THE NAVAHO (1946 edition) [SOLD]

THE NAVAHO (1946 edition) By Clyde Kluckhohn and Dorothea Leighton

Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1946

Hardback, copyright 1946, fourth printing, 1951, 258 pages, 20 plates, 12 figures, maps on inner covers

Condition: very good condition with some marring of paper jacket

From the Cover Flyleaf:

“What are the Navaho today? How do they live together and with other races? What is their philosophy of life? Both the general reader and the student will look to this authoritative study for the answers to such questions.  The authors review Navaho history from archaeological times to the present, and then present Navaho life today.  They show the people’s problems in coping with their physical environment; their social life among their own people. Their contacts with whites and other Indians and especially with the Government; their economy; their religious beliefs and practices; their language and the problems this raises in their education and their relationships to whites; and their explicit and implicit philosophy.

“This book presents not only a study of Navaho life, however; it is an impartial discussion of an interesting experiment in Government administration of a dependent people, a discussion which is significant for contemporary problems of a wider scope; colonial questions; the whole issue of the contact of different races and peoples.  It will appeal to everyone interested in the Indians, in the Southwest, in anthropology, in sociology, and to many general readers.”

Table of Contents

Introduction: “The People” and this Study

Chapter 1. The Past of the People

               Before the Dawn of History

               The Spanish-Mexican Period (1626-1846)

               The American Period (1846 - )

Chapter 2. Land and Livelihood

               The Land is Crowded

               Sources of Navaho Livelihood

               Navaho Technology

               Regional Variations in Economy and Technology

               The Role of the Government in the Navaho Economy

               Distribution of Goods

               The Future of Navaho Economy

Chapter 3. Living Together

               What the People Look Like

               The World of the Hogans

               Personal Relations in the World of the Hogans

               Relatives Beyond the Hogan Group

               The Wider Circle of Personal Relations

Chapter 4. The People and the World Around Them

               Other Indians

               Divisions Among Whites as Seen by the People

               Traders to the People

               The World of an Alien God

               The People and the Government; The Navajo Service

               The People Participate in Government

               The Government and the People: Present Problems

               Navahos Working in the White World

               Between Two Worlds

               Navaho Attitudes Toward Whites

Chapter 5. The Supernatural; Power and Danger

               Beings and Powers

               Ghosts

               Witches

               The Navaho Theory of Disease

               Folk Tales and Myths

Chapter 6. The Supernatural: Things to Do and Not to Do

               Thou Shalt Not

               Thou Shalt

               Rites of Passage

               Finding Things Out

               The Way of Good Hope

               Drypaintings

               Navaho Ceremonial Music

               Curing Chants

               Other Rites

Chapter 7. Meaning of the Supernatural

               Economic and Social Aspects of Ceremonials

               What Myths and Rites do for the Individual

               What Myths and Rites do for the Group

               The Gain and Cost of Witchcraft

Chapter 8. The Tongue of the People

               Navaho Sounds

               Navaho Words

               A Quick Glance at Navaho Grammar

               By Their Speech Shall ye Know Them

               Why Bother About the Language

Chapter 9. The Navaho View of Life

               Navaho “Ethics”

               Navaho “Values”

               Some Premises of Navaho Life and Thought

               Some Things the Navaho Way