Traditional Diné Peacemaking begins in a place of chaos, hóóchx̨o’/
anáhóót’i’, whether within an individual or between human beings. Perhaps due to historical trauma,
Navajos shy away from face-to-face confrontations. However, such
confrontations are vital in order to dispel hóóchx̨o’/anáhóót’i’. The Peacemaker has the courage and skills to provide the
groundwork for the person or group to confront hóóchx̨o’/anáhóót’i’ and
move toward mastering harmonious existence. Life value engagement with the
peacemaker provides the sense of identity and pride from our
cultural foundations. Hóóchx̨o’/anáhóót’i’ can
block and overwhelm clanship, k’é, which is normally what binds human beings together in mutual
respect. Through engagement, the Peacemaker
educates, persuades, pleads and cajoles the individual or
group toward a readiness to open up, listen, share, and make
decisions as a single unit using k’é. When hóóchx̨o’/anáhóót’i’ is
confronted, people may learn there is a choice to leave it. When harmony, hózh̨̨ó, is
self-realized, sustaining it will have clarity and permanent hózh̨̨ó will be self-attainable, hózh̨ǫ́ójí
k’ehgo nįná’íldee’ iłhááhodidzaa
ná’oodzíí’.
Through stories and teachings, the Peacemaker dispenses knowledge, naat'áánii, in order to guide the whole toward a cathartic understanding of hózh̨̨ó that opens the door to transformative healing. The flow of hózh̨̨ó is
a movement inwards toward the core issue or underlying truth. Recognition of this truth and the
ending of denial provide the opportunity for healing or mutual
mending. Realization of
the truth occurs when individual feelings are fundamentally
satisfied. The resolution of damaged
feelings is the core material of peacemaking sessions, hózh̨óji
naat’aah. Depending on the skill of the
Peacemaker, hózh̨̨ó may
be short or may take several peacemaking sessions. |
Family
Group Conferencing (FGC) originated in New
Zealand.
It was originally used to allow social work practice to work with
and not against Maori values and culture. In
1989, the New Zealand government made FGC a central part of
practice and services in call cases concerning children, including
dependency up through delinquency-type cases.
Áłchíní
báNdazhnit’á (Diné
family group conferencing) through the Peacemaking Program is an
extension of peacemaking in response to the requirements of the Álchíní
Bi Beehaz’ áannii Act of 2011 calling upon the Navajo Nation “to
seek out culturally appropriate methods for prevention,
intervention and treatment of family disharmony” and “to
facilitate family harmony using measures consistent with Navajo
Nation statutes and Diné
bi beehaz’áannii.” The
Program will assist in family preservation and reunification when
called upon by courts, agencies and families in the spirit and
intent of the Act and on the basis of Diné
bi beehaz’áannii. The
Program understands these requirements to mean that traditional
principles and skills in achieving hózh̨̨ó are
to be explained and provided in such situations.
The
Program will also arrange áłchíní
báNdazhnit’á upon
referrals from the prosecutor and schools in matters concerning
CHINS, delinquency and disciplinary matters.
Peacemaking
is the foundation of áłchíní
báNdazhnit’á, in
that a peacemaker’s
skills in guiding a family out ofhóóchx̨o’/anáhóót’i’ toward hózh̨̨ó is
called upon. However
there are critical institutional factors also present that impact
an individual’s liberty or a family’s preservation for which the
family is given a first opportunity, a generational responsibility
using elders also, to put forward a plan for implementation by the
responsible agency. |
Life
value engagements, nábináhaazláago
áłch’į’ yáti’, are
further traditional services that may be given through the
Peacemaking Program. The
nature of nábináhaazláago
áłch’į’ yáti’ depends
on the need of the individuals or groups as explained below.
Unlike
peacemaking, engagements do not include both sides in a dispute. In
such engagements, individuals or groups meet
with a Peacemaker or traditional teacher in order to learn how to
address a problem through opening up tohózh̨̨ó. The
individuals or groups learn to identify the problem as relating to
their own personal accountability and willingness to grapple with hóóchx̨o’/anáhóót’i’ and
serve themselves, their families and their community by taking the
first steps toward hózh̨̨ó. Such
engagements may be dynamic dialogues where hóóchx̨o’/anáhóót’i’,
through the lens of stories and teachings, takes on an emotional
shape and is released. They
may be intense in character. The
intensity of the engagement allows individuals to self-realize the
teachings. They
frequently precede successful peacemaking outcomes in deeply
conflicted situations and may
even result in restoration to hózh̨̨ó by
itself.
A
flow of feelings will move around a group engagement. In
the first round, the movement will center on the subject and the
teachings, providing an opportunity for each member in the group
to engage, for their true feelings to be realized. This
may be very positive, or may be negative, when harmful feelings
are given up. In
the second round, all feelings are understood in a fair way and
turned into positive affirmation.
Life
value engagements are
also considered the important preparatory part of a peacemaking
session. When
peacemaking is pursued, the Program will engage naałchidí to
ensure that they have knowledge of the hózh̨óji
naat’aahprocess
so that they are
prepared to participate fully. When
used in this way, engagements are accounted for, as part of a
single peacemaking session.
Sometimes,
individuals, courts, agencies and schools may specially ask for an
engagement for an individual, a family or group. In
such requests, there is no dispute for which an agreement is
sought, but the participants are caught up in a tunnel out of
which a life value engagement might serve as a guide.
In most
cases concerning individuals, the engagement concerns an
individual who is searching for hózh̨̨ó or
is in need of a sense of personal accountability,
self-realization, and self-empowerment in the middle of difficult
circumstances. E.g.,
an adult or juvenile in detention or community alternative to
detention, a persistently truant or inattentive student, a school
bully, an absent parent failing to provide support for his family,
an individual who cannot break a substance abuse habit.
Family
or groups engagement normally concern individuals experiencing a
problem and engagement is needed in order for the whole family or
group to handle a situation properly. E.g.,
a family learning to properly communicate with a disabled or
substance abusing member, a family learning how to support a
member who has returned home after being in a war, or detention,
or other extraordinary experiences; a group of children that has
never left the reservation who are now leaving for a long time to
a distant college.
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