(1916-71)
Santa Clara Pueblo anthropologist
Edward Pasqual Dozier wrote, in an article about values, "Man and the universe are conceived to be in a kind of a balance ... [and] honest dealings, generosity, hospitality, deference to the old and a mild and uninitiating demeanor receive high value in the [Pueblo] culture." He emulated these qualities both personally and professionally. His personal life influenced and enriched his professional life, as this article will demonstrate.
Edward Pasqual Dozier was born in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, on April 23, 1916. Because he was the youngest of his siblings by five to eighteen years, he was showered with love and attention. His parents were Thomas Sublette and Leocadia Gutierrez Dozier. Leocadia could not speak English, and Thomas could not speak Tewa; they managed to communicate with the broken Spanish they each spoke. Young Edward spoke Spanish to his father and Tewa to the rest of his family; he did not learn English until he was twelve.
Dozier grew up primarily in Santa Clara. Since his siblings were so much older than he, his playmates were often his cousins and friends. They were kept busy with chores, such as hauling water and taking care of chickens and gardens, but also had time to play and explore. Always—whether he was alone, with family, or with friends—his favorite activities were hiking and fishing in the mountains surrounding the pueblo.
Dozier's father died when he was nine, after which his older brothers supported the family with various jobs (loading freight cars, farming, and carpentry). Although Dozier did poorly in elementary school, his brothers (most of whom did not even finish the fourth grade) worked to send him to a Catholic high school in Santa Fe.
In 1935, during the summer after he graduated from high school, Dozier participated in a study of traditional medicinal plants. Designed to encourage young Pueblo men to talk with their elders about traditions, it was never completed. Nevertheless, Dozier's experience with it may have added to his awareness of the unique knowledge of the Santa Clara elders, as well as giving birth to his respect for ethnography.
For Dozier, the years between 1935 and 1941 were devoted to a mixture of school, work, and travel. He attended the University of New Mexico but often had to take time off to earn tuition money. One summer he hitchhiked across the country (not a dangerous activity in the 1930s, he later said). He attended Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C., for a year. In Washington, he would force himself to listen and talk to his housemates so he could learn to use the English language the way native speakers did. Once he was back in New Mexico, his formal studies took second place to what he was learning about life outside the pueblo.
In 1941 Dozier was drafted and served as a sergeant in intelligence for the Army Air Corps. Again his interest in anthropology became apparent, and while he was stationed in Saipan, he received permission to do a small ethnographic study. On leave from the army in 1943, Dozier married Claire Elizabeth Butler, a woman he had met years before in Washington, D.C. A year later, their daughter, Wanda Marie, was born. In 1945 Dozier was discharged from the army and brought his new family home to Santa Clara. The marriage didn't last, however, and Wanda was raised by Dozier's family.
Under the GI Bill, Dozier reenrolled at the University of New Mexico, where he did some work for the anthropologist Willard W. Hill, an expert on Navajo culture. His experience with Hill deepened his interest in anthropology. Focusing on linguistics and cultural anthropology, he completed his B.A. in 1947 and his master's degree in 1949. When he received his doctorate in 1951, he became the first person to receive a Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA.
Before leaving the University of New Mexico, Dozier had met Marianne Fink, who was studying psychology and anthropology there. In 1950 they married and spent a year on the Hopi Reservation, where Dozier finished the fieldwork for his dissertation. Dozier taught classes at the University of Oregon for a year while writing his dissertation.
In 1952 the Doziers began to build their own house near Albuquerque. Their dream was to be close to both the University of New Mexico and Santa Clara. In 1953, however, Dozier accepted a position at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, where he and Marianne lived until 1958. He taught during the school year, and the Doziers spent summers working on their house in New Mexico, visiting family in Santa Clara, and camping in the mountains on the reservation. During the summer of 1955, their son, Miguel Thamu, was born.
Dozier was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies of the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University in 1958-59. Their daughter, Anya, was born in 1959, and three months later the family moved to the Philippines where Dozier conducted research among the Kalingas of northern Luzon.
Dozier soon became tired of living far from home, and in 1960 the family moved to Tucson, Arizona (just a day's drive from Santa Clara). Dozier was hired by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona as a full professor. He designed the university's American Indian Studies program, which is still in place today. He was a popular teacher and remained at the university until he died on May 2, 1971. During his time at the university, he continued his research in the pueblos and in the Philippines.
Dozier's research was funded by grants from numerous foundations. He wrote four books (The Hopi-Tewa of Arizona; Hano: A Tewa Indian Community in Arizona; Mountain Arbiters: The Changing Life of a Philippine Hill People; and The Pueblo Indians of North America) and many articles, which appeared in various scholarly journals and books. He was recognized both nationally and in the pueblos for his sensitive, insightful research.
Dozier was also a member of many professional organizations. It was important to him to take part in groups that influenced policies about American Indians, and through such connections he worked with other Indian scholars such as D'Arcy McNickle, Bea Medicine, Alfonso Ortiz, and David Warren. On a personal level, Dozier encouraged other Indian people to get college degrees. Furthermore, his commitment to Santa Clara is evidenced, in part, by the fact that all three of his children live or work in the pueblo.
Dozier always remembered how it felt to be a new-comer to a culture (even if the culture was simply that of the university) and knew how to make people feel at home. After all, what first drew him to anthropology was its promise to help people move from one culture to another with ease. He constantly worked to make transitions easier for those around him.
Edward P. Dozier, Encyclopedia of Morals "The Value and Moral Concepts of Rio Grande Pueblo Indians," ed. Vergilius Ferm (New York: New York Philosophical Library, 1956); Marion E. Gridley, Indians of Today "Edward P. Dozier," 4th ed. (n.p.: ICFP, 1971); Joe S. Sando, Pueblo Nations: Eight Centuries of Pueblo Indian History "Some Who Shaped Pueblo History," (Santa Fe, N.M.: Clear Light Publishers, 1992).
Anya Dozier Enos
Santa Clara Pueblo
Santa Fe Indian School
