Adams] 



SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 



221 



Chakt F. — Ancillary functions and activities of Shonto Trading Post^ 

 [Officially sanctioned activities In Italic] 



> For explanation of categories see "A Note on Terminology," pp. 214-216. 



such tliey have, wittingly or unwittingly, many additional functions 

 to perform for their customers. These are imdertaken ostensibly 

 in the interest of good will; also, perhaps, from a recognition that 

 there is no one else to perform them. 



Most important, from the point of view of the community, is the 

 complex of functions performed by the trading post for or at the insti- 

 gation of Navahos themselves. In addition to its various charter func- 

 tions, Shonto Trading Post may be said to serve its clientele as an 

 information agency, a means of communication, a benefit agency, 

 and even in a sense as a protective agency. (See chart F.) 



INFOBMATION AGENCY 



Shonto's trader, like most other traders, is the only White man 

 who is in regular or even frequent contact with most of the Navahos 

 in his community, and the only one to whom many of them ever 

 have access. As such he stands as the representative of, and spokes- 

 man for, the White world in general, and is called upon to account 

 for all maimer of White behavior and enterprise (cf. the characteri- 

 zations of Coolidge and Coolidge, 1930, pp. 68-69; Sanders et al., 

 1953, pp. 233-234) . Navahos leafing through copies of Life or The Na- 

 tional Geographic Magazine, which they find in the store, constantly 

 question the trader about the things they see depicted there. Older 

 people have frequently manifested the same interest and credulity 



