Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 239 



of the legal and military sanctions with which they were imple- 

 mented, western Navaho cultural and social autonomy persisted, at 

 Shonto and elsewhere, until after 1930. 



During the 1930's a number of factors conspired to destroy most 

 of what remained of the cultural independence of the western Navaho. 

 The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which up to that time had largely 

 played the part of a remote and ineffective benevolent agency, estab- 

 lished its front lines at tlie community level with a series of vigorous 

 programs designed to make up for lost time in the acculturation 

 of the Navaho. From the standpoint of overall Navaho-Wliite re- 

 lations and their future, the most important of these by far was 

 the now-famous stock reduction program. The role of the Bureau 

 of Indian Affairs was transformed in short order into that of a 

 coercive agency; and not only stock reduction but all its other pro- 

 grams, including community schools and hospitals, met with massive 

 and articulate resistance. 



Stock reduction and its aftermath finally accomplished what Kit 

 Carson and the Treaty of 1868 failed to achieve: the subjugation of 

 the western Navaho to White society, culture, and influence. It is 

 probably true to say that Navaho cultural resistance burned itself 

 out in its unsuccessful efforts to oppose stock reduction. It un- 

 doubtedly seemed to many Navahos as if the basis of their independ- 

 ence, both economic and spiritual, had been destroyed (see Spicer, 

 1952, pp. 197-207). There was thus created, perhaps, an miusually 

 favorable climate for the acceptance of the White man's jobs and 

 ultimately of his other institutions during the war years which 

 immediately followed. 



Seemingly paradoxically, acceptance of White culture and influence 

 have been accompanied by attitudes of antagonism which were not felt 

 in the western Navaho country in the days of Navaho cultural auton- 

 omy. If stock reduction forced the Navahos (in their own estimation) 

 to change their ways, it created at the same time a general resentment 

 of White people which has never subsided (cf. Spicer, 1952, p. 203). 

 A considerable number of Shonto, Paiute Mesa, and Oljeto Navahos 

 were jailed for their activities in resisting stock reduction. It was the 

 community's first real taste of physical subjugation, and brought 

 home a lasting sense of subordination and a resentment which still 

 underlies most Navaho-Wliite relations today. There is an apparent, 

 and increasingly articulate, sense of oppression which is a product 

 largely of the past 20 years. It is one of the constants of culture 

 contact at Shonto. 



Chart G sets forth the main features of a century of Navaho- White 

 contact in the western Navaho country. From it can be derived a 

 suggestion of overall pattern which has been important in shaping 

 intercultural relations today. First of all, a comparison of charts 



