UNM-Gallup has new Navajo instructor

Joe Kee is UNM-Gallup's new full-time Navajo language instructor. Kee has a naster's degree in Navajo literacy from NAU. Courtesy photo

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP — Ya’ et’ eeh!

UNM-Gallup has a new full-time Navajo language instructor. Joe Kee comes to the college after three years in Steamboat, Ariz. He returned to his family home after a long teaching stint at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Now he is in Gallup.

Kee understands the challenges of learning to read and write Navajo, even for a native speaker like himself. He is passionate about literacy and what it can do in terms of ensuring the survival of Navajo culture. Now he is ready to help others in the Gallup area acquire those skills.

Kee has a master’s degree in Navajo literacy from NAU.

He devoted his time in Steamboat after graduating to “non-academic” research, attending local events, ceremonies, chapter meetings and even herding sheep, to reconnect with his roots.

“I introduce students to where I come from, and engage them in learning by talking about how I came to be the person I am today,” he said. “Although I was a fluent speaker, it took me 4 1/2 years to grasp Navajo literacy,” he said. “But afterward, I felt proud and empowered that I could speak, read and write my language.

An advocate of Navajo literacy, Kee came to UNM-Gallup ready to answer questions from traditional Navajos about why an oral tradition should be written down.

“Older people would share with me that our tradition should remain intact as an oral history and to write things down is not right,” Kee said. “The elders point to the example of the Anasazi, who, some believe, wrote too much, and thus exposed themselves to the world and by doing so, met an uncertain fate. They believe that writing things down exposes you to the outside world, and then you’re sharing too much. I have to explain to them that we are losing a lot of the history and the language and writing it down can help us document it and help it continue.”

Kee’s classes will include Navajo 101, 102 and the literacy course, Navajo 105. He said he sees great potential for UNM-Gallup to grow its Navajo language and studies program.

“I am really excited to be here at UNM-Gallup, a town I visited as a child,” Kee said.