Adams] SHONTO I ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 93 



change (stage 4), while no one in the community remains in stage 1. 

 The situation at Shonto is reversed; almost exactly 50 percent of 

 adults remain in stage 1, and none has reached the final stage. 



On the basis of their ability to speak English, a number of specific 

 qualities and responses can in general be predicted for Shonto's 

 Navahos : 



Minimal or no English : Long hair for men, conservative dress for both sexes ; 

 no furniture, appliances, or automobile; heavy ritual participation with 

 occasional sponsorship; recourse to white medicine and law only in extreme 

 emergencies or as last resort ; respect for "nat'ani's" authority ; no interest in 

 tribal government ; dependence upon trader for all dealings with outside world. 



Everyday English : Occasional furniture and automobiles ; heavy ritual partici- 

 pation with occasional sponsorship ; initial recourse to either Navaho or White 

 medicine or law, depending upon situation ; respect for "nat'ani" as well as 

 consciousness of authority of tribal government; direct dealings with outside 

 world as well as through trader. 



Good English : Modern dress in some cases ; furniture and automobiles in all 

 cases; moderate ritual participation but sponsorship rare; initial recourse to 

 White medicine and law in most cases, with secondary reliance on Navaho 

 practices ; outspoken criticism of tribal government but little interest in 

 "nat'ani ;" dealings with trader confined to purely commercial. 



SUMMARY 



The cultural design at Shonto is not greatly different from that 

 of neighboring Navajo Mountain, which was described by Leighton 

 and Kluckholin (1948, p. 139) as "harmony in the backwoods." 

 Both commmiities are set sharply apart from more easterly Navaho 

 groups (cf . Leighton and Kluckholin, 1948, pp. 122-145) by a relative 

 lack of culture conflict. 



In the long run, it is White contacts which spell the difference 

 between one Navaho community and another. Both Shonto and 

 Navajo Mountain have had only two constant contacts; the trading 

 post and the school. The latter in each case is barely 20 years old, 

 and until recently has affected only a limited number of families in 

 the community. The trading post, on its part, acts more often to 

 reduce and forestall culture conflict than to augment it, as will be 

 shown in subsequent pages. All other Anglo-American institutions — 

 legal, administrative, medical, religious — stop short of the commu- 

 nity's boundaries. Their operation is not automatically imposed, but 

 may be invoked by the community itself. 



Key to the relatively harmonious cultural adjustment of Shonto and 

 nearly all of its neighbors is the fact that the operation of alien insti- 

 tutions is fundamentally optional, subject to the will of the Navaho 

 people themselves. The whole complex of operations and associated 

 beliefs which is represented at Tuba City, Flagstaff, Window Rock, 

 and Washington constitutes a kind of cultural backstop, upon which 



