Navajo Trading: The End of an Era

by Willow Roberts Powers

Overview

Beginning in the 1870s peddlers began to travel by wagon onto the Navajo Reservation to barter their wares for wool, a few sheep, a rug, or a piece of silver jewelry. By the early years of the twentieth century, barter developed into an exchange of culture and services: in addition to serving as a place where Navajo jewelry and rugs changed hands, trading posts acted as grocery stores, banks, post offices, and railroad hiring offices. Traders were the link between Anglo-American culture and the Navajo people. At first agents of change, by 1950 they had become maintainers of tradition and hence obstacles to modernization. Today, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, trading posts are obsolete.

This overview of Navajo trading is the first to examine trading in the last quarter of the twentieth century, when changes in both cultures led to the investigation of trading practices by the Federal Trade Commission, ultimately resulting in the demise of most traditional trading posts. Based on archival research and on interviews with traders, Navajos, and lawyers who worked for the Navajo tribe, this fair-minded narrative includes eloquent testimony from many interested parties. Powers writes about the difficulties and the delights of the life of a trader and shows the ethical and political reasons for the FTC hearings as well as the differences between good and bad traders. Anyone interested in modern Navajo life will enjoy this lively book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826323224
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	11/01/2002
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

Willow Roberts Powers is an anthropologist. Originally from England, she moved slowly westward, settling down in New Mexico. She has written a biography of a trading family, as well as a history of trading. She received a Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico which focused on the history of an anthropological project in New Mexico.

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	x
	Acknowledgments	xii
Part I	The Way Trading Was
Chapter 1	Traders	3
Chapter 2	Navajos	23
Chapter 3	The Way Trading Was	43
Chapter 4	Trading in Arts and Crafts	62
Chapter 5	The War Years on the Reservation	101
Part II	The End of an Era
Chapter 6	Cash Money	125
Chapter 7	Radical Change on the Reservation	149
Chapter 8	Target--Traders	173
Chapter 9	The Dust Settles	194
Chapter 10	Trading at the End of the Twentieth Century	216
Chapter 11	A Few Final Words	236
	Notes	249
	List of Interviews	264
	Bibliography	267
	Index	272

Editorial Reviews

"[Powers's] view that Navajo trading has radically changed since the 1960's is absolutely sound. She also understands the Navajos' perspective on trading and yet admires the older legitimate traders who tried to help their customers. Her book provides a great deal of information."

"[Powers] does an admirable job of weaving oral history, newspaper accounts, letters, and legal records to present a well-rounded perspective of a topic that is usually overly romanticized."

"ÝPowers's¨ view that Navajo trading has radically changed since the 1960's is absolutely sound. She also understands the Navajos' perspective on trading and yet admires the older legitimate traders who tried to help their customers. Her book provides a great deal of information."

"ÝPowers¨ does an admirable job of weaving oral history, newspaper accounts, letters, and legal records to present a well-rounded perspective of a topic that is usually overly romanticized."

"For anyone who has ever visited a trading post in the past, this book will bring back memories of a bygone era. For those who have never been on the Navajo Reservation or to a trading post, this book will give you an inside look as to the inner workings of the trader-Navajo relationship. Anyone interested in learning about the Navajo and trading will need to read this book."

"Powers clearly possesses first-rate scholarly credentials. . . . Powers offers a well-constructed discussion of the structure of trading and of the influence of traders, collectors, and anthropologists on the production of crafts."

"Powers offers a sound understanding of the ways trading on the Navajo reservation from the 1870s through the 1980s was a cross-cultural experience."

"Powers is admittedly sympathetic to the traders, seeing most of them as hardworking people who did in fact serve the Navajo. . . . Overall, this well-researched and personal account provokes reflection."

From the Publisher

Part of a collective project to document the history of trade between Anglo-Americans and Navajos, Powers's work focuses on trading in the last quarter of the 20th century, when changes in both cultures and an investigation of trading practices by the federal government led to the demise of most traditional trading posts. It's based on archival research as well as interviews with traders, Navajos, lawyers who worked for the Navajo tribe, and other interested parties. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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