THE COWBOY AND THE LADY:
Models as a determinant of the rate of
acculturation among the Pinon Navajo
James F. Downs
University of Rochester
This paper in substantially the same form was delivered at the
fifth annual meetings of the Kroeber Anthropological Society in Berkeley
in May, 1961. Since that time I have had two opportunities to return to
Pinon and have been able to add certain data which were not available
when the paper was presented.  This material is in large part that deal-
ing with the rodeo and the rodeo association. Also, since this was pre-
sented, Louise Spindler has published her work on the acculturation of
Menomini women which approaches this same question from a different
direction.
*(  .x    *    i'   *    *
Anthropologists, popular writers, the Bureau of Indian Affairs
and the Navajo tribe itself have pointed out that Navajo women tend to
be more conservative than the men. This statement fits neatly into the
general assumptions of most acculturation studies, that women are less
prone than men to accept new ideas.
In the Pinon area which is considered backward or "traditional"2
by both the Bureau of Indian Affalrs and the tribal government, Navajo
women cling to traditional dress, speak English less frequently, are more
aware of and less self-conscious about reciting tribal lore and mythology,
retain and regularly use more aboriginal skills and techniques, etc. In
addition, women appear to orient their lives toward what might be called
a "traditional" future in the sense of remaining in a matrilocal residence
group, herding sheep, weaving rugs, working periodically for wages, and
farming a small corn field. Men, on the other hand, often think and speak
in terms of changing the patterns of their lives, learning new skills,
shifting from sheep to cattle husbandry, setting up separate households,
finding off-reservation employment, etc. It should be pointed out that
although most women tend to expect their menfolk to earn money through off
or on reservation employment, they do not expect this to interrupt the
traditional cycle of existence. While some women may accompany their men
on working trips, many others seem more satisfied to remain in the matri-
local group and wait for the men to return. Nor is this conservatism
limited to older and uneducated women. This sexual differentiation can be
seen on any given age level. While the world vsiew and aspirations of a
teenage Navajo boy may differ enormously from his father's, the teenage
girl with the same school experience tends to be more willing to follow in
her mother's footsteps with only minor material alterations in the pattern.
So closely does this follow the assumed pattern that one is tempted
to allow the assumption to stand without examination and offer the standard
explanations. Perhaps the most common of these is that in a culture con-
tact situation it is most frequently the men of the two cultures which are
in contact and therefore male patterns of behavior are those most frequently
transmitted. Anyone who has once been a member of an army of occupation
will, upon reflection, have cause to question at least part of this state-
ment. As often as not the most intimte and prolonged contact is between
the males of the foreign culture and the females of thie indigenous culture.
An'mong the western fur hunting mountain men ore of the major points of ar-
ticulation between themselves and the Plains and Mountain Indians was the
person of an Indiar. girl with whom they lived (DeVoto 19h7).  In these sit-
iations it is not infrequent that the foreign males will tzy to teach
indigenous females at least the surface aspects of womankind as his society
sees it. Although Linton's famous colonial Frenchman was limn?ited in the
rnumber of women's skills he could teach to his African mistress there ap-
pears to be no reason to assume that she couldn't have learned many skills
which were strictly male in a French context (Linton 1936). In short,
this structural explanation, as it stands, does not explain either the
general phenomenon or the particular case under discussion. Moreover,
history makes it quite clear that Navajo women have been, in the past,
receptive to new ideas and patterns of behavio-r. The so-called "ttZradi-
tional't Narajo dress is clearly an adaptation of white Amer`can patterns
of the 1860's. Similarly many of the traditional Navajo foods or ways of
preparing food were learned while the tribe was in captivity at Fort Sumner
(Downs n.d.; Kliuckhohn, and Leighton 1947). Navajo women also responded to
the urgings of traders and the lures of economic gain and changed their
weaving styles and techniques to meet market demnds.    Weaving itself with
its necessary attendant sheepherding is only something over two hundred
years old among the Navajo.
Moreover, during the course of this study it became increasingly
clear that Navajo women in the Pi?non area, despite their observed conserv-
atism, were not resistive to new ideas. The post office does a large bus-
iness in handling mail orders for clothing purchased by women. Women, as
well as men, eaaerly look forward to tne introduction of the electric
light, envy the white world running water, thoroughly enjoy a trip to the
nearest town witn its wider selectlon of goods in the stores and cheaper
prices, and whenever possible take thelr washing to the community washing
machine whlch has recently been installed i,rn thce Finon tribal chapter house.
In this latter case, women will often go to considerable time, expense and
trouble to be able to use a washing mchine sometimes five or ten miles
away from home.  Moreover, they are willing and eager to take their chil-
dren to hospitals and clinics (although at the same time the most frequent
Initiators of ceremonial curing activities) and to have their children
deli'vered in hospitals.  Nevertheless they have developed these behaviors
within a traditional context.
Spindler has suggested 'in the Menomini case that the contact situ-
ation was one in which women could conrtinue their traditional patterns
without experiencing pressure to change from the white world. My argument
will not contest but rather elaborate and expand on hers in this area. The
problem is to explain why, in view of the facts outlined, the marked differ-
ence between men and women exists.
