Landscape-U program connects graduate students with Navajo Nation

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Over spring break 2023, Penn State graduate students traveled to Arizona to participate in a transformational research experience as part of the Landscape-U program. During the week students visited sites connected to food, energy and water topics, the focus of the trip. They also visited traditional working landscapes within Navajo Nation and learned firsthand about the Nation's rich culture and history.

Landscape-U is a National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) program designed to engage graduate students in transdisciplinary activities to find solutions to societal issues around food, energy and water. Erica Smithwick, distinguished professor of geography and director of Penn State’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, is the lead investigator on the project.

“The idea to travel to the Navajo Nation arose primarily from Timothy Benally, a member of the Landscape-U graduate student cohort,” said Sarah Potter, Landscape-U’s education program coordinator. “Tim shared numerous stories about the environmental and societal issues faced by the Navajo Nation with fellow Landscape-U members. He and Erica discussed the value of using transdisciplinary science as an approach to finding solutions. It was from these discussions that the idea for the research trip emerged.”

Benally, who graduated in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is currently pursuing a dual-title degree in recreation parks and tourism management and transdisciplinary research in the environment and society (TREES), said this trip fulfilled his dream of bridging his worlds at Penn State and his Navajo homeland.

"It was kind of like a dream come true in a lot of ways,” said Benally. “Ever since I came to Penn State from the Navajo Nation as an undergraduate student, I missed home. I'd always dreamed about being able to connect both of my worlds, here at Penn State and back home, because there's a lot of potential to help.”

The group connected with another NRT program based at the University of Arizona to develop an itinerary for the trip. The trip included visits to tribal parks like Monument Valley, national monuments on tribal land like Canyon de Chelly, meetings with Navajo Nation officials, and a trip to Benally's family land and former high school. Through these activities, students gained firsthand experience and ecological and environmental insights from the Navajo Nation, providing them with the unique opportunity to understand Indigenous perspectives on the environment and society.

During their visit, the group toured the DigDeep Navajo Water Project work site. There, students interacted with water engineers and local farmers. This was a particularly interesting stop for graduate student Marina Howarth, who is studying water resources engineering with a minor in biogeochemistry.

“I really care about human rights, and I’m interested in water quality and water rights,” Howarth said. “I was really interested in going to the Navajo Nation and learning their perspectives, especially around water, but also just meeting people and making connections. I'm about to start a job with the Army Corps of Engineers. While I'll be working in Mississippi, which is very far from the Navajo Nation, I think wherever I am remembering Navajo values and remembering that they have this incredible history of being on the land and living with the land and realizing the importance of partnering with Indigenous people for engineering disaster resilience is really impactful and important.”

Emma Chiaroni, who is pursuing a dual-title doctoral degree in rural sociology and TREES, was also interested in the trip because she is researching collaborative management schemes of marine-protected areas with Indigenous people in California.

Chiaroni said she looked forward to comparing environmental justice issues and energy sovereignty faced by tribes in different areas, but one of her favorite parts of the trip was visiting Benally’s alma mater, Ganado High School, where the Penn State students shared their educational journeys and answered questions about college with a class of seniors.

“Tim talks a lot about an Indigenous way of seeing things and seeing the world,” said Chiaroni. “I think on this trip for us non-Indigenous students, we got like an ounce of what that might be like. Seeing the high school kind of brought home the importance of education and how with the research or collaborations we do, the future of Indigenous people are at the center of it. Talking to the youth and getting to know them was really critical in that.”

The finale to the trip was a visit to Benally's family's land. The entire day was spent hiking on the land, observing petroglyphs and ruins, and witnessing sheep-farming practices. The group also helped his family on projects and helped cook Navajo tacos, then shared the meal in a hogan, a traditional style dwelling.

This land, nestled deep in the canyons, holds significant historical and cultural importance for Benally and is at the heart of his research, he said.

“My family’s land is the most special place in the world to me,” said Benally. “I brought the group to this place where we have raised sheep for generations. There are archeological ruins, arrowheads on the ground that demonstrate how my family has survived through the generations including the 1864 Project Scorched Earth campaign. My family was very blessed to have escaped that and it signals resilience. It’s my family's refuge, and it continues to be my refuge. A lot of my research at Penn State is geared towards finding ways to protect that land.”

Benally is also actively involved in promoting Indigenous equity within the University. He played a crucial role in establishing the Indigenous Peoples Student Association and collaborated with the University to formalize an Acknowledgment of Land statement.

The students all reported that participation in the Landscape-U trip to Arizona expanded their perspectives.

Chiaroni said the experience was powerful and brought home the concept of connection to land she has learned from her work and by reading literature by Indigenous scholars. She highlighted the significance of the trip and how Landscape-U has broadened her studies.

“I hope trips like this can happen in the future for graduate students, specifically to go with faculty, to go with native students to their homes and have powerful collaborative experiences,” said Chiaroni. “LandscapeU provided me with this opportunity and the space where I can ask questions, have experiences, gain skills and network outside my discipline.”