Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 65 



matters it is not unreasonable to suppose that a high percentage of 

 households established in newly colonized territory would be patrilo- 

 cal, while later generations, under more settled conditions, would 

 witness a return to traditional matrilocalism. Shonto's marked di- 

 vergence from the matrilocal norm may well reflect the fact that it 

 is up to now the only recently settled Navaho commmiity to be studied. 



SOCIAL AND POLITICAL AUTHORITY 



Shonto society manifests two distinct power structures which are 

 mirelated. In all relations within the community, leadership follows 

 traditional lines independent of formal recognition (cf. Kluckhohn 

 and Leighton, 1946, pp. 69-73; Hill, 1940 a). Kelations with the 

 outside world, including "government," both tribal and Federal, are 

 the responsibility of the tribal comicilman and grazing committee. 

 These latter functionaries are themselves "government," and derive 

 their authority entirely from external sources. 



The structure of authority in native Navaho society is for the most 

 part implicit in the kinship structure of household and residence 

 groups. The father is at least nominally the head of the household, 

 and the father in the oldest household, provided he has not reached 

 senility, is nominal headman in the residence group. At Shonto these 

 individuals exercise a very real measure of authority in determining 

 activities of the group as a whole. When younger men reject a rail- 

 road employment call, the most common reason given is "my father 

 (or father-in-law) told me to stay home." Cases of the reverse, where 

 fathers have ordered their sons in no uncertain terms to go to work, 

 are also common. Many of the sons are themselves heads of house- 

 holds, yet they regularly defer to the dominant authority in matters 

 affecting the economy of the whole residence group (see "Economic 

 Structure and Fimction," pp. 97-109). Eesidence group headmen 

 nearly always decide on whether or not to hold a sing for any member 

 of the group, and undertake most of the preparation and arrangements 

 if one is to be held. The decision when to move from summer to 

 winter quarters and vice versa is also principally theirs. 



Navaho society has probably never had significant functional units 

 more extended than the residence group, and patterns of more ex- 

 tended authority are difficult to identify. Hill (1940 a) notes that in 

 former times there were, at least in some areas, certain formally in- 

 vested leaders termed nat'ani (literally, "folded arms"). Communi- 

 ties commonly had two nat'anis, one of whom was a war leader only, 

 while the other exercised leadership in everyday affairs. The actual 

 extent of authority enjoyed by these individuals, either territorial or 

 social, is not certain. 



The role if not the office of "peace nat'ani" clearly survives at 

 Shonto, embodied in the community's most active singer. While it 