In the natter of adopting new clothing styles, work skills, etc.,
the problem is relatively simrple in a general sense.  Efficienlt tools,
metal versus stone for instance, seem always to be adopted.   Clothing which
is easy to obtain and which eases tensions due to differing views of modes-
ty has been adopted by many non-western peoples. Agriculture or husbandry
as more dependable alternatives to hunting and gathering have been adopted
by most of the peoples of the world. In each case, however, the adopting
society has required some sort of model on which new behvvior could be
based. In most cases the model has not been followed perfectly either
because it was not presented in its entirety or has been imperfectly per-
ceived or, and in the case under consideration this seems most germane,
the conditions of life of the "receiving" culture precluded the total
adoption of the observed model no matter how completely it was revealed
or accurately it was perceived. An alternative is that the "donor" soci-
ety does not present models meaningful in the specific situation.
In the Navajo case, partial models, that is, discrete bits of
behavior such as using cloth purchased from traders to make dresses rather
than weave wool cloth at home, the use of a sewing machine, the techniques
of dipping sheep or driving a truck or using a wood stove could be learned
piecemeal and incorporated into Navajo life withQut trouble. On the other
hand, an entirely new model based on Anglo-American behavior could not be
followed for a number of reasons. The first and perhaps most important of
these in terms of Pi"non Navajo as a whole is physical isolation. Many
Navajo even today have had little opportunity to observe the possible
models in American life. Many have spent most of their lives on the reser-
vation, coming in contact with whites only as they appeared as Bureau of
Indian Affairs employees, traders, missionaries, or occasional travelers.
In many more cases, even Indians with off-reservation exerience have had
little opportunity to observe or participate in general American life,
being, as they were, students in BIA schools, members of all-Indian work
gangs or members of the armed forces.  From each of these sources particu-
lar behavior patterns and material culture items have been introduced into
Navajo life. In addition, the institution of the Navajo trader has con-
tinuously fed new items of material cultu're into Navajo life and established
new social relationships. Similarly, the now completely "Navajo political
organization" (Shepardson n.d.) was introduced from the outside but devel-
oped largely in response to Navajo attempts to deal with new problems. In
general, each of these sources has provided models of behavior for a few
individuals, but American society or culture has, untill recently, not pro-
vided arny overall model from which the Navajo could learn new behaviors and
in which new aspirations suitable to changing conditions can be derived'.
Thus, until recently the Navajo has displayed extreme conservatism as he
attempted to adjust the old model to meet new conditions, a device which
worked well for a number of years but which in the past two decades, par-
ticularly since the enforced reduction of livestock, has not served him
wello
The old model, that is the model which has served as a guide for
Navajo behavior since and to a large part before 1868, is one based on
sheep husbandry which we can call the sheepherder model.
The ideal sheepherder lived out his life dependent on the increase
of his flocks which provided him with meat and wool which could be converted
into material goods through trade in the raw or as rugs. Both men and
women were involved in sheepherding with both actual well being and social
status being largely determined by the number and condition of one's sheep
herds. In addition, horses, essential to maintaining life on the reserva-
tion, took on a value in the system of social symbolism. Cattle, although
the Navajo appear to have kept them as long as they have kept sheep (Hill
1940:414) played much less of a role in Navajo life either actually or
symbolically, and were generally owned b,y only the rich. As long as en-
vironmental and economic conditions were in the least favorable, the Navjo
could depend on sheep and through them retain his social separateness,, ob-
taining those material items he had learned to use and desire through the
institution of the trading post.  The zature of the trading post restricted
the amount of direct contact with the white world for the individul Navajo.
Often the only white marn with whom a Navajo had had any contact ws +he
Navajo-speaking trader who might himself have been born on the reservation
and be as foreign to general Anglo-American culture and society as was his
Indian customer.  Thus isolated, the Navajo could aspire and achieve within
a Navajo context wlth mininal reference to the outside world. In a general
sense it is to this situation which the older Navajo refer when they speak
with vigorous nostalgia of the "old times."   If we could personify the
sheepherder Navajo he would be a man who wears moccasins or perhaps work
shoes, wears an ordinary denim shirt and Levi's under which he wears a
breech clout. When he is cold he may wear a cast-off white manes dr.ess
coat but probably prefers a bla.'-ket. His ears are pierced and he wears
turquoise earrings in themi, at least on special occasions.  His hair is
long and clubbed in the back with a binding of wool. He carries a buckskin
sack of corn meal and other charms against witchcraft.  He binds his hair
with a turban-like cloth.  If he wears a hat it is purchased at the store
and worn full-crowned just as it came from the box. At a squaw dance or
other ceremonial or social occasion he wears a plush shirt with the tail
out, an ornate silver and turquoise belt, a necklace of silver and turquoise
and another of coral and perhaps another of raw turquoise. His life is cen-
tered in his sheep herd and the daily and yearly cycle of sheep husbandry.
He trades almost exclusively at a single trading store and is usually deeply
in debt, which debt he may pay off uhen hie se11s his wool in the spring.
Within Navajo context he is independent and self-supporting and
takes pride in being soo At the same time he has a dependent attitude
toward the Bureau of Indian Affairs inasmuch as he expects the Bureau or
some other facility to act to meet emergencies or redress grievances, make
improvemen.ts in water supply, etc. Within Navajo context he may be extreme-
ly active politically, but if so, he is generally opposed to what he sees
as white domination and is distrustful of the Bureau, the Tribe as a polit-
ical body, and the white world in general.
