The cooperation of the Anasazi cliff dwellers in Navajo country

Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning ancient stranger. The Anasazi are accepted by the Navajo but the pueblo descendants of the Anasazi protest any association with the Navajo. Using the context of virtue I will try to unite these two ancient and diverse tribes.


Certainly sand painting is a practice requiring both patience and cooperation. The sand painting of the Navajo and the pottery and basket making of the pueblo are both activities requiring these virtues. In addition these crafts were given as gifts to commemorate important life events. Was cooperation necessary to build the cliff adobe villages of the Ansaszi? The picture above is from Mesa Verde the cliff palace ruins. Do you believe this village or Chaco Canyon could have been created without cooperation? So we see a temperament in warring tribes of the southwest that were similar to each other.

The Navajo are the largest population of Native Americans left in the United States. Kirk D. Peterson teaches Navajo children in Farmington, New Mexico. He noticed that when he introduced traditional competitive measures to encourage class participation it backfired. It seemed that the virtue of cooperation dominates any competitive spirit that jeopardizes the common good. So when he would call on a student who did not know the answer or refused to answer the others would follow suit to protect the honor of the tribe. They had little desire for individualism and initiative. Kirk is an excellent teacher. He changed his tactics to group projects and team effort and found extremely motivated students! I was in a similar situation once and failed to see that this dynamic might be in play in my own classroom.


The peaceful Pueblo and Hopi Native Americans were not Navajos. They did share some of the same values. They believe that a full life is one lived in harmony with nature. There is an absence of striving to gain great wealth or power. There is a contentment and resourcefulness that is culminated in cooperation. We are indebted to these people for demonstrating the political philosophy of communism with out a five year plan. Perhaps that is why it worked. These people’s contentment and lack of initiative led to spontaneous planning and the kind of cooperation necessary for a communist government to work. Cooperation is a noun in the language of virtue. Its elements are contentment and resourcefulness.

The Hopi Message to the United Nations by Mr Thomas Banyacya

"Today almost all the prophecies have come to pass. Great roads like rivers pass across the landscape; man talks to man through the cobwebs of telephone lines; man travels along the roads in the sky in his airplanes; two great wars have been waged by those bearing swastika or rising Sun; man is with the Moon and the stars. Most men have strayed from the path shown us by the Great Spirit. For Massau'u alone is great enough to portray the way back to Him."

Thomas Banyacya, for the Hopi Traditional Village Leaders:
Mrs. Mina Lansa, Oraibi Claude Kawangyawma, Shungopavy Starlie Lomayaktewa, Mushongnovi Dan Katchongva, Hotevilla

A link to this document.

The Hopi Message to the United Nations
by Mr Thomas Banyacya

Kykotsmovi, Arizona