Weaving Justice

October 2022. Rugs and Loom

Robert Yazzie

(September 1948)

Navajo Nation

“Navajo justice is unique, because it is the product of the experience of the Navajo People. Prior to contact with European cultures, Navajos developed their ways of approaching life through many centuries of dealing with obstacles to their survival. Likewise, Navajo concepts of justice are a product of the experience we have gained from dealing with problems.” -Robert Yazzie in Life Comes from It: Navajo Justice Concepts (1994)

Robert Yazzie was born in a covered wagon in the Rio Puerco Valley in New Mexico, where his umbilical cord was cut with a broken wine bottle. He lived in a traditional Navajo community in New Mexico and eventually attended Oberlin College of Ohio. He went on to get his Juris Doctor degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law and is a member of the Navajo Bar Association. He practiced law in the Navajo Nation for sixteen years, was a district judge for eight years, and served as Chief Justice from 1992 through 2003. During his time as Chief Justice, he promoted the development of Navajo common law and helped articulate the Navajo "bill of rights." In his writings, he has explored the differences between peacekeeping models in Navajo versus Western culture, with the Navajo model focusing on consensus-building rather than truth-seeking, and healing and solidarity. He has a passion for education and leads discussions and classes about traditional Indian law and international human rights law.

This piece was inspired by Navajo blanket weaving and how it symbolizes the weaving of experiences that developed Navajo justice, as Yazzie describes. The piece is still being woven at the bottom because his work has yet to be finished, as he continues to pass on his knowledge to the next generation of scholars.