Although this is composite, the details are drawn from observation
and not a few such men are to be found in the Pi?ion area.  If they have
been able to naintain wealth, at least in the reduced degree possible under
today's conditions, they are generally admired by all elements of the com-
munlty.  If they have not,, they are pitied and have little political or
social influence although they may be admired f'or what they once were.
There are in the Pinon area at least a few younger men who still strive to
emulate this model and even smaller numbers of boys who are being trained
to aspire toward these traditional goals.
The sheepherder's wife, the traditional female, is a suitable mate
for the man described above. She is not only content with, but often
strongly attached to, a hogan.  She wears the traditional Navajo nlush
blouse and sateen or plush skirt. Although she may use a sewlng mchine
and buy material at the traders, she knows only a slngle dress pattern and
experiments not at all. She prides herself on her ability to weave, cook
fried bread and mutton. She is a good sheep herder, a skillful horsewoman,--
and desires a number of children. Like her husband, her hair is long and
bound with wool. She wears all the silver, turquoise and coral she can
afford, and pawns it when cash is needed. She is independent of her mate
and firmly attached to her matrilineage and the natrilineal household.
Although she has accepted many new ideas, as mentioned above, she does not
appear to aspire toward goals any different, except in a rather limited
material sense, from those of her mother. This is equally true If she 'is
an old woman or a high school girl.
Although the Navajo girl may come home from school wlith flngernail
polish, a permanent wave, and fashionable and attractiovely-fitted capri
pants, she will soon revert to the more traditional type of cloithing.
Weaving lessons, which were ignored during her school years, wlll often
be taken up again. Her English becomes less and less intelligible in an
incredibly short time. Her wardrobe of "White" clothes made during her
stay in school will be stored away or given to yo'unger sisters0 As long
as she is unmarried she will in all likelihood wear a blouse and dungaree
trousers, but once married she will quickly shift into a modified form of
traditional dress. Her interests in the sheep herd will increase, and at
sheep dipping time, to herd and dip sheep, she, like all the other women,
will dress in her finest clothes and wear all her jewelry. She may seek
employment as a dormitory mistress at the local boarding school, but such
Jobs are hard to hold because of the demands of her family. Should she
not fall into the traditional iattern, she has almost no alternative but
to leave the community to find work in some white town or at some distant
agency facility.  Particularly in the former instance she runs the risk of
becoming involved with white men, Mexicans, or non-Navajo Indians, and in
many cases succumbs to the demands of the family to give up such relation-
ships and return to the homestead and "help out" hlile seeking a more
acceptable Navajo husband.
With almost no exceptions this describes the conditions and behavior
of the Navajo woman of the Pifnon area. Despite arny specific desires she may
have acquired or any general knowledge of the non-Navajo world, if she re-
mains in the community she falls into some modification of the traditional
Navajo pattern. However, in seeking a mate she does not turn to her rela-
tively few age mates who have maintained the traditional goals of Navajo
life. With eminent practicality she looks for a young mran who has a job
on- or off-reservation, even though this may mean that they will be sepa-
rated over long periods while he goes off-reservation to work and she re-
mains behind at the family homestead.
Having married such a young man, however, she often finds herself,
against the plans of her new husband, siding with her mother and sisters,
or even with female in-laws, should the co-uple be living with his, rather
than her mother. These conflicts, which in many cases create serious rifts
in the extended family, are caused b-y the desire of the younger men to
eliminate the sheep herd and buy cattle or at least to divert funds and
effort from sheep to cattle husbandry. In many cases this shift. into cat-
tle husbandry is carried out against the active opposition of the women of
a family. Sometimes men wlll buy calves and have them cared for by a friend
until such time as the womenfolk are away. He will then bring his cattle
to the family's traditional range and present the women with a fait accmpli.
In other cases he will buy the cattle for his wife who cannot in good con-
science turn down a gift so valuable as a cow or calf.
The behavior of a woman toward cattle i s markedly different from
a man's and enormously different from her attitude toward sheep. Cattle
are clearly the affair of men In which women seldom participate. While
vaccination or sheep dipping are occasions for the display of clothing
and wealth and clearly viewed as important social events by women, the
time set aside for the community cattle branding is ignored by them and is
strictly a male function. Men, cattle owners or not, spend the day watch-
ing and helping at the corrals while their wives remain home or spend the
day shopping at the traders' store. The only females Interested are those
of high school age who almost invariably wear the bell bottom style trou-
sers known as "rodeo pants" on this or any other "dress up" occasion.
The Navajo, as it has frequently been pointed out, view the world
as dangerous and feel little compunction about displaying fear. Cattle,
particularly bulls, are viewed as extremely dangerous. Whenever cattle
appear near the homestead, the women evidence great fear and call upon the
men to drive them away. The appearance of a bull Immediately sends all
the women and children into hiding, there to remain until the men of the
family go out and driove off the animal. The fear exhibited is far out of
proportion to the danger involved and seems in part simulated to express
yet another objection to the shift in emphasis from sheep to cattle.
These conflicts point to the dilemma of the Nvajo woman, particu-
larly the younger woman who has received an off-reservation education, and.
brings us to the question of models. What is the new model for Navajo
men? And, if a new model has been found by the men, do not the women also
have a new model from white society on which to base their future behavior?
