Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 281 



sistently discourages Navaho agricultural labor. He may post clear- 

 ance orders on the bulletin board at the request of the field office, but 

 he never announces them on the "headline slate" (see "Information 

 Agency," pp. 221-223). Moreover, he consistently advises verbally 

 against taking these jobs on the ground that they do not pay, and that 

 agricultural employers abuse and cheat their Navaho field hands. 



The trader has never actually assisted in recruiting agricultural 

 labor. For the most part, on the contraiy, he simply declines to pass 

 along information which reaches him about employment opportuni- 

 ties of this sort. If individual Navahos inquire about farm jobs they 

 are likely to be told that there are none available. The profound 

 decline in agricultural work undertaken by Navahos from the north- 

 western area since 1950 (see "Other Wage Work," pp. 134^135) is 

 certainly attributable largely to the behavior of traders in discouraging 

 such employment. 



Naturally enough, the trader does not favor permanent off -reser- 

 vation relocation as a general principle. In any case few of his cus- 

 tomers have the requisite education and experience. The trader gen- 

 erally takes the position that Navahos should remain Navahos or 

 else should give up their Navaho ties altogether. Those individuals 

 whose superior education makes them desirous of a higher standard 

 of living (and hence are something of a threat to the old ways in the 

 community) he feels should leave the reservation behind entirely. 

 The great uneducated majority, on the other hand, should be satis- 

 fied to live in the community as Navahos without aping their White 

 neighbors. 



PERCEPTIONS AND VALUES 



It has been asserted repeatedly, here and elsewhere (e.g., Coolidge 

 and Coolidge, 1930, p. 67 ; Luomala, 1938, p. 5 ; Kluckhohn and Leigh- 

 ton, 1946, p. 79 ; Sanders et al., 1953, p. 233) that the trading post 

 remains the primary spokesman for the White world in most Navaho 

 communities. The trader is consistently called upon to interpret not 

 only Government policy and programs, but all manner of White 

 behavior, beliefs, and values (cf. chart F, p. 221). It was also noted, 

 however ("Intracultural Relations at the Contact Level," pp. 253-256) 

 that there is no real uniformity or continuity of values and interests 

 as among the different agencies in contact with Shonto community. 

 In these circumstances it is not surprising that the trader, in his capac- 

 ity as spokesman for his society and culture, actually speaks for him- 

 self. The White world and the place of Navahos in it are portrayed 

 as the trader would like to see them, and the values expressed are the 

 trader's own. 



If motivation spells an important difference between the expecta- 

 tions of Navahos and the actual behavior of the trader (see pp. 270- 

 272), it results in an equal difference in outlook and behavior as be- 



