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69-13369 PEARSON, Keith Laurence, 1929 PROCESSES OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN A NAVAJO COMMUNITY Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Pearson, Keith Laurence, 1929- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 04/10/2021 12:24:43 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/287601 This dissertation has been 69-13,369 microfilmed exactly as received PEARSON, Keith Laurence, 1929- PROCESSES OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN A NAVAJO COMMUNITY. University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1969 Anthropology University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan PROCESSES OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN A NAVAJO COMMUNITY by Keith Laurenoe Pearson A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1969 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by Keith Laurence Pearson entitled Processes of Political Development in a Nava.io Community be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Director After inspection of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:* *This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. STATEMENT BY THE AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allow­ able without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made* Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manu­ script in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the Interests of scholarship. In all other instances« howeverv permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: PREFACE The purpose of this study is two-fold. In the first plaoe it provides descriptive information about a Navajo community. Secondly* It examines prooesses of political* or conflict resolving action in a Navajo community. Intrinsic to the second purpose is an investigation and analysis of the relationship of the community with the agencies* pro­ grams* and activities of the Navajo Tribal government. The major part of the research was done in conjunc­ tion with my employment as a member of the community de­ velopment training staff of the Indian Community Action Project* Arizona State University. Training for the em­ ployees of the local oommunity development program of the Office of Navajo Economic Opportunity began in January* 1966. Training activities continued for almost a year. Dur­ ing this year of training the members of the training staff lived on the reservation and were in continual contact with the community development workers. In the course of this year of training activities I had the opportunity to listen to the community development workers as they defined and discussed the concept of community; to accompany the workers ill iv to their home areas and have them point out to me what the Navajo people meant by community; and to work very closely with them as they encouraged the emergence of community development processes In their home areas. A summary of the training activities has been published (Bennett* Pearson* and Plummer 1967: 180-203). In December* 1966* community development training for the Navajo program was terminated. In order to remain near the reservation so as to continue my research in the community which is the focus of this study I resigned from the Indian Community Aotion Project and accepted a position with the Northwest New Mexico Economic Opportunity Council* a community action agency in Gallup* New Mexico. Because of the proximity of the research community to Gallup and the fact that the community action agenoy was involved in work with many of the Navajo settlements near Gallup my inves­ tigations were able to continue without Interruption until August, 1967. During the course of the twenty-month period of work I used many of the standard methods of anthropological investigation. The primary methods were those of participant observation and open-ended interviews. I was invited to participate in many of the community activities* from meals V with families in hogans and houses to ohapter oommittee meetings. Most of the open-ended interviews were conducted informally* Interviews occurred as often as the opportunity presented itself. They were conducted with passengers in my vehicle* as I rode with others• in hogans and houses* at gatherings in front of the trading posts and ohapter houses near the researoh oommunity, and even while I accompanied families on fishing trips and hikes. I was able to oonduct a number of formal interviews with community development trainees and workers and to ad­ minister several types of questionnaires to these people. The formal interviews and questionnaires were geared to the training activities and dealt specifically with community development. Beoause they are not integral to the present study they have not been summarized or appended to this paper. However* many of the data appearing in this paper which pertain to the reservation in general were derived from these formal interviews and questionnaires (cf: Chap­ ters 9 and 10). I was fortunate in having been assigned a specific status by the members of the research community very early in the period of research. The status was that of "trainer.w There is no Navajo word for trainer. The people in the re­ search community seemed to regard the status differently vi from that of "teacher" or "Instructor." The fact that I was a trainer in community development* a program of whioh many approved* assisted me greatly in getting acquainted with the people in the research community. They expected me to be interested in chapter and community activities* to ask questions* and to take notes* When I appeared at a chapter meeting* a ceremonial* or even an informal gathering I was usually offered the services of an interpreter without asking. There seemed to be a sincere desire on their part that I should obtain as much information as possible since being informed about Navajo communities would make me a better trainer for Navajo community development workers. To a very large extent* while I was the community develop­ ment trainer* the people in the research community were the teachers of the trainer. Within a few weeks after arriving in the area I had been given a few nicknames. One was a play on my first name with the use of the Navajo word ashkil* or "boy"; the other was belagana blnall* or "grand­ son of a White man." At no time did I pay informants* On the other hand* I did not take time from an Informant which he otherwise might have used for gainful employment. Because of my •11 relationship with the members of the researoh community and with the community development workers It Is dlffloult to be precise about the actual number of Informants* The maximum number of persons contacted approximates 350. If a distinc­ tion is made between "interview subjects'* and informants* the latter term having reference to persons Involved in the more formalized type of data gathering, it would be possible to limit the number of Navajo informants to about forty. In addition to the 350 Navajo people involved in the provision of information for this study• there were about sixteen Anglo-Americans* eight of whom were informants. When I arrived on the reservation I was interested in learning the Navajo language. One of my informants* a member of the research community* recommended that I buy a publication by Leon Wall and William Morgan entitled* Nava.1o-Bngllsh Dictionary (1958)* This dictionary Is the source of the Navajo terms appearing in this paper. I refer the reader to the portion of this dictionary entitled* "The Sound System of Navajo*" for a pronunciation guide. During the preparation and writing of this disser­ tation I was continually Impressed by the number of people whose contributions allowed me to reach the point of the completion of the study. These contributions Included en­ couragement* enlightenment on specific problems in the area vlll of field work and theory* orientations toward various points of view, and guidance In both the compilation and analysis of data. It Is Impossible to lnolude the names of all of the people to whom I am Indebted* However* by mentioning some of the various groups of which these people are a part* It Is possible to ohannel* at least to a oertaln degree, this ex­ pression of gratitude. In the first place are the members of the faculty of the Department of Anthropology. The encouragement, assis­ tance* guidance* and stimulation given by them In both an academic and personal sense was a major contribution not only to the completion of this dissertation but In terms of the completion of the day-to-day work associated with graduate study. Secondly* and very Important* are those people who were colleagues of mine In graduate school. The exchange of Information* the expression of sympathy In times of dis­ couragement and of pleasure In periods of progress* and the support* academic* personal* and even financial* of this group has been a basic contribution to the completion of this work.
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