The typical younger Navajo is much more difficult to describe than
is the traditional male because he has had more experience outside the
reservation and therefore more opportunity to adopt varying patterns of
behavior. It must be understood that If he, as an individual, has rejected
the old model entirely and aspires to some completely white model, he has
no recourse save to leave the community--or take on the deviant role of the
grandiose and usually drunken dreamer of great dreams. However, the major-
ity of young men fall into neither of these categories and can be described
in a general way. He may have ary number of specific ambitions from teach-
ing mathematics to becoming an auto mechanic. However, he is most often
inadequately educated and seldom can realize ambitions requiring college or
other advanced training. In addition, to be an auto mechanic generally re-
quires that he leave the reservation and compete with whites. In this com-
petition, handicapped by a vague but real fear of white people, loneliness,
distaste for city noise, racial discrimination in unions, social life, and
housing, speaking his own brand of English and not blessed with the Ameri-
can competitive spirit, he often gives up and returns home.
Once home this typical younger Navajo participates in the family
herding activities but seeks unskilled or semi-skilled work on the rail-
roads, in migrant agricultural work, or on tribal or Bureau projects. In
most cases he expresses a desire to remain on or near the reservation and
his family, to participate in Navajo society and political life, and to
work out a destiny in the familiar surroundings of the reservation. How-
ever he rejects the traditional means, sheepherding, and often uses this
word as a term of contempt. He takes wage work hoping to save enough money
to buy some cattle and start a herd. He plans with other male relatives
to dig a well or otherwise improve the family'ls traditional grazing grounds
as a cattle ranch. He complains about the demands which a sheep herd makes
on a man and quite realistically points out that with the present grazing
restrictions it is impossible to make an adequate living raising sheep.
Instead of moccasins he wears colorful low-heeled western boots, tight
Levi trousers, a wide tooled-leather belt wlth a fancy western buckle. His
dress-up shirt is a colorful tailored western style with numerous pearl but-
tons. His hair is usually short, although a few young men still retain the
long clubbed hair. His hat is straw, molded felt, or even plastic, with
the wide brim shaped in what ls known as the batwing style. He is, in
short, the living embodiment of that well-known figure--the drugstore cow-
boy.
Since his earliest days he has practiced with a lasso and has
graduated from chickens, dogs, and youmger brothers to sheep and goats,
and finally to horses and cattle. He may become one of the limited nurmber
of hoop dancers who travel from rodeo to rodeo in the summer accompanied
by an admiring coterie (very much like a boxer in the white world), but he
more than likely seeks recognition in rodeo competition. In fact, to him
"cowboy"9 means a person who competes in rodeos and not a mnan who works with
cattle. Success in rodeo competition gives a young man considerable status
which he carries long after he has retired from competition, and consider-
able advantage in securing an attractive and educated young wife.
Rodeo might quite accurately be described as a near mania among
the young. Communities throughout the reservation have formed rodeo asso-
ciations as collective enterprises, built arenas and stock pens, and stage
regular summer rodeo. The Navajo Cowboy Association conducts an annual
competition for cumulative points and awards a saddle to the Navajo cham-
pion cowboy of the year0   So popular is rodeo that the traditional summer
recreation of rabbit hunting on horseback, an exciting and dangerous game,
is gradually disappearing in the Pi"non area because most of the younger
men are attending a rodeo somewhere every weekend.   Even if he does not
compete a young man will attend to watch the events, drink, assist with
the stock, and generally associate with the rodeo and rodeo performers.
The rodeo in its broadest sense is not exclusilvely a young ran's
game. In the Pi?non area the rodeo association is the nexus of political
activity, and no one who has aspirations to political power can afford not
to belong to the association and particlpate in- some way in its activities.
It is interesting and very possibly signlficant that, in the Pi?non area,-
at least, the association was formed at the suggestion of one of the areas'
most respected leaders, who is cast in the traditional mold and generally
hostile toward the tribal government and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Despite these conservative aspects of his person he is also the prime in-
novator, having been among the first bootleggers, the first to introduce
the practice of selling candy and soft drinks at squaw dances, in addition
to his role in starting the rodeo association. He and most of the popula-
tion view this as a strictly Navajo activity which has nothing to do with,
and was not carried out in response to, either the government, the tribe or
missionaries. Uniquely, this is one of few Navajo institutions, outside
of the trader's store, which requires regular contact and association with
white men. As the performers have become more expert and spectators more
sophisticated, it has been necessary to stop using stock collected in the
community and contract with regular rodeo stock suppliers for bucking
60
horses and bulls for the bull-riding contests.  In additlon the Indian
rodeo performers seek recognition from white performers, and to gain it
subscribe to regular Rodeo Cowboy Association rules and employ authorized
white judges. Moreover, at Pollacca, the Navajo and Hopi display a rare
example of cooperation in planning and staging an annual rodeo.
In Pi'non the association is a meeting place on a basis of equality
of both the informal political leaders of the area and representatives of
tribal govermnent. These latter are in the person of the district chapter
delegate, the local representatives and chairmln of the quasi-political
grazing committee, and the tribal brand inspector, all of whom take an ac-
tive role in the planning and conduct of the rodeo and have considerable
power in their various spheres. Tribal funds to build arena and corrals
needed for the affair are obtained through the agency of the delegate.
