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What problems resulted when Navajo ceremonies were reenacted for Edward S. Curtis’s photographs?
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Edward S. Curtis
Self-portrait, photogravure by Edward S. Curtis, 1899; in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
When Navajo ceremonies were reenacted for Edward S. Curtis’s photographs, the process had negative consequences for the community. Curtis himself acknowledged that these reenactments "broke down" traditional beliefs and fostered divisiveness among the Navajo people.1