Helen Lee Turner, “Disability and Personhood among the Navajo People”

Name: Helen Lee Turner, “Disability and Personhood among the Navajo People”
Start: 2026-03-26T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-03-26T19:30:00-05:00
Location: The Harkin Institute

Schedule

Thu Mar 26 2026 at 06:00 pm to 07:30 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

The Harkin Institute | Des Moines, IA

On Thursday, March 26 at 6:00 pm in the Harkin Institute (2800 University Ave), Dr. Helen Lee Turner, Professor of Religion at Furman University, will lecture on “Disability and Personhood among the Navajo People.”
For those wishing to attend the lecture virtually, please sign on here at least five minutes in advance: https://drake-edu.zoom.us/j/85200467120.
A Navajo (Diné) medicine man summarizes Navajo perceptions of disability and difference in the following way: “Before the white man came, we were blind [to disabilities]. You brought us the gift of sight. I think we were happier when we couldn’t see.” The Diné have no word for “disability.” Long before people with physical or intellectual limitations began to challenge the perspective of ableism seen in modern medicine and culture, the Navajo believed that no one should be autonomous. Indeed, relationships, even dependent ones, are necessary for health in the Navajo culture. This presentation will focus on traditional Navajo views of relational accountability that prioritize the integration and caretaking of disabled members of the tribe and challenge the understanding of personhood and self-actualization and even the standards of what it means to be healthy in most of modern America.