The rodeo itself is symbolic of the changing pat>terns of Navrajo
life0  After the competition a night performance is held in front. of the
trader's store, illuminated by floodlights whlch he supplies. The store
is'kept open until the performance is over and the trader has contributed
a saddle and various other prizes for the contestants. The performance
includes a number of long speeches by the delegate and other tribal offi-
cers, the chairman of the grazing committee, local members of the school
committee, etc. Entertainment is provided by a number of male and a few
female hoop dancers (a teenage girl hoop dancer wears Can adaption of the
male costume which displays the entlre length of her leg--an extremely
daring performer indeed) dancing what the Navajo called "dances we bor-
rowed from the Pueblos."  A few traditional chants are usually sung by
men and women who travel from rodeo to rodeo throughout the summnmer,  Usu-
ally a number of Navajo composers are on hand to sing modern songs done
in Indian style to the accompaniment of a hand drum. Such songs are often
warnings against indulgence 1n alcohol (Wine Will Make a Fool of You) or
rather-uninspired love songs (Are You Mine, Really Mine, Are You Mine?).
As a capstone one is treated to the performance of a young Navajo boy with
an electric guitar singing his own songs or popular songs with particularly
Navajo interjections (usually joking about drinklng and being arrested) in
a combined "Western and Country" and "Rock and Roll" style known in the
music trade as "rockabilly."1 At the conclusion of the night performance
the younger element of ths community go to a dance at the chapter house.
The music is most often supplied by a group of Hopi boys who have formed
a locally popular band known as the Hopi Clan.s and the dances are the same
as those performed in dance halls throughout the United States.
Throughout the entilre rodeo performance, the figure of the cowboy
is dominant. With the exception of the most traditional old men, males
strive to dress, as nearly as their finances will permit, to the cowboy
ideal. Riding to the rodeo on a horse is important for younger men who
will pass up a ride in a truck or car to come mounted. Not only men carry
out the cowboy theme. Adolescent girls, home from boarding school for the
summer, adopt if they can afford it a style of trousers with bell bottoms
generally described as rodeo pants. Pre-pubertal girls, girls who have
not gone to school, and married wome-n. retain the traditional dress and
are clearly spectators, rather than participants, during the entire rodeo.
The rodeo serves as a focus of actlon for a new Navajo ideal--the
cowboy-and the cowboy serves as a platform from which new and non-
61
traditional aspirations carL be formed. Although a young man may wish to
become a mathematics teacher, a trLibal policeman and tractor driver, or
leave the reservation entirely to take up a new life in the clty, he
views himself as basically a cowboy who can rope, ride, and participate
in rodeo, a man who knows something of cattle and cattle lore, who dreams
of owning cattle and becoming a rancher or cattleman0 Significantly, at
a number of functions held at the Oakland Callfornia Inter-Tribal Friend-
ship House, a center for re-located Indians, dressing up called for most
of the Navajo men and boys who were newly off the reservation to wear cow-
boy clothes including western boots. Only the young boys who had spent
several years in the city wore the same "'umiforms" as do white youths.
The cattleman posture is adopted by adult males in Pi'non almost
in a direct ratio to the degree of "acculturation." Thus the tribal brand
inspector, involved in the daily business of recording sales of livestock,
supervising branding and castration of horses and steers, cooperating with
the grazing committee, directing range development work, etc., wears Levi
trousers, western boots, colorful shirt, and ten gallon hat as a matter of
course. So does the tribal council delegate, although his livestock hold-
ings are largely in sheep and his income is in large part derived from his
political position and from renting a small building to a white trader.
The members of the grazing committee, with one exception, affect cowboy as
opposed to sheepherder clothing, and all are active in rodeo affairs. The
exception is the representative of the most remote and traditional area
within the Pinon grazing zone.
Thi's rather detailed recounting of the rodeo and the expressions
of the cowboy theme in Piinon has been presented in order to support the
argument that Navajo men in this area have in large part accepted a new
ideal pattern against which they can measure their own behavior.   This
figure does not develop out of the Navaj?o past, but is a result of con-
tinued exposure to ideas and behavlor of an alien culture and society,
that of the Anglo-Amerlcan.   Pinon is interesting in this point because,
situated as it is well away from the boundaries of the reservation, the
population as a whole does not experience day-to-day first-hand contact
with any white community.   Regular contact with the trader and sporadic
contact with various employees of the Public Health Service and the Bureau
of Indian Affairs constitute almost the only exposure to white men in
situ as it were. However, it should be kept in mind that although these
w hites are storekeepers, doctors, sanitarlans, teachers, or extension
agents by profession, they, as often as not, affect one or more features
of the cowboy figure, the large hat, a colorful shirt, Levis, or boots.
Prior to World War II, Plnon's associations with the white world
were far more limited than they are today. Automobiles were unknown in
the area.  Williams, the nearest town, was a two-day ride on horseback,
four days in a wagon. Pinion remained a classical Navajo reservation com-
munity, revolving around the trading store, with occasional and often
hostile relationships with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.   Since the war
roads have increased, radios are widespread, weekly movies are shown in
the chapter house, regular trips are made to Gallup, Flagstaff, Williams,
and Holbrook; the Gallup Indian Days Celebration and the Flagstaff Powwow
are important holidays in the Pinon area, as is the tribal fair at Window
Rock. Most of the younger children spend much of the year 'in off-reserva-
tion, boarding schools scattered from California to northern Utah.   Entire
62
families travel in Colorado, California, Utah, and Idaho to work as migrant
labor. In short, Pi"non has durinlg the paot two decades been sibject to a
bombardment of new ideas and patterns of behavior as well as actual changes
in the environment in the form of roads, wells, catchment dams, telephones,
and so forth.
