Adams] SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 283 



In spite of the expressed ideal of Navaho education, the frequent 

 repetition of sentiments such as those quoted above subtly discour- 

 ages it by suggesting that those Navahos who have tried to live more 

 like White people are ludicrous failures because they have not per- 

 fectly succeeded. There is not, in a word, any acceptable middle 

 ground. It is suggested that the White world is a complicated and 

 dangerous place in which it takes special skills and knowledge to 

 get along. It is implied that Shonto Navahos in their present state 

 of development are presumably incapable of these skills, and are 

 therefore better off remaining as Navahos and away from the dan- 

 gers of the White world. Above all it is reiterated in one way or 

 another that it is better to be a good Navaho than a poor "VVliite man ; 

 and the alleged failure of a majority of Navahos to become accept- 

 able Wliite men is never forgotten. The trader is thus perhaps not 

 unlike certain Americans, in paying lip service to the ideal of edu- 

 cation while disparaging the educated. 



In any case, according to the trader, Wliite people in general are 

 perfectly content for Navahos to remain as they are. The White 

 world requires no more of them than that they should work hard 

 and pay their own way when and where they can. This view of the 

 desirability of Navaho cultural independence is obviously endorsed, 

 and therefore reinforced, by tourist visitors to Shonto community 

 who are apt to show a quite obtrusive interest in and curiosity about 

 the special features of Navaho culture and life. Shonto Navahos 

 realize that many Americans admire them simply for being different. 



GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES 



The Bureau of Indian Affairs, as interpreted by Shonto's trader, is 

 concerned only with Navaho physical and material welfare and does 

 not intend to alter or destroy Navaho culture and society. Most Gov- 

 ernment programs are, in fact, readily interpretable in this light. 

 The sole purpose of Indian school education is to help Navahos to 

 make more money; not to make White people out of them. Those 

 aspects of Government policy or activity which actually do threaten 

 the traditions of Navaho society are condemned in terms of individual 

 stupidity or ignorance. This view of the matter allows the trader 

 the same sort of dualistic sophistry as in the case of education; if 

 necessary he can always say that "the Government's all right — it's 

 the stupid people m it that are bad." The Government is good to 

 the extent that it contributes to Navaho material welfare, while indi- 

 vidual administrators are bad when and where they threaten Navaho 

 culture and society. According to the trader, the Government, like 

 the rest of the White world, wants Navahos to remain culturally and 

 socially independent. 



