THROUGH NAVAJO EYES: Sol Worth: Preliminaries

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THROUGH NAVAJO EYESA n Exploration in Film Communication and Anthropology


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THROUGHNAVAJO EYES

An Exploration in FilmCommunication and Anthropology

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S O L WORTHJ O H N A D A I R

Ind iana University PressBloomington / London


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FIRST PAPERBACK PRINTING I975Copyright @ 1972 by Indiana University Press

ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDNo par t of this book may be reprodu ced or utilized in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any infor-mation storage and retr ieval system, without permission in writ ing from thepublisher. T h e Association of American University Presses Resolution on Per-missions co nsti tutes the only e xception to this prohibit ion.

Published in Canada by Fitzhenry 6Whiteside Limited, Don Mills, OntarioLibrary of Congress catalog card n umber: 78-180488

ISBN: 0 - 2 5 3 - 3 6 0 1 6 - 1 pa. 0 - 2 5 3 - 3 6 0 1 5 - 3 cl.MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


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Contents

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction

PART ONECHAPTER I How Do People Structure Reality Through

Film? Some Problems in Communication,Anthropology, and Film

Some Qgestions About FilmA Look at Film As If It Were a LanguageCHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3 The NavajoP ART TWO

CHAPTER 4 The Method of ResearchResearchStudents

Participant Observation in FilmChoosing the Community and theT h e Community Agrees

CHAPTER 5CHAPTER 6

The Lives of Some of the Navajo StudentsTeaching Navajos about Cameras and Film

T h e First Day: Getting ReadyThe Second Day: How the CameraWorks

xi3

I 1

2131

42

6374


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viii ) ContentsThe First Shots and the Notion ofThe Developmental Structure of FilmThe Practice FilmsThey Start FilmingSusie and Her Family Get InvolvedA Visual Record

Editing

in FilmingCHAPTER 7 The Community Attends the World Premiere

PART THR EECHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER I 0

CHAPTER I1CHAPTER I2CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14CHAPTER 15

AnalysisThe Way We Intend to Analyze Our

DataWalkingFace Close-upsThe Horse Has to Come After the

Narra tive Style

Sequencing Film EventsFootprints of the Horse

Who Can Be an Actor in a Navajo FilmThey Handle the Equipment Like ProsMotion or Eventing

MythThe Long Journey and the Origin

Intrepid Shadows and the OutsiderHow Groups in Our Society Act When Taughtto Use Movie Cameras (with Richard Chalfen)

Previous and ContinuingSocio-Documentary ResearchAlternative ExpectationsCross Group ComparisonsTopics and Activities

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228


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Contents ( i xStructuring the Image and Struc-Topics and Themesturing Themselves

CHAPTER 16 Some Concluding Thoughts 252A Brief Summary of the Films Made by theNavajo 263

Bibliography 275Index 281Photographic Section fol low s page 134

APPENDIX


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Acknowledgments

Although it is usual to say in a section acknowledging the contri-butions of others that the work reported could not have beendone without the help of many people, in this case i t is literallyand exactly so. What we shall be writing about in the followingpages is not only our own work but also that of a group of Navajowho patiently consented to be our students. They not onlyworked throughout a summer making films, which is a difficultcreative task, but they also allowed us to observe, question, andwrite about them while they did it. Indeed, they encouraged us.They felt that producing knowledge about communication, howpeople in different cultures make films, was something theywanted to participate in.

This book, therefore, could not have come about without ourNavajo students, Mr. Mike Anderson, Mrs. Susie Benally, M r. A1Clah, Mrs. Alta Kahn, Mr. Johnny Nelson, Miss Mary Jane Tso-sie, and Miss Maxine Tsosie.

The community of Pine Springs agreed to allow us to live withthem while we were working. We wish we could thank each oneindividually, but since they acted as a community to welcome us,we must thank them as a community for their help and friend-ship.

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Birch were the schoolteachers in theBureau of Indian Affairs school at Pine Springs. Not only didthey welcome us and help us in every possible way, but Clarence


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xii ) AcknowledgmentsBirch offered us the schools dormitories for our sleeping, teach-ing and work quarters. We used his school as our own and wewant to thank him for allowing it.

