246 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



In a word, cross-cultural influence at Shonto is for the most part a 

 one-way affair, deliberately exerted by dominant White society upon 

 subordinate Navaho society for explicit purposes. 



THE CONTACT SITUATION AT SHONTO 



Alien cultural traits and influences may be transmitted to and 

 within the Navaho community either by alien peoples, by Navahos 

 themselves, or non-socially through the circulation of alien culture 

 products. It is necessary to consider briefly the actual and potential 

 significance of each of these types of stimulus at Shonto. 



The circulation and use of American culture products in the Navaho 

 community is, of course, enormous. Navaho dependence on White 

 culture has reached its zenith in the field of material culture (see 

 "Material Culture," pp. 77-81), with almost total replacement of the 

 native complex. "Inert" or non-communicating goods, however, can- 

 not properly be considered as cross-cultural influences in their own 

 right. They are deliberately introduced and circulated by the trading 

 post, so that their use is properly a measure of its influence and not 

 of their own. 



There remains, however, a class of White culture products which 

 have a power to communicate and a potential influence quite apart 

 from that of any sponsoring institution or contact agency. These 

 are the media of mass communication (cf. Steward, 1955, p. 76). 

 They may appropriately be regarded as points of potential culture 

 contact in their own right. 



Isolation of the community and lack of education of its inhabi- 

 tants have so far kept the cultural influence of mass communication 

 media down to negligible proportions at Shonto. The community's 

 literacy rate is under 10 percent (see "Acculturation," pp. 90-93), and 

 the circulation of printed matter of any kind is virtually nil. There 

 is not, to the writer's Imowledge, a single Shonto Navaho who reads 

 extensively for pleasure. Even the influence of illustrated cowboy 

 magazines on fashions in men's attire, which is readily observable in 

 the eastern Navaho area, has not been repeated in the Shonto area, 

 where there is no circulation of such magazines. 



There is a weekly movie at Tuba City, 55 miles away, but Shonto 

 people have never been known to attend it. Most adults in the com- 

 munity have seen one or two or a few of the adult education movies 

 which the Bureau of Indian Affairs occasionally exhibits at the school, 

 but that is the practical extent of Shonto's acquaintance with the 

 cinema. Radio is a recent introduction in the community, concomi- 

 tant with the inauguration of Navaho-language broadcasts from Flag- 

 staff and Winslow stations. So far it has had no measurable effect. 

 However, radio listening has become a favorite recreation at Shonto 



