On May 31, the day after Memorial Day, a group of Winona State University students will gather in a classroom on campus in Winona, Minnesota, and will begin meeting with their partner students at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation.
This Interactive Television class marks the beginning of the 2011 Navajo Oral History project. The students will meet via ITV three times that week as they prepare for more than two weeks of field work on the Navajo Nation beginning June 5.
The Minnesota students will stay in residence hall facilities at Diné College and will work in partnerships teams with DC students. The teams will provide a service project for a Navajo elder, and then interview the elder three times over two weeks. The groups will produce documentary film projects about the elders.
The documentaries will be archived at the Navajo Nation Museum and Library and at the WSU and DC Libraries.
While on the Navajo Nation, the Winona State students will participate in many Navajo cultural activities including visiting the Navajo Tribal Government Center, enjoying a Navajo Rodeo, participating in a KTNN Radio sponsored Drums of Summer event, and experiencing a camping weekend at a Navajo family's sheep camp in Canyon de Chelly.
For the next several weeks, this blog will cover the Navajo Oral History project. I'll introduce the students, and follow their daily activities in text and photos.
Please bookmark or "favorite" this blog and check it often to stay up to date on this important and fun learning adventure. Feel free to look back through past year's blog entries for a glimpse at how the project has progressed, changed and improved over the years.
Also, share the link to this blog with friends, family members and anyone that may be interested in following this project.
Thanks for your interest.
Winona State University
Mass Communication Department
