Benjamin Lee Whorf and Ernest Naquayouma's Working Relationship

A Perspective on Linguistic Fieldwork in the 1930s

Bibliographic Data

ID2230339
AuthorsHannah Mcelgunn (0000-0001-5021-3977, Queen's University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume80
Issue4
Pages383-401
Publication date2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Anthropological Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-7710 • E-ISSN: 2153-3806
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/732457
OpenAlexW4403866300
LanguageEN
References cited13

In 1932, Benjamin Lee Whorf, a fire insurance analyst, began studying the Hopi language with Ernest Naquayouma, a Hopi tribal member. This article asks how Whorf and Naquayouma’s working relationship came to be and what they were talking about across their seven years of meetings together. First, I situate their relationship within the broader historical context of the 1930s, extending Regna Darnell’s concept of “invisible genealogies” beyond the academy, highlighting how linguistic consultation was but one among many ways Hopi language and culture were being presented to non-Hopi audiences. Secondly, drawing on archival sources, I show how Naquayouma participated in working sessions as someone with proficiency in Hopi, but also as an individual accountable to a set of values that exceeded the research encounter. The holistic view of language that Whorf arrived at after 1937 arose at least in part from Naquayouma’s fullness of presence as an interlocutor

Art · Linguistic relativity · Linguistics · Perspective (graphical) · Sociology · Visual arts · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · History · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology · Second Language Learning and Teaching

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