The Newberry’s latest exhibition, Native Pop!, centers Indigenous people in the narrative of popular culture in the Western Hemisphere. For centuries, Native creators and critics have shaped, repurposed, and adapted popular culture for their own purposes. But those achievements have often been overlooked.
One Native work that truly stands out in the early twenty-first century is the Diné bizaad (Navajo language) dubbed version of Star Wars: A New Hope. Perhaps there is no more meaningful cultural touchstone than Star Wars in modern times—or one more relatable to Indigenous people, with its core story of the struggle between a resourceful group of outmanned rebels and an overreaching, seemingly all-powerful empire.
Manuelito Wheeler (Diné) and his wife, Jennifer, translated the film decades ago. It wasn’t until 2012, though, that a Navajo version of Star Wars began to take shape, according to a 2021 post on StarWars.com. The project came together when Manuelito connected with a producer at Lucasfilm after years of outreach.
The dubbed version was cast and recorded within the Navajo Nation (a reservation of federally protected land including portions of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. Disney, which had recently acquired Lucasfilm, invited Manuelito and his friends to watch the final film at its Burbank headquarters.
“The Navajo Nation president and vice president came, myself, my wife, and some other executive Navajo staff,” Manuelito told StarWars.com. “And that’s the first time I teared up. My wife, we just looked at each other. We couldn’t believe it. Even the [opening] crawl was done in Navajo.”
The project has an impact beyond the preservation of the Navajo language. Manuelito notes that a Navajo version of Star Wars brings awareness and shapes perceptions of Navajo culture and Native people.
“This project, it welcomed Native people to be part of the Star Wars universe,” Manuelito says. “That’s real important, because Native people, in my opinion, we’re always on the outside looking in.”
Join us for a free screening of the Navajo Language version of Star Wars: A New Hope on Saturday, May 3, 2025, at 1pm. Free popcorn will be served. Reserve your seat here.