In Skinwalkers, Hillerman highlights the clash between Navajo beliefs and white skepticism, a conflict caused by the intrusion of the modern world into traditional native American culture. At issue is the Navajo belief in the skinwalker, a witch who possesses the power to fly, to run faster than the wind, and to become a dog or a wolf.
Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, both Navajos, educated in state universities in the white man's world, and both policemen, embody the collision between old tribal beliefs and modern-day skepticism as they investigate a series of killings seemingly perpetrated by a skinwalker. Leaphorn represents logical thinking, rational questioning, and a healthy doubt about the existence of skinwalkers. Chee is more involved with.....
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