56 THE ACOMA INDIANS [eth. ann.47 



is to be attributed to traders, missionaries, neighboring Mexicans, 

 white tourists, etc., but at the present time the most important fact 

 in the process of acculturation is, I beUeve, the program of the United 

 States Bureau of Indian Affairs. The results of other acculturation 

 factors have been largely external, the changes occurring chiefly in the 

 material culture. (The missionaries have had almost no success. 

 A Franciscan priest who had worked for almost 14 years among the 

 Acomas said that he did not believe he had a single thorough convert.) 

 But the program of the United States Government is aimed at their 

 inner life, their ideas and ideals. Moreover, its program is definite, 

 concerted, and unrelenting.''- There can be little doubt but that the 

 forces brought to bear upon the pueblo by tliis bureau will ultimately 

 bring about the disintegration of its politico-religious life, such as has 

 already occurred at Laguna. 



The point at which the interplay of forces between the pueblo and 

 the Bureau of Indian Affairs is focused is the Government farmer and 

 his Indian aide (called a "policeman"). It is through him that the 

 Government puts its policies into operation, and it is with him that 

 the pueblo political organization makes its adjustment to this external 

 authority. There is a day school at Acomita which has considerable 

 influence, of course. But this institution is backed by the police 

 power vested in the Government farmer and his policeman. A sin-- 

 ve}^ of the functions of these officials will illuminate the nmltifold 

 processes of cultural conflict and adjustment which are at work at 

 Acoma to-day. 



Compidsory school attendance is, I believe, the most effective 

 means of brealcing down the old traditions. There is a day school at 

 Acomita, and many children go to the Govermnent school at Albu- 

 querque or to the Catholic school at Santa Fe. Perhaps the greatest 

 change uTought in these children who go away to school, though per- 

 haps the most subtle, is a weakening of their loyalty to their pueblo: 

 their provincialism is shaken. They meet many children from other 

 pueblos and Navahos; their horizon widens. Acoma still remains a 

 most important place, but it no longer monopolizes the eiitu-e stage 

 of their interest; and, I have no doubt, accjuaintance with other peo- 

 ples induces an unconscious attitude of comparison (wliich means 

 criticism) which makes unqualifled allegiance to their home pueblo 

 considerably more diflicult. 



Then there are the contacts with the wliites. The Indian Service 

 schools are not the equivalent of the white city schools, nor do the 

 Indian children have the early training which would enable them to 

 do work on the same plane as the pupils of the iUbuquerque High 



*- 1 do not mean to imply that the bureau is activated by malevolent motives, as some have charged, li 

 is blind, and stupid at times, but its intentions are good. 