Most important of all, the impact of the stock reduction programn s
of the late thirties and early forties created a situation in which a young
man could no longer asplre toward the old goals of Navajo life. It became
illegal and impossible to amass large herds of a thousand or more sheep and
several dozen horses. Men who had been rich in Nlavajo terms and who could
have been expected to leave their children substantial numbers of sheep
were made destitute, from the Navajo point of view. The legal herd limit
of seventy-four makes it impossible to earn even a minimal income from hus-
bandry, and although many families violate this limit, none are able to
maintain themselves entirely from the sheep herd, although it continues to
play an important, and at the moment, irreplaceable role, in the economy
of the area.3 While old men lament the old days and demand that somehow
the trlbe or the government bring them back, the men who have grown to ma-
turity in these two past decades realize, albeit reluctantly, that such a
thing is impossible. At the same time they have been unwilling and unable
for educational, social, financial, and cultural reasons to abandon their
homes and, as the Bureau of Indian Affairs so clearly would like them to
do, go into the cities to find work in the white world0 Instead they have
chosen from the white world a new image which fits easily into the environ-
mental and cultural background of Navajo llfe. The model they have chosen
presents an interesting example of the picture white culture and society
presents to outsiders, of which we are often qnlite unaware.
The Navajo live in the southern part of fhati we might call facetious-
ly the "cowboy culture area" of the United States. This area begins in Texas
and Oklahoma and includes all of the west, save perhaps the coastal areas of
Mashington, Oregon, and northern California.   This area is, of course, the
great grazing and range cattle zone of American animal husbandry. However,
the number of people involved in these activities Ls relatively few.    Taken
as a whole, ranching does not dominate the western and southwestern portion
of the nation as it once did.   Moreover, as elsewhere, most of the popula-
tion is urban or suburban in residence and non-agricultural in employment.
However, the figure of the-cowboy, not as he exists on ranches today with
a jeep, helicopter, horse trailer, and butane-heated branding iron, but as
he has been immortalized in American mythology, is of overriding cultural
importance.  The cowboy costume is found in sportswear, police uniforms,
and waitress dresses.   The theme appears in murals, post offices, city halls,
and motels. Ranch language and ranch equipment find themselves worked into
business names and the decor of doctors' offices, department stores, and
curio shops. Dude ranches abound as vacation retreats. Entire towns con-
sciously carry out the cowboy theme. Rodeo and quarterhorse racing closely
associated with ranching are top drawing spectator sports. Many towns boast
a local roping club in which businessmen and high school boys pay dues for
the privilege of ropinlg calves kept for the purpose in an arena built by the
club.  The sheriff's mounted posse composed almost entirely of townsmen is
an important, if not indispensable, part of the polltical organization of
every county.  These posses, often composed of the area's most influential
men, ride in parades dressed in theatrically-styled cowboy uniforms and from
time to time act as police auxiliaries in searching for lost vacationers or
downed aircraft.
63
Few towns of any size do not have a Frontier Days celebration com-
plete with rodeo or race meet.4  It is wlthin this area that stylists have
developed western-style stuits and dresses for every occasion, formal or
informal. Businessmen often appear in-offices or stores in "tfrontier
pants" and western-style shirts0  The "bolo" tie has in some communities
completely replaced the four-in-hand or bow tie for all occasions save
full dress. Riding clubs are to be found in most communities, and annual
trail rides of several days duration are ofteen considered as the male
social event of the year during which the political and economic leaders
of the area congregate for a round of riding a-nd relaxmtion0  Ownlng horses
for pleasure riding is widespread0  Horse shows invairiably include classes
for trail horses, stock horses, and not infrequently for cutting horses.
Cutting horse competitions have become popular spectator sports with top
horses bringing prices in five figures.  It is to be emphasized that most
of the people participating in this cowboy culture pattern are not cowboys,
nor are they In any way involved in the cattle business.  In areas where
tet is possible, involvement in the cattle buslness, even to the minor ex-
tent of owning only a head or two of cattle pastured on the ranch of a
friend, is a prestige actlvity. For many it may be a financial loss, but
it provides an excuse to spend at least a few days a year assisting the
ranch owner in range work. A common response to business success through-
out the west, whether success be in law, medicine, or the sale of used
automobiles, is to buy and attempt to operate a cattle ranch, which often
includes donning flamboyant western clothes which help to secure identifi-
cation as a cattleman.
