Kinship, Capitalism, Change

The Informal Economy of the Navajo, 1868-1995

Michael J. Francisconi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780815331049
• eBook ISBN: 9781136529030
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia mondiale

First Published in 1998. Part of the Native Americans Interdisciplinary Perspectives series, this volume looks at the informal economy of the Navajo from 1868 to 1995. In this study Dine is used in place of Navajo when referring to the people. Since 1868 three major revolutions have integrated the Dine into the world capitalist system: the establishment of military peace, resulting in political control by the U.S. Government, which then guaranteed the establishment of trading posts; the stock reduction of the 1930's, which resulted in money becoming central to economic life; and the importation of highly capital-intensive extractive industries onto the Navajo Reservation.

CHAPTER 1

Walking in Two Worlds

Since 1868 three major revolutions have integrated the Diné into the world capitalist system: the establishment of military peace, resulting in political control by the U.S. Government, which then guaranteed the establishment of trading posts; the stock reduction of the 1930's, which resulted in money becoming central to economic life; and the importation of highly capital-intensive extractive industries onto the Navajo Reservation. In this study Diné is used in place of Navajo when referring to the people. The political entity is officially the Navajo Nation and will be so designated. Navajo is used in the quotes and sometimes in the interviews, but Diné has become preferred by an increasing number of Diné themselves.

These three revolutions have resulted in underdevelopment and high unemployment among the Diné. Important to this is the informal economy, which is a direct result of the interaction between the capitalist system and the everyday effects of underdevelopment.

The Navajo Nation has become part of a world market economy. Capitalism has been imposed from the outside. Because of the incomplete development of capitalist social relations a second economy, the informal sector, has emerged. The informal sector is defined in this study as economic activity that is unregulated and largely untaxed. This second economy is based upon market principles; it is a mixture of advanced capitalism and a traditional kinship economy. The non-capitalist modes of production, i.e. kinship and informal production, have become the creation of the capitalist system itself. The informal modes of production both strengthen capitalist penetration and offer people a tool of resistance to that penetration.

In the major industrial nations a decline of the power of labor increases the unregulated labor supply. There has been a decline in unionized employment and an increased reliance on contracting out work to non-unionized workers who receive lower wages. With the increase of contracting out, regulation over wages and work environment becomes too difficult to successfully maintain, and an unprotected work force is the result¹. In relation to the Navajo Nation it appears that two other trends draw Diné into the informal economy. The insufficiency of wage employment and selling have been an integral part of the Diné economy since 1868.

Because of the above the Navajo Nation is a unique combination of fourth world (tribal society), third world (developing nation), and modern industrial society. The Navajo Nation has a relationship to the rest of the United States roughly similar to colonial dependency². With large deposits of oil, coal, and uranium, the reservation has been the focus of a great deal of corporate interest. Like many third world economies, the main source of revenue for the Navajo Nation is the export of raw materials developed by outside corporations³.

The main difference between the Navajo Nation and the former colonies of Africa and Asia is that Navajo Land is a Native American Reservation. In the United States, Native American Reservations were not originally created as a source of cheap resources. Treaties were signed between the United States Government and the various tribes, as separate and sovereign nations⁴. The relationship was never equal however; treaties were signed, agreements in which Native Americans were forced to give up more desirable land, leaving the Native Americans the least desirable lands. As the need for the economic development of the United States expanded, more lands were forcefully taken from the Native Americans in violation of the treaties. The compulsory relocation of the five “civilized tribes”, in spite of the fact that the Supreme Court declared the actions unconstitutional, is just one example. In the late 1840's the Bureau of Indian Affairs was transferred from the War Department to the Department of the Interior, reflecting the changing of the official attitudes towards the Natives of the United States⁵.

After 1871 no more treaties would be signed between the U.S. Government and the various tribes. After that date all relationships between the U.S. Government and any tribe would be those of executive action, instead of between members of separate sovereign nations⁶. At every stage covered above, the lands left to the various tribes were deemed useless by the larger Euro-American society. Diné, like other tribes, shared this relationship with the dominant culture.

After 1871 new legal means would be used to separate the “Indian” from the land as the need arose. The Dawes Act of 1887 was designed to free up any remaining desirable lands for white settlement. All “Progressive Indians” would be given individual plots of lands to be farmed commercially and privately. All left over lands would be sold at public auction to whomever could buy them⁷. In 1904, by act of Congress, individual Indians could sell or lease their lands to white families, introducing the loss of Indian land through commercial failure⁸. Because of the remoteness of the Diné, land alienation was avoided, making Diné unique among Native Americans and thus affecting the national identity of Diné in relation to other tribes⁹.

