Grounded desires: Grazing regime, desires, and development in a Diné community

Abstract

This article highlights the demands for development within the Diné community of Shonto in 2017. Using interviews with Shonto community members, I center the voices and desires of those most affected by development. Shonto is the site of conjuncture of a grazing regime that limits land use and a history of development that produces conflicting community desires for infrastructure, employment, and traditional livestock practices. Despite the plural views of development, community members express a collective desire for Diné continuity and self- determination. My research demonstrates that Diné desires for development are not monolithic but are grounded in land histories, a sense of shared collective continuity, and Diné self- determination. I draw upon Eve Tuck’s generative work on Native desire to demonstrate that land histories, in the form of a grazing regime and histories of development, inform Native desires for development. I argue that Native desires are grounded in historical and everyday land use and relations. These grounded desires center the lived-experiences of Natives in relation to development, colonial land regimes, and traditional practices. Moreover, these grounded desires draw from the daily lives and experiences of Native people to provide open narratives that do not impose expectations on Native peoples or their desires.