250 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



In the cross-cultural system of transmission they can be likened to 

 relay stations and/or transformers rather than generators. Their 

 channels of communication with the higher levels of their own socio- 

 cultural system are therefore of paramount importance. 



The principal intracultural orientations of Shonto's contact insti- 

 tutions are shown schematically in chart J. It is immediately notable 

 here that the U.S. national sociocultural system shows a typically 

 "urban" pattern throughout its upper levels: well-defined compart- 

 mentalization and a regular hierarchy of organizational levels (of. 

 Eedfield, 1947; Miner, 1952). It is equally obvious from foregoing 

 discussion (esp. "Navaho Life," pp. 53-94; and "Navaho Economics," 

 pp. 94-148) that even in the year 1955 Navaho society at Shonto re- 

 mained a "folk" society in most respects (see especially Eedfield, 1947, 

 p. 293). As suggested by chart J and especially by chart K (p. 251), 

 the contact of highly urban and highly folk societies at Shonto has 

 necessitated considerable modification in both at the level of contact. 



The adaptation of the American sociocultural system to the condi- 

 tions of Navaho life has both a formal and an informal aspect. Its 

 formal aspect is seen in the "chartering" of a special series of institu- 

 tions for the overt purpose of dealing entirely with Navahos. All of 

 the contact institutions in Shonto coromunity and at the Tuba City 

 subagency are so constituted. On the other hand they were all ini- 

 tially patterned on purely White models, and overt concessions to the 

 realities of Navaho society have been few. Even at the subagency 

 level the organizational pattern of the Bureau of Indian Affairs re- 

 mains rigidly "urban," with compartmentalization of activities and 

 purely instrumental relations with Navahos (cf. Miner, 1952). Inso- 

 far as it is deliberate, therefore, the special character of contact insti- 

 tutions is pretty much nominal. 



On the other hand, as charts J and K show, parts of the American 

 sociocultural system have of necessity made significant functional 

 adaptations to the nature of Navaho life. The rigid compartmentali- 

 zation of activity found at all higher levels breaks down to a con- 

 siderable extent at the level of contact with the Navaho commimity. 

 There is still a clear differentiation among contact institutions, but 

 there is also a flexibility and even to some extent an overlap of role 

 and function which is not found at any higher level in the American 

 cultural system. The structure of relationships is further blurred by 

 the development of alternative lines of communication, as diagrammed 

 in chart K. 



The breakdown in rigid functional differentiation among contact 

 institutions is due in considerable measure to the fact that many areas 

 of interest within Anglo-American culture are not formally repre- 

 sented by any contact institution ; insofar as there is any contact with 

 them it must be indirect and through roundabout channels, and there 



