This study focuses on the wealth stratification system of the Navajo of the Kaibeto Plateau. The Kaibeto Plateau was settled by the Navajo in the mid-nineteenth century. By the 1930s they had developed an economically and socially stratified society rooted in a livestock economy and influenced by institutions of the surrounding society. In the years since livestock activities have been severely constrained by the federal government: Holdings have been radically decreased and pastoralism has ceased to be the main source of income and subsistence. These changes are described and analyzed. Wealth stratification is conceived of as a phenomenon to be explained and one which has implications for the study of social change. In the 1930s a handful of families owned most of the livestock in the region. These families were, uniformly, descendants of the wealthier and more prominent early settlers. Even after federal programs destroyed the economic advantage these wealthy families possessed, the children of the relatively wealthy have, at least until recent years, continued to prosper (relative to their poorer neighbors) in various ways. They have, on average, higher levels of educational attainment and better occupational profiles. The different responses of individuals at different levels in the social hierarchy have effected the composition of the rural population. More descendants of the wealthy have moved away and/or married individuals from distant communities. Social structures which functioned in the livestock economy to integrate families in the region have disintegrated. The chapter has emerged as an important social and political unit. Although the wealthy families seemed to have dominated chapter politics initially, recent elections indicate a declining influence. The historical facts reported here indicate the importance of social variability in the study of social change. It is argued that the Navajo were never a socially homogeneous group. Thus institutional pressures and shifting government policies have not affected all families in the same manner. Such findings have implications not only for the way in which anthropologists theorize about tribal people and social change, but also have implications for those responsible government officials who seek to formulate solutions to perceived problems on contemporary American Indian reservations.

The Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona is a peer-reviewed monograph series sponsored by the School of Anthropology. Established in 1959, the series publishes archaeological and ethnographic papers that use contemporary method and theory to investigate problems of anthropological importance in the southwestern United States, Mexico, and related areas.

This retrospective ethnographic study, conducted in a small community on the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona, investigates the sociocultural environments of fifth grade Navajo children who have become successful readers. The purpose of this research study is to begin the process of identifying and describing in detail the characteristics of the home environments leading to this success. The study also investigates social and cultural factors beyond the homes and families, and includes a brief look at the role of the schools and the community in reading development for these identified students. Successful readers were identified by classroom teachers and each was given an individual reading evaluation based upon miscue analysis, to verify their reading proficiency. Data on the sociocultural environment was gathered through open-ended interviews with fifteen selected students, their parents, their teachers, and the school principal, as well as through searches of the students' school records. Data from this study suggests a much higher success rate for Navajo children than is commonly reported with standardized achievement tests. This study exposes some of the myths of Navajo and other minority failure by identifying instances of Navajo success. Social conditions, such as single parent families, low income, alcoholism, and unemployment did not prevent the development of literacy for these children nor did linguistic differences and limited amounts of written material in the homes. Teachers, parents, the principal, and the students themselves identified the home, rather than the school, as the most important factor in these children becoming successful readers. Within the home, the development of literacy was assisted through child initiated activities and questioning, and supportive adults' responses, rather than through direct instruction. Literacy, for each child in the study, was achieved in different ways. In addition to general findings, four case studies are presented, providing a detailed view of some of the multiple ways of becoming literate in this Navajo community.

A descriptive study concerning the Navajo Puberty Ceremony for girls, the Kinaalda', examined the extent of the practice of the ceremony, and the frequency in which the girls who have had the ceremony and the girls who have not had the ceremony differ in traditional characteristics. Fifty-four percent of the girls questioned have had the Kinaalda'. Significant differences between the girls who had the ceremony and those who had not had the ceremony were found, using a chi square test of significance at an alpha level of .05, in the frequency of a set of traditional characteristics. The Kinaalda' girl possessed the set of traditional qualities more frequently than the non-Kinaalda' girl.

This research explicated the use of exploratory data analysis in describing type II diabetes mellitus among the Navajo Indians. A sample of 98 diagnosed diabetics was obtained from a retrospective chart review and had a 1.3:1 female to male ratio, a median age of 58.6 years, and a mean duration for diabetes of 7.66 years. Other characteristics included a median age at diagnosis of 50 years, a median weight prior to diagnosis (expressed in percent desired weight) of 140%, and a median blood glucose value at time of diagnosis of 241 mg/dl. The distribution patterns for age, weight, and blood glucose revealed several asymmetry problems which had implications for the appropriateness of using parametric statistics in numerical summarizations. Bivariate analyses revealed a negative association between age at diagnosis and percent desired weight prior to diagnosis. This finding identifies the risk that obesity brings to the young and that aging brings to the non-obese, Navajo Indian.

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