12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



1955. I had at that time the sort of acquaintance with the works of 

 Parsons, Malinowski, Linton, and others which is acquired in the 

 course of preparing for doctoral examinations, and my present more 

 intimate familiarity with these works has come about through the 

 necessity of analyzing and classifying the results of my fieldwork. I 

 have not found this kind of experience to be uncommon among my 

 anthropologist acquaintances. 



At the time when I began the formal field study of Shonto Trading 

 Post and Community I conceptualized my problem in terms of three 

 basic objectives : 



(1) To analyze and describe the total sociocultural environment of the 

 trading post, including all of the institutions of both Navaho and American 

 society which would necessarily bear upon any trader in it. 



(2) To record, classify, and analyze the total range of behavior of the 

 trader toward his Navaho clientele. 



(3) To account for (2) in terms of (1). This would, to my mind, con- 

 stitute a full description and analysis of the cross-cultural role of the trader 

 in Shonto community, according to the definition of role upon which I had 

 determined (see "The Definition of Role," pp. 268-269). 



EXECUTION OF THE STUDY 

 CONDITIONS OF FIELDWORK 



My wife and I arrived at Shonto to begin our study on July 1, 

 1955, and took up residence in a hogan behind the trading post (see fig. 

 1, H, p. 157). It had been my original intention simply to station 

 myself in the store to observe and record behavior, and later to aug- 

 ment this information with direct interviews aroimd the community. 

 However, this did not prove to be initially feasible. In the first place, 

 no financial support for the project had been obtained, and by this 

 time, I had already determined that the single summer period origi- 

 nally allocated to field study was entirely too short and that I should 

 remain at Shonto at least until the end of the year. 



Accordingly, when my wife and I arrived at Shonto I had already 

 made arrangements with the owner to resume my old duties as trader. 

 I stepped back immediately into my accustomed status and role, and 

 continued so throughout the summer and early fall. My actual em- 

 ployment terminated with the lamb drive in October, which I once 

 again conducted, accompanied this time by my wife. 



After the lamb drive, I remained at the store and continued to 

 occupy my quarters and receive subsistence, in exchange for assuming 

 all the duties of building, utility, and auto maintenance on the premises 

 (see "The Trading Post Today," pp. 161-165) . I had no other respon- 

 sibilities, and was therefore left free to devote the greatest part of 

 my time directly to the study. This period, beginning about the first 

 of November and lasting mitil the middle of December, was spent 



