Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 277 



In deference to the difficulties of travel in the Navaho Country, 

 Shonto's trader occasionally permits unemployment claimants to sign 

 their unemployment affidavits on days other than that officially desig- 

 nated by the R.R.B. (see "Railroad Work," pp. 129-133) . No phase of 

 his activity as claims agent, however, causes the trader more difficulty 

 than the requirement that claimants, in order to receive benefits, must 

 certify themselves ready and willing to go to work. The trader has 

 explained repeatedly that the query "Are you ready to go to work?" 

 is merely a matter of form, and must be answered in the affirmative, 

 also as a matter of form, in order to qualify for benefits. Nevertheless 

 the tendency of Navahos to take things literally is so strong (cf . Kluck- 

 hohn and Leighton, 1946, p. 231) that claimants frequently interpret 

 the question as an offer of employment, and answer truthfully in the 

 negative. As a result nearly all traders simply dispense with the 

 question, certifying their unemployment claimants as eligible without 

 bothering to consult them. If the question is asked, the trader is likely 

 to tell the individual how to answer it in the same breath. If he still 

 receives a negative answer he will nevertheless enter it on paper in 

 the affirmative, with an admonition to the claimant to "quit kidding." 

 At no time in the writer's experience has any Shonto man ever been 

 officially certified as unwilling to accept work if offered, and therefore 

 ineligible for unemployment compensation.^^ 



Traders find additional occasion to use their own discretion in 

 their efforts on behalf of relief applicants. Most of them believe, 

 or profess to believe, that the official standards of eligibility for wel- 

 fare benefits are too severe, especially since it is thought that any 

 Navaho with steady income "has to support half his relatives all the 

 time" (cf. "Economic Interdependence," pp. 103-108). Shonto's 

 trader, like most others, often withliolds information about the eco- 

 nomic status and resources of his welfare applicants which might be 

 detrimental to their claims. He is unwilling to accept valuable pieces 

 of jewelry in pawn for them, since they might be spotted in his vault 

 by visiting caseworkers. In acting as interpreter between Navahos 

 and caseworkers, moreover, the trader can and does prompt the 

 former in their replies to some extent so as to emphasize their eco- 

 nomic plight. Questions can be phrased in such a way that the appli- 



^ For its part, the Railroad Retirement Board is not entirely unaware of the ways In 

 which traders discharge their functions as claims agents. The chief of the Wlnslow 

 oflace, in fact, has become so suspicious of them that he makes periodic spot checks on 

 hla traders during their signup days. These surprise visits have occasionally provoked 

 considerable consternation at Shonto, where the affidavits of eligibility which have been 

 carefully prepared In advance must all be hidden and destroyed, and new ones drawn 

 up in the presence of the claimant. Nevertheless the trader's command of "Trader 

 Navaho" (cf. "Communication," pp. 212-214) usually enables him to brief his claimants on 

 how to behave and what to say without the knowledge) of the Inspector. The question 

 of eligibility Is likely to be phrased in Navaho as "You're willing to go to work, aren't 

 you — say 'yes' or you won't get a check — ?" If It is not too obvious it is also possible 

 for the trader to mistranslate a negative answer. 



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