It is this which the Pi"non Navajo sees when he is off-reservation,
and in many ways he receilves this impression in heavier doses than do the
white residents of the community. As often as not he comes to town when
some western-oriented celebratlon is in progress0 He Is impressed by the
fact that the tractor drivers, Bureau of Indian Affalrs employees, and
store clerks all wear western hats, and affect cowboy clothes. He cannot
help but conclude that this role is one whlch is ho:aored and respected in
the white world. He is already well aware that in those areas adjoining
the reservation the traditional role of the Indian is anythlng but respec-
ted. Moreover he knows that at least some Indians have become successful
rodeo cowboys subject to the rewards both economlc and psychological of
participating in this sport. He also finds it easier to take on wage work
if he has a cattle herd which requlres far less attention from day to day
than does a flock of sheep. In additlon the idealized life of the cowboy
is not too much of an alteratlon from traditional Navajo life. The life
of the range and trail drive and cow camp is much closer to the life of the
Navajo homestead than is any other role in modern American life.  It re-
quires that a man be a horseman and a roper, have a knowledge of animal
ways, and a number of outdoor skills which the Navajo already possesses.
Perhaps the most important factors are the new condltlons under
which the young Navajo grows up. In the very recent past the children of
Pinon were introduced to the techniques, attitudes, and values of a tradi-
tional socialization process within the context of the extended family
homestead (cf. Downs n.d.; Kluckhohn and Leighton 1947). By the time they
reached puberty they were confirmed in the traditional sheepherder ideal
and in addition possessed all the skills necessary to make their way in
the traditional scheme of things. Today the vast majorlty of the children
receive only the earliest phases of this indoctrination before their
fifth, sixth, or seventh year, when they are removed from the family home-
stead to attend full-time boarding schools. In the Pinon area only a few
children attend school on a day basls and mary cannot be accommodated at
Pinon but must attend schools in other parts of the reservation or even
off-reservation. Young men and women reaching high school age will have
spent from five to twelve years away from home influences except during
the summerss however, they will not have participated fully in off-reser-
vation life.
Most Indian Service schools are mono-racial and tend by accident
or design to isolate the students from too much direct contact with the
white world.  Excursions to nearby towns are limited and usially permitted
only in groups. Associations with non-Indians are short and highly formal-
ized--exchange plans or inter-school vilsits. The efforts of the teachers
to "unteach" Indian patterns of language, dress, and behavior make the
constantly reiterated point that the rest of the world looks do-w on the
traditional Indian while the student's natural resentment of punishment
fo.r speaking Navajo or criticism of the'r dress, hair arrangement or eating
habits develops a core of resistance to any real internalization of the new
behavior patterns. Moreover much of what is taught in school Is so obvi-
ously impossible in the context of their reservation homes that students
soon compartmentalize their behavior into "White" and "Navajo" segments.
At the same time the children and young people have access to tele-
vision and regular motion pictures and have before  hem a monotonously re-
peated pattern in the form of the mass-myth cowboy    They are quick to
realize that the cowboy is a person of value in w,hite society and are eager
to imitate him,  Their experiences wlth the white world tend only to con-
firm the idea that the cowboy is a figure of prestige and one to which they
can aspire. This gives us some Idea of how and why the modern Navajo youth
has taken a model from the white world, but it does not, at first glance,
explain why the Navajo girl remains far more conservative than her brother.
The American myth figure9, the cowboy, whether he appears in liter-
ature, motion pictures, or television, is a single man, most frequently
without antecedents or relatives. Alone or with a "side-kick" he drifts
through a series of adventures among, but not as a part of, the society.
Not infrequently a western story ends with the cowboy hero riding away,
alone, from the group with which he has temporarily interacted. Altholugh
certain alterations have been permitted in recent years, the cowboy's rela-
tionships with women are seldom permanent.  If the cowboy hero does "get
the girl," he ceases to be a cowboy. He settles down, a phrase which in
the western genre describes his giving up of the roaming, lonely life of
the cowboy hero errant.
Irn effect the western myth provides a model for male behavior, but
does not provide a model for female behavior. The cowboy has no wife.
Thus the young Navajo girl, exposed to much the same influences as her male
contemporary, is not exposed to a total figure which she can emulate and
use as a model for her future behavior on the reservation  lThat she is
influenced by the cowboy myth Is revealed in her selection of "non-Navajo"
clothing and her attitude toward the rodeo and cattle as contrasted to her
mother. She does have thrust before her a number of female models unrelated
to the cowboy.  The teacher, the nurse, the well-groomed and comfortable
housewife of the woman's magazines all play a part In suggesting modes of
life alternative to that of the traditional exlstence. However, reserva-
tion life, while it permits parallels and analogies to the cowboy model,
cannot support the picture of the average American homemaker. The starched
and relatively expensive advertised clothes are out of place and unobtain-
able. The polished floors and picture windows which generated her env'ious
school-dreams are so removed from the hogan or log cabin as to become un-
real. The many convenient appliances are too expensive and would not run
without electriclty.  The clean and smiling children require more water
than the Navajo family can afford the time to haul.  Parent Teacher Associ-
ation meetings, of which she may have read, are the product of tax-supported
schools with the parent in the ultimate role of employer.  On the reserva-
tion the government-appointed teacher is viewed more as an authority figure
than a p-ublic servant. To take an active part in politics would require
that a young woman violate the codes of expected behavior and embarrass not
only herself but her entire family.
In short, the economic, social, and cultural factors cf reservation
life make it impossible for a young women to realize more than a minor part
of her aspirations. The role of an average American housewife and mother,
no matter how appealing it may have been, simply cannot be played out in
the reservation atmosphere.  While the Navajo boy can imitate the cowboy
and stand with a foot in both the Navajo and the white world, observe the
more important of the old traditions and still aspire in terms of a new
future, the girl simply cannot.  The alternatives are to leave the commun-
ity, and the comforting presence of the family and the home country, or to
avoid frustration by conformi'ng to traditional Navajo standards for women.
