Adams] SHONTOI ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 287 



behavior is approved and praised above that of other Navahos 

 of superior education who have actually achieved a higher income 

 and a considerably higher material standard of living in the outside 

 world. 



8UMMABY 



Although he endorses to some extent the functions of other con- 

 tact agencies, Shonto's trader is sincerely convinced that he is the 

 truest advocate and practitioner of the American ideal in the Navaho 

 community. That ideal, as he himself interprets it and as he exempli- 

 fies it to his Navaho clientele, is simply the individual pursuit of 

 material well-being. In all other matters, spiritual, moral, and 

 esthetic, individual taste and individual judgment must be respected, 

 and no uniform ideal should be enforced. Right and wrong are, in 

 the last analysis, measurable only in dollars and cents: this is the 

 only legitimate yardstick by which the White man's part in Navaho 

 life and influence on Navaho behavior can be justified. 



INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS 



No analysis of the role of the trader would be complete without 

 some consideration of the systems of interpersonal behavior as be- 

 tween traders and Navahos, and through which the former influence 

 the actions and perceptions of the latter. It was noted in "Trader 

 Behavior" (pp. 210-212) that the trader has an inherent status ad- 

 vantage over his clientele which is maintained in such a way as to 

 emphasize the subordination and dependence of the Navaho. Within 

 this overall structure of relationship, however, there are several types 

 of approved reciprocal behavior patterns which are appropriate to 

 particular circumstances. 



JOKING 



As far as traders are concerned, the most approved behavior as 

 between trader and customer is a kind of avuncular joking relation- 

 ship (see Lowie, 1948, p. 75), with the trader in the superordinate 

 avuncular role. Navahos are believed to appreciate highly a ready 

 wit and rabelaisian sense of humor (cf. Hill, 1943, and Kluckholm 

 and Leighton, 1946, pp. 52-54) , and these qualities are considered valu- 

 able assets in a trader. The most common joking relationship between 

 Shonto's trader and his male customers involves a kind of reciprocal 

 patterned teasing about one another's imputed recourse to prostitutes, 

 and particularly Negroes. The trader teases his women customers 

 about what their husbands are doing while they are out on the rail- 

 road, while they retaliate by wondering aloud what his wife is doing 

 in Flagstaff while he is at Shonto. 



Joking behavior is not only the most approved way of passing the 

 time in the store, but is also permissible throughout routine trading 



