Reichard, Gladys Amanda (1893–1955)

Gladys Amanda Reichard was one of the first women anthropologists to study the Navajo. She worked with the Navajo for over 30 years, and in that time she developed and refined innovative fieldwork methods, such as the genealogical method and the participant-observation technique, that are now common features of ethnological research. She also taught anthropology at Barnard College for over 30 years, from 1923 to 1955. Over the course of her career as teacher and scholar, she wrote a variety of texts about her research into Navajo social organization, religion, linguistics, and aesthetics. Her most significant southwestern texts include her anthropological studies Social Life of the Navajo Indians (a description of Navajo society by means of the genealogical method), Navajo Shepherd and Weaver (a scientific/technical ...