NCJ Number
168152
Date Published
1996
Length
9 pages
Annotation
The Navajo courts preserve Navajo cultural values to an unusual extent, and Navajos are actively using their contemporary traditional law (ancient law in modern settings).
Abstract
In 1982 the Navajo Nation Judicial Conference created the Navajo Peacemaker Court. This unique method of court-annexed "mediation" and "arbitration" uses Navajo values and institutions in local communities. The Navajo term hozhooju naat'aanii denotes the process of peacemaking. In the Navajo worldview, disharmony exists when things are not as they should be. This condition is called anahot', the opposite of harmony. Hozho is a fundamental Navajo legal term, and it is related to the forces of solidarity (k'e) and clan membership (k'ei). The Navajo peacemaking ceremony has stages and devices to instruct and guide disputants in their quest for hozho. It begins with an opening prayer to summon the aid of the supernatural. The prayer also helps frame the attitudes and relationships of the parties to prepare them for the process. There is a stage where the peacemaker explores the positions of the parties in the universe, verifying that they are in a state of disharmony, deciding how or why they are out of harmony, and determining whether they are ready to attain hozho. There are lectures on how or why the parties have violated Navajo values, have breached solidarity, or are out of harmony. The peacemaker then discusses the precise dispute with the parties to help them know how to plan to end it. The entire process is called "talking things out," and it guides parties to a noncoercive and consensual conclusion to restore them to harmony in an ongoing relationship with a community. This chapter compares the Navajo peacemaking ceremony with other forms of general American mediation.