The latter course is easier and most frequently followed with only minor
variations of a material nature. In this role, a girl finds herself with
a set of expected behaviors which she understands and which her mother and
grandmother approve. Having set her foot on this road she is less demand-
ing than the girl who refuses to give up her borrowed drean, and because
of this is more desirable as a wi'fe.
Thus a future husband can continue in his borrowed role, comfort-
able in the knowledge that his wife is more or less satisfied, willing to
live with her (or his) parents, content with the pattern of constant debt
at the trader's, amenable to his periodic drinking sprees, less concerned
with his caslual infidelities. However, in return for this comfort he must
pay with a stiffening resistance to any plans of his which would materially
disturb the relationships which determlne the traditional role of women.
The young man who marries a girl who is not reconciled to reservation life
is faced with even greater turmoil inasmuch as his wife is not infrequently
in conflict wlth her own parents and her behavior is less than acceptable
to his fami ly.  The tensi ons created as she tries to maintain her children
according to white standards, or to keep herself and her house cleaner
than expected by Navajo standards, almost inevitably force him to set up a
new home away from the family and its all-important cooperation, leave the
reservation and the plans he can make in view of his relationship to reser-
vation land, or terminate his marriage.
This situation has been presented in some deta; to point up three
major considerations:
(1) The difficulty of determining what aspects of one culture the bearers
of another will accept. This is influenced not only by the conditions
66
within the receiving society, which has been emphasized so much, but
by the way the receiving society perceives the donor society.  In
this instance few Amnericans and fewer anthropologists would vliew the
cowboy figure as either central or important in our society, yet this
has obviously been the aspect of the wlhite world to which the Navajo
has been both willing and able to respond.
(2) Differences between sexes in the area of change may not always be re-
lated to any fundamental factors but to the nature of the contact and
the nature of the model from the donor society which each sex selects.
In this case neither the communication meaia nor educational programs
have presented to Navajo women an alternative behavior pattern which
can be imitated within the reservation context.
(3) The nature of inter-cultural contacts has seldom Included such factors
as the effect and/or extent of use of mass media such as motion pic-
tures, television, and radio.  In many instances, the Pinon example
being a case in point, the white world makes far more impression
through these means than through any type of face-to-face contact.
ENDNOTES
1. The research on which this paper is based was supported by a National
Institute of Mental Health training fellowship and a post-doctoral
research grant from the same organization. The research was carried
out during 1960 and 1961.  Statements are based on observations made
during approximately nine months residence in Piinon in intimate con-
tact with a Navajo extended family which permitted us to occupy a hogan
and admitted us to participation in the economic, recreational, and
ceremonial activities of the group. In addition, contact was main-
tained with re-located Navajo in the San Francisco Bay area, some of
whom were members of the host family in PiFnon, Finally, the literacy
of some of our informants contri'buted something over one hundred let-
ters which have served as extremely useful sources of information.
2. "Traditional" is the currernt clrcumlocution of m.ore obj"ectionable
terms such as backward, primitive, or old-fashioned. It is used by
both the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Navajo Tribe, which among
other things selects a traditional and a modern princess to reign
over the annual tribal fair. It is, however, not used by the average
Navaj'o.,
3. Although no individual or family can exist entirely on income from
the sheep herd, most Navajo In the Pinon area must depend on the herd
for food and employment during periods when they cannot find work
elsewhere.
4. A curious and illustrative example is the Tournament of Roses, cele-
brated in Pasadena, California9 each New Years Day. This event origi-
nated from a New Years Day observance of a local hunt club modeled
after the British fox-hunting clubs. However, by the 1930's all ves-
tiges of this origin were erased, marshalls were costumed in Spanish
caballero costumes, and the frontier theme emphasized by the inclusion
in the parade of many western mounted units.
5. As is usual throughout the rural west, "cowboy" pictures and "cowboy"
literature are the most popular mass entertainment. The television
67
stations program western series in large number. The opportunity to
view these epics on school-owned television sets is not lost by the
young Navajo who knows the names and characteristics of all the cur-
rent western heroes. Thev play cowboys and Indians endlessly, the
only difference between their activities and those of contemporary
white boys being the willingness and enthusiasm with which the role
of "Indian," with its inevitable death scene, is accepted.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DeVoto, Bernard
1947   Across the wide Missouri. Boston, Houghton-Mifflin.
Downs, James F.
n,d.   Animal husbandry in Navajo society and culture (in press).
Hill, W. W.
1940
Some Navajo culture changes during two centuries. In
Essays in historical anthropology of North America, Smith-
sonian Institution Miscellaneous Collection 100:395-416.
Washington, D.C.
Kluckhohn, Clyde, ana Dorothea Leighton
1947   The NavaJo. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Linton, Ralph
1936 A study of Man. New York.
Shepardson, Mary
n.d.   Developing political process among the Navajo Indians.
Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley,
1960.
Spindler, Louise S.
1962   Menomini women and culture change. American Anthropological
Association Memoir 91, LXIV(l), Part 2, Menasha.