Nagotooh(gahni): The bonding between mother and child in Shoshoni tradition

This essay discusses a traditional model of the maternal nurturing of newborn babies in the Shoshoni tradition from a native-language perspective. It examines the 30-day period of confinement called nagotooh(gahni), which was viewed as a symbolic extension of a mother's womb (no'aabi). Nagotooh(gahni) implied behavioral and dietary prescriptions and recommendations that guided a woman during a socially structured transition to motherhood. (Confinement practices, mother-infant interactions, nagotooh(gahni), Shoshoni) ********** Existing studies on different models of maternal nurturing of infants show that early mother-infant interactions are culturally structured (Valsiner 1989; Trudelle-Schwartz 1997; DeLoache and Gottlieb 2000) and exercise a major influence on the child's physical, cognitive, and socioemotional development (Murray and Cooper 1997; Hay et al. 2001; Mantyma et al. 2003). In those models, maternal care is shaped by the sociocultural beliefs about mothering and nurturing of infants, and is often directed to the development of the child's personality characteristics that ate particularly valued in a given community. For instance, in the Navajo culture, newborn babies were symbolically molded in order to develop their physical beauty and strength (Trudelle-Schwartz 1997:135); in Hopi tradition, newborns were kept inside the house for twenty days and nurtured by their mothers and symbolically by a perfect ear of corn (tsotsmingwu, corn mother), before being introduced to the sun and the community (Parsons 1991). In Shoshoni tradition, the process of becoming a mother began at conception; however, the status of (dam)bia' (mother) was ascribed to a woman during nagotooh(gahni), a 30-day retreat (earlier, a 60-day period for the first child) that took place in a small house (gahni) constructed by a woman's family. Nagotooh(gahni) served as the preparation of the newborns to enter the Shoshoni sociocultural world. After giving birth, the mother and her newborn baby (ohnaa') were considered to be in a transitional stage of life characterized by susceptibility to harm; therefore, both had to remain in intimate seclusion until a socially structured process of transition was completed. During that time the mother, with the help of her female family members, used traditional knowledge to protect a place of confinement from harmful forces. Nagotooh(gahni), a time of postnatal care, was viewed as an extension of the mother's womb (no'aabi). (2) The term nagotooh(gahni) is composed of three words: naa (self), gotoo' (to make tire), and gahni (house), and can be translated as "to build tire within oneself (while in the house)." During nagotooh(gahni), fire was maintained day and night in a place of confinement. It symbolized life and warmth of the mother's womb. Nagotooh(gahni) is a part of Deniwape, a Shoshoni way of life. Deniwape represents traditional knowledge, passed down through generations within family lines. On a metaphorical level, Deniwape symbolizes the spark of inner light within each person, which has to be taken care of in the course of life. During the nagotooh(gahni), the mother's task was to care for that inner light within herself and within her child. Since the nagotooh(gahni) represented an extension of the mother's womb, a Shoshoni mother was aware that her thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and diet could directly affect the baby's development in either positive or negative ways. Nagotooh(gahni) involved a set of traditional rules and recommendations that outlined the responsibilities of motherhood. (3) The main Shoshoni concept that best explains the essence of the mother's responsibility toward her child is sunzaa'. Sunzaa' (good thought) is the closest to the English concept of care, in a sense of providing, surrounding the child with good thoughts. (Interestingly, there is no word for love in the Shoshoni language.) The sociocultural beliefs about newborn babies' abilities to learn and comprehend influence early mother-child styles of communicating. …