Roads in the Sky

Despite 100 years with the dominant American culture, Hopi culture today maintains continuity with its aboriginal roots while reflecting the impact of the 20th century.A compelling study of ?fourth worlders” coping with a powerful nation-state, this book depicts Hopi social organization, economy, religion, and politics as well as key events in the history of Hopi-U.S. relations.Hopis have used their culture and their sociopolitical structures to deal with change. Clemmer focuses on six major events in Hopi history: a factionalist schism that split the largest Hopi village, Oraibi, into 3 villages; the impact of the federal Indian Reorganization Act of 1934; the rise of a political movement known as ?traditionalism’’; the story behind far-reaching oil and coal leases of the 1960s; the Hopi-Navajo land dispute; and the disappearance of ceremonial objects into private collections and museums.

Richard O. Clemmer is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Denver.