54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



Until recently it was the usual practice of anthropologists to follow 

 up different culture threads individually; the result is an enormous 

 body of literature upon specific aspects of Navaho life — especially in 

 its aboriginal forms — which is applicable to Shonto with little modi- 

 fication. The underlying warp of uniquely Navaho traditions and in- 

 stitutions upon which the pattern of Shonto's daily life is woven has 

 been isolated and elaborately described in the numerous works of 

 Matthews, Haile, Hill, Reichard, Kluckhohn, and a host of others. To 

 these works the reader is referred for relevant information which will 

 not be repeated or restated in the present instance except where it is 

 significantly augmented or controverted by data from Shonto. 



However, the fabric of Shonto's life in 1956 includes a series of 

 threads which are not of native origin. The particular complex of 

 adjustments — the pattern of native and alien threads — which is unique 

 to Shonto remains to be described here. Integrative studies in other 

 Navaho communities, nearly all resulting from recent researches by 

 Kluckhohn and his associates, furnish an initial guide to Shonto, but 

 there are consistent and significant differences, as will be indicated. 



SOCIAL STRUCTUKE 



The divisions of modem Shonto society are distinctly Navaho in 

 origin and form, showing little or no modification as a result of 

 Anglo-American influence. They are effectively described by Reich- 

 ard (1928), Kluckhohn and Leighton (1946, pp. 54-69), and Vogt 

 (1951, pp. 16-17). The social structure is formed of a series of basic 

 functional units as well as other groupings that are essentially his- 

 torical in derivation, and whose functional significance is incidental 

 or vestigial. In the former category are households and residence 

 groups; in the latter, resident lineages or "outfits." Clans, the only 

 nonterritorial units of Shonto society, belong to some extent in both 

 categories. 



Economic functioning of social units is the subject of extended dis- 

 cussion m succeeding pages ("Economic Structure and Function," pp. 

 97-109) ; consideration here will be limited to definition and descrip- 

 tion. For this reason descriptive terms are substituted for the an- 

 alytic designations employed by Kluckhohn and Leighton (1946, pp. 

 54-69) and their successors. 



HOUSEHOLDS 



The household corresponds to the "biological family" of Kluckholin 

 and Leighton (1946, pp. 54^56; see also Reichard, 1928, pp. 51-57 and 

 Roberts, 1951) . A household is defined here as a group of people who 

 regularly eat together and share food resources in common, thus con- 

 stituting a minimmn subsistence unit. Seventy-five percent of Shonto 

 households may further be distinguished by the fact that they inhabit 



