Volume XII Winter 2000 Issue #2

Shifting paradigms: Diné build harmony, balance, and community into the planning process

By Sue Wolf and Frank Morgan

The field of planning in the United States was born out of the need to solve urban problems in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As it developed, professional planners largely determined the shape of the landscape. Their plans and their technical advice to city councils and county commissions formed the basis for determining the use of land; the types of economic development sought by communities; and the location of housing, business, and industry. The public was largely excluded from the process, as were all other elements of the environment (e.g., plants, animals, air, and water).

Planning in the Diné way, however, is something that all things do...air, water, rocks, plants, animals, and people. Its end goal, siihasin, is the long term health and maintenance of relationships and elements in the environment. This means that not only every community member is capable of planning but also non-human elements are involved in setting goals and thinking about their future. The natural world is constantly working toward harmony and balance using its natural processes of nitsáhákees (thought or consciousness); nahat'á (planned action and responses); iiná (equilibrium and life outcomes); and siihasin (sustainable stability). This goal of siihasin that underlies all Diné planning is missing from the Western paradigm.

These differences between Western and Diné paradigms of planning necessitated developing a unique planning course at Diné College. The authors collaborated to develop, teach, and revise this course during a period of four years. The course increasingly incorporated Diné concepts until it was finally organized around the concept of siihasin.

Based on this experience, two handbooks were compiled for tribal college instructors interested in teaching environmental planning from a tribal perspective. The handbooks provide suggestions for comparing current planning practices with tribal paradigms of planning and for developing tribal-specific information regarding planning. They include in-depth projects, which students can conduct throughout the semester. The first handbook, "Tribal Environmental Planning and Management," provides a syllabus for the course, references, extensive teaching notes, and suggestions for class discussions. The second handbook, "Project Handbook for Tribal Environmental Planning and Management," provides eight projects and one exercise focusing on sustainability (see Resource Guide in this issue).

Projects developed for our classes provided the students with an opportunity to observe and critique the local planning structure and process in relation to sustainability. Before these projects, many students had never attended a community meeting or had an opportunity to study tribal law. Students enjoyed getting out into the community and were often amazed at the politics involved in planning. Projects included opportunities to:

  1. interview community members to find out types of employment they'd like to be engaged in and consider how these desires might become the basis of sustainable economic development;
  2. observe planning meetings to determine whether relationships in the community are being sustained by dialog and whether meeting goals are attained;
  3. review tribal laws and policies affecting resource use to determine whether they consider sustainability;
  4. survey current land use and past uses that were or were not sustained and provide suggestions for sustaining uses into the future;
  5. review community plans for sustainability; and
  6. locate home sites based on a variety of factors including goals for the home, types of soil, patterns of wind, natural drainage, solar gain, animal migration routes, location of native plants, and cost of providing utilities to the site.
Tribal governments are increasingly involved in developing comprehensive plans, integrated natural resource plans, and other planning documents since they are contracting for functions previously provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other federal agencies. As tribes gain control over these plans, they can incorporate cultural values into goals, processes, and program structures. Tribal colleges and universities have the opportunity to train a new generation of tribal planners and can base that training on tribal cultural paradigms. The colleges can engage a broader spectrum of individuals in the process by involving both non-degree and degree students. This will extend knowledge of planning and the opportunity to plan to the community.

Tribal colleges now have a unique opportunity to encourage planning for stability and harmony of all things. By breathing cultural knowledge into the planning process and by involving the community, we hope the plans will better sustain the land and the people, retain the support of the community, and maintain relationships among all things with mutual respect and reciprocity.

Sue Wolf taught environmental planning and environmental science at Diné College for four years. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Design and Planning at the University of Colorado at Denver. She also does consulting work through her company, Four Corners Environmental Planning. For more information about the article, she can be contacted at 303/444-2928.

Frank Morgan is a member of the Navajo Nation, and he worked for Diné College for approximately 12 years. He is a curriculum specialist, researcher, farmer, translator, artist, and educator. He is now working on his master's degree at the University of New Mexico in Organizational Learning and Instructional Technology.