Mr. Russell Griswold, the owner of the trading post a t PineSprings, gave us an office behind the post which we used forinterviews and for our own personal notetaking and conferences.He was one of the most knowledgeable men in the area about thecommunity and its members, and he and his family helped us inways, both large and small, too many to be enumerated here.

Many other people helped to smooth our way. The Navajotribal leaders a t Window Rock supported and often encouragedus when it seemed as if bureaucracy would overcome us. To allthose, and in particular to Mr. Maurice McCabe and Mr. NedHatathli, our thanks. Mr. Graham Holmes, Navajo area director,Mr. Walter Olsen, director of the Albuquerque area office, Mr.Ernest Magnuson, and Mr. Buck Benham, all of the Bureau ofIndian Affairs, gave us invaluable help and support while on theNavajo reservation.

Our colleagues in anthropology and communication withwhom we discussed our plans were unusually patient and en-couraging. Some, however, gave their time and experience sogenerously that we want to take this opportunity to acknowledgetheir help. Ward Goodenough was one of the first anthropolo-gists to recognize the possible contribution of the bio-documen-tary method to ethnographic research. He encouraged our plansand helped clarify our ideas in discussing the project with us.When we came to analyze our experience, Dell Hymes provedone of the intellectual rocks we leaned on most heavily. Hisdetailed criticism of the first draft of this manuscript enabled usto correct many unclear passages. Margaret Mead stuck with usall the way. She helped us to work out many newly-formed ideasin hours of conversation with her. The day we spent with herwhen we returned from the field with the Navajo films, lookingat the films over and over again, was probably the finest lessonin visual ethnographic method we ever had. Gene Weltfish was


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Acknowledgments (xiiienormously helpful before we went into the field, reviewingproblems of field method with a camera.

Our work was supported by the National Science Foundationunder grants number GS 1038and GS 1759,and by the AnnenbergSchool of Communications, University of Pennsylvania. AllanSmith and then Richard Lieban, who were successively head ofthe anthropology section of the Foundation, not only helped usto solve problems of budget and red tape, but became valuedfriends with whom we could discuss our findings, research prob-lems, and plans at any time. Their help and encouragement madethe research much easier. Edward Hall and John Collier, Jr.,visited us in the field and gave us an opportunity to review ourfindings and methods with them. We found these occasions bothhelpful and stimulating.

Last but not least, we want to thank George Gerbner, Dean ofthe Annenberg School, who allowed one of us, at least, to spendalmost four years talking about nothing but Navajo making mov-ies. He found space when space was hard to find, he allowed usto monopolize secretaries when there were almost none to goaround. He made the cameras, projectors, and editing equipmentavailable whenever they were needed. He criticized and ques-tioned, with great sensitivity, our papers and the colloquia atwhich we first began to formulate our analyses. He was in thedeepest sense a valued colleague. And so was the late Dr. AdanTreganzo, Chairman of the Department of Anthropology, SanFrancisco State College, for the other of us.

Miss Terry Zaroff not only was responsible for typing thismanuscript, but she kept her cool during at least five successiverewrites. She checked every reference and helped to organize usso that the work could go on despite teaching, meetings, andnumerous other distractions. She deeply deserves our thanks.

Murdoch Matthew of the Indiana University Press was oureditor. He cut, questioned, rewrote, and made contributions onalmost every page. As with a film, a book is made in the editingroom. Murdoch Matthew is that kind of editor. We thank him.


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xiv ) AcknowledgmentsWe want to say something about Richard Chalfen in these

acknowledgments, but it is difficult to thank someone whom weconsider to be one of us. He started as our graduate assistant inthe field and has continued working in visual communication andthe ethnography of communication. Although his name appearson only one chapter, we would like to say here that the workreported in the following pages was done by the three of us.

SOLWORTHJOHN ADAIR

Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaGallup, New Mexico

THROUGH NAVAJO EYES: Sol Worth: Preliminaries

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