elders, growing up to be a well-known weaver and an expert on the uses of traditional plants as food and medicine. She was also in demand as a midwife. Despite her reputation and that of her husband, Frank Mitchell, a well-known political leader, judge, and Blessingway singer, Tall Woman lived the unassuming life of a traditional Navajo woman, focusing on the hogan, her twelve children, the sheep and goats, and the farm. Edited and annotated by a distinguished anthropologist who has worked with the Mitchell family since 1963, this book was written to fulfil Tall Woman's desire to share her story not just with her descendants but with others. In addition to her own life history, Tall Woman tells ancestral stories and offers wise advice to future generations. Both Navajo and non-Navajo readers will be fascinated by the courage and ingenuity evoked in her account of the People's survival during a period of immeasurable change.

Around the world, indigenous peoples are returning to traditional foods and cooking methods to reestablish healthy lifeways to combat contemporary diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Food Sovereignty the Navajo Way is the first book to focus on the dietary practices of the Navajos from the earliest known times into the present and relate them to the Navajo Nation's participation in the Food Sovereignty movement. Charlotte J. Frisbie documents the traditional foods and recipes of a Navajo woman and her family over almost a century. She uses fieldwork as well as historical research to trace the transition from the days when Navajos first gathered and hunted for most of their sustenance, through times when dry farming and livestock-mainly sheep and goats-became dominant, and on to a time when their diet was dominated by highly processed foods. Frisbie not only provides a historical overview of the Navajo diet and reflections on the current international Food Sovereignty movement but also explores Tall Woman's own story, including many of her traditional Navajo recipes.