Navajo Origin Legend E-Book

Alexander MacGregor Stephen

• Herausgeber: Edizioni Aurora Boreale
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Alexander MacGregor Stephen was a Scottish mining prospector trained in metallurgy at the university of Edinburgh. When he emigrated from Scotland to the United States he enlisted in the New York Militia during the Civil War. Afterwards, he prospected in search of the lost Merit silver mine in Nevada and Utah during the 1870s. From 1880-1894 it is not known whether Stephen lived with Thomas Keam, owner of a trading post, at his canyon ranch or at various places on the Hopi mesas. He did spend a decade building relationships with the Navajo and Hopi learning their language and their culture and recording it in what he considered an unbiased manner.
In 1894, Stephen came down with influenza while living with the Hopi. The disease had already spread through the mesas. Stephen believed that he was being punished for secretly observing burial customs and then joking about them. He died shortly therafter. Keam erected monument at the canyon ranch in honor of him.
Stephen’s essay Navajo Origin Legend was published in 1930 on the Journal of American Folk-Lore. It constitutes one of the most important testimonies of the mythology and ancient traditions of the Navajo people.

Leseprobe

SYMBOLS & MYTHS

ALEXANDER MACGREGOR STEPHEN

NAVAJO ORIGIN LEGEND

Edizioni Aurora Boreale

Title: Navajo Origin Legend

Author: Alexander MacGregor Stephen

Publishing series: Symbols & Myths

With an introduction by Nicola Bizzi

Editing by Nicola Bizzi

ISBN: 979-12-5504-147-4

Edizioni Aurora Boreale

© 2022 Edizioni Aurora Boreale

Via del Fiordaliso 14 - 59100 Prato - Italia

[email protected]

www.auroraboreale-edizioni.com

INTRODUCTION BY THE PUBLISHER

According to the Arizona Archives Online, Alexander MacGregor Stephen was a Scottish mining prospector trained in metallurgy at the university of Edinburgh. When he emigrated from Scotland to the United States he enlisted in the New York Militia during the Civil War from 1861-1866. Afterwards, he prospected in search of the lost Merit silver mine in Nevada and Utah during the 1870s. From 1880-1894 it is not known whether Stephen lived with Thomas V. Keam, owner of a trading post, at his canyon ranch or at various places on the Hopi mesas. He did spend a decade building relationships with the Navajo and Hopi learning their language and their culture and recording it in what he considered an unbiased manner. Stephen and Keam worked together to collect and catalogue 4,500 ethnological specimens, which are today known as the Thomas V. Keam collection. Keam sold the collection to Mary Hemenway who then went on to fund the Hemenway Expeditions to the Southwest. Stephen was employed by Hemenway to assist the directors of the Expeditions: Jesse W. Fewkes and later anthropologist, Frank Hamilton Cushing. Stephen served as researcher, informant, and field director.

In 1894, Stephen came down with influenza while living with the Hopi. The disease had already spread through the mesas. Stephen believed that he was being punished for secretly observing burial customs and then joking about them. He died shortly therafter. Keam erected monument at the canyon [Keam’s Canyon] in honor of him.