A Weave of Time

Susan Fanshel
1986
57 minutes

 

A film about Navajo crafts over a period of 50 years - seen through three generations.

In 1938 anthropologist John Adair travelled to the Navajo reservation in Pine Springs, Arizona, with a 16mm hand-wind motion picture camera. Adair met and filmed Tom Burnside and his family, all Navajo handcrafters, creating a visual record of Navajo life in the 1930s. This rare historical footage is woven together with contemporary scenes and interviews with the Burnside family in the 1980s. The film focuses on the Burnsides' many handicraft skills, family scenes, community ceremonies, and their current lifestyle.

Anthropologist: 
John Adair
Suggested readings: 
Adair, John. The Navajo and Pueblo silversmiths. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1944. xvii, 220 s., 24 pl.: ill. (The civilization of the American Indian series)
North America: 
Keyword: 
Other keywords: 
Minority
Tradition
Modernisation
Globalisation
Material Culture