No!^79r" ^^^' '^^^ RAMAH NAVAHO — KLUCKHOHN 369 



unmarried children. Finally, the evidence of acculturation upon 

 residence and other aspects is obvious. In general, the greater 

 the influence of European culture the gi-eater the probability that 

 residence will be vhilocal or neolocal and the greater the tendency 

 toward "weak" social organization. It is almost impossible today to 

 make valid generalizations about "ideal patterns" of residence as op- 

 posed to the behavioral facts. The best one can say is that there is 

 still — even among younger people — a feeling that uxorilocal residence 

 "ought" to be preferred but a growing conviction that the newly 

 married couple can properly choose theu' place of residence in accord 

 with all the circumstances bearing upon their particular case. 



POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 



Power has tended to be in the hands of older people '^ who are still 

 in full possession of thek faculties, of the more wealthy, of singers. 

 More often than not at least two of these qualities are combined in 

 the person of a leader. The degree of power of, say, an elderly, well-oft* 

 singer depends upon his individual personality and upon the number 

 of energetic and respected relatives he has in his extended family or 

 outfit. The exercise of power is seldom overt and direct but rather 

 masked, oblique, and diffuse. Evident power, like evident wealth, 

 is a cause of jealousy and an invitation either to attack by witches 

 or to gossip that the holder is a witch. 



Most decisions, from the level of the nuclear famUy to that of the 

 total Ramah group, are in fact arrived at by informal and often long 

 protracted discussions. In the old days — and to some extent as late 

 as 1950 — ^matters of dispute or decisions that went beyond the ex- 

 tended family were threshed out in a meeting in the presence of the 

 recognized leader of the outfit or the headman of the Ramah band. 

 Anyone present (including women) might speak. The leader or 

 leaders would ordinarily say Httle (beyond asking questions) until 

 toward the conclusion of the discussion when advice or a decision 

 would be rendered. 



From about 1880 until 1942, the leaders of the Ramah community 

 were from a single family line: Many Beads; his son, Bidaga; the 

 brother-in-law of Bidaga; and the son of the daughter of Many Beads. 

 These individuals were recognized as headmen by the United States 

 Government, though in 1924 the Government introduced a "chapter" 

 organization. According to this system an annual meeting of adult 

 men and women elected a president, vice president, and secretary. 

 But annual meetings were not always held, and the authority of 



" In the postwar years several younger men have emei^ed to positions of distinct leadership. The most 

 recent "headman" has been in his middle to late thirties, wealthy, and married polygynously. 