Throughout the 20th century the major policy toward natives was one of forced assimilation. Indian Education was the hallmark of this policy. Education was designed to destroy native languages and cultures. Schools forbade natives from speaking their languages, practicing their religions, or dressing or acting like an “Indian”¹⁰. This affected all native groups including the Diné.

What separates Diné from other tribes is the U.S. policy of land alienation and forced assimilation which destroyed the natural economy of most other tribes. These other tribes were reduced to the most marginal economic and political existence; what makes the Diné different is that they survived much better than most other Native American groups¹¹.

Diné were militarily defeated in a war with the United States in 1863–1864. About 8000 of the Diné were incarcerated at Bosque Redondo (Fort Sumner) in Eastern New Mexico (“The Long Walk”). This incarceration was an attempt to transform and subdue the troublesome Diné into white-like farmers. Finally the white taxpayers revolted, and in 1868 the surviving Diné were allowed to return to a portion of their original territory. The government issued each family a set number of sheep and goats. Diné were encouraged to return to their traditional herding way of life on the desolate reservation¹².

From 1868 on a number of trading posts were established on the reservation to encourage trade with the Diné. Each trading post established a paternal relationship with the surrounding Diné. In the early years the trading posts created a strictly barter and credit economy. U.S. manufactured goods such as white flour, coffee, sugar, lard, and steel items were exchanged for mutton, wool, mohair, and Diné manufactured items. In the beginning no money was used except for tokens good only at a particular post¹³.

Some Diné became wealthy, most, however, did not. The poorer Diné had two choices; either establish a patron-client relationship with a wealthy headman, or settle elsewhere. In this way many Diné left the reservation, settling both to the east and to the west. Because of the remoteness of their reservation, the government did not stop them. The lands to the west were later added to the reservation. The lands to the east became the “checkerboard” area (an area divided into unequal portions of Federal, Diné, and white owned lands)¹⁴.

In this new economic setting several things happened. Trade, which was already important, became central to the economy. As a result of the increasing importance of trade social stratification among the Diné dramatically increased. Although tied through trade to the larger worldwide economy, many wealthy Diné developed the belief of national self-sufficiency. This is the reason the period 1868 to 1934 is often looked upon in many folk stories of the Diné people as the height of traditional Diné culture¹⁵.

Stock raising and farming had been the mainstay of Diné subsistence; however, the trading post now became the major focus of most economic activity. This gave white traders a great deal of influence within the heart of Diné society. Wealthy Diné became closely associated with a particular white trader, forming dependent relations. The prices charged by white traders were greatly inflated over those in border towns, and prices paid for Diné goods were very low, allowing for a large profit margin for the white trader¹⁶.

A wealthy headman could maintain his status by having many relatives as his clients. Increasingly after 1868, wealth became the source of prestige and power. Many sheep meant wealth, with which American trading goods could be purchased and shared with relatives who in turn became the headman's labor supply. It became a self-perpetuating system. The more wealth, the more one could share with one's relatives; this meant more relatives living nearby, which led to a larger labor supply for the headman, which in turn meant more sheep raised, thus increasing the headman's wealth¹⁷.

While land and herds were inherited along one's maternal side, the importance of men continued to increase. The traders and the headmen controlled access to wealth. Land allowed for a measure of upward mobility. As new lands were settled, new trading posts were established. The Diné was the only tribe in the U.S. who expanded its territory during this period¹⁸.

Wage labor first entered the picture after 1881 when railroad construction began in earnest in the Southwest. Wages paid Diné laborers were too little to support a family. As part of a larger kinship network, they became another source of wealth. With the development of a stratified society, individualism replaced more egalitarian and collective values. Wealthy Diné flaunted their wealth publicly in the amount and quality of the jewelry they wore (although jewelry was worn by nearly all Diné for protection against evil, it only at this time acquired more than spiritual meaning). Individual achievement and competition became cultural norms as each Diné family attempted to increase its importance in society. Intensive family and clan rivalry developed¹⁹.

At the time of all this status rivalry white traders developed unique art styles in the famous Navajo rugs. Each trading post became famous for its distinctive style²⁰. Diné artisans increasingly catered their skills to meet the demands of the outside²¹. Trade became central to increasing wealth, which in turn was based on the size of one's herds. With intense competition in trade, wealth increased or was lost. More and more l...

Table of contents

• Cover
• NATIVE AMERICANS
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1 Walking in Two Worlds
• Chapter 2 Theoretical Concepts and Issues of the Current Economic Crisis and People in the Periphery
• Chapter 3 Historical Perspective of the Navajo Economy
• Chapter 4 Articulation and Resistance
• Chapter 5 Conclusions
• Appendix A Interviews
• Appendix B Notes on Methodology and Theory
• Appendix C Tables
• Bibliography
• Index