No.^TOr* ^^^' '^^^ RAMAH NAVAHO — KLUCKHOHN 367 



among the Ramah Navaho I call a "relict" unit; one that lacks a 

 single complete biological family but comprises the "remains" of two 

 or more marriages broken by death or divorce or the "relicts" of one 

 such marriage plus an unmarried adult. 



An "extended family" comprises two or more units each of which 

 includes one parent with child or children and at least one of which 

 includes both parents. These units must also be linked by at least 

 one lineal ancestor common to all children in the group. The dwell- 

 ings of an "extended family" are ordinarily within sight of each other; 

 at any rate, they are close enough so that daily meals and work 

 activities rather constantly cut across the lines of the distinct units. 

 The extended family is involved, as well as the biological family, in 

 questions of inheritance, marriage, etc. 



To comprehend Navaho social organization, one must introduce 

 two additional categories: "group" and "outfit." The criterion for 

 group is primarily geographical. A group consists of two or more 

 units that live within a radius of a few miles and are in frequent 

 interaction. Each unit has close relatives in at least one other unit 

 in the group, but there is ordinarily no lineal link of aU children in 

 the group. In the few instances where this condition does prevail 

 with units I have classified as a group rather than as an extended 

 family, the classification was made on one or more of the following 

 grounds: One or more units in the group resided at such a distance 

 from the others that interaction occurred more nearly at a weeldy 

 than at a daily level; there was irregular and relatively infrequent 

 sharing of meals and work activities; the group had more than one 

 "center of gravity" as judged by its aflfiliations and participations 

 and by the absence or irregularity of joint decisions on matters of 

 inheritance, marriage, and the like. 



In other words, a group is a somewhat attenuated, less fully orga- 

 nized or unified extended family. 



The criterion for "outfit" is primarily that of fairly infrequent but 

 rather regular pooling of resources among a group of relatives (wider 

 than the extended family) for certain major occasions such as sheep 

 dipping, shearing, and lambing; the giving of long ceremonials; some- 

 times planting and harvesting. A group is sometimes coterminous 

 with an outfit, and an extended family could be regarded as a more 

 closely knit outfit that performs a greater number of functions. But 

 most outfits embrace either a good many units residing over a sizable 

 space or at least one unit that is at a considerable distance from the 

 geographical center of the outfit. Finally, an outfit always has 

 either an actual leader or a figure (a man in most cases) who has 

 prestige through age, ceremonial knowledge, wealth — or two or more 

 of these factors. Navahos, speaking either in English or in Navaho, 



