THE KACHINA AND THE WHITE MAN.

By Frederick J. Dockstader. Bloomfield,Michigan: Cranbrook Institute of Science,1954- 185 PP. $5.00.

This volume is a study of the acculturative influence of White civilization upon one of the several cults which make up the religious and ceremonial life of the Hopi Indians of Arizona.

Dr. Dockstader's original interest in arts and crafts led him through the study of the variety and styles of Hopi Kachina dolls into a study of the masks and other material paraphernalia, into a study of the role of the Kachina cult in the life of the Hopi, and its historical development. Using this as a theme, he traces the growth from archeological data and historical accounts of the period from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries of the growth and change in pueblo culture, and particularly the evidence of the first mention of masked dancers by Spanish accounts. Included in the evidence are examples of petroglyphs in the southwestern area that bear sufficient resemblance to modern masks to be suggestive, and the evidence in the kiva wall paintings of the old village of Awatovi uncovered by the Peabody Museum expedition in the nineteen thirties.

Beginning with a brief account of the Hopi world, and the role of the Kachinas in that world, the author traces the evidence for the time of origin and the late efflorescerce of the Kachina cult in Hopi and Zuni. Along with it, the changes in the material paraphernalia, tools, and techniques not only for making and painting masks, but also of fashioning the dolls is recounted in detail.

His final chapters are concerned with the influence of repressive government policies in the first quarter of the twentieth century in regard to native religion, and with speculation as to the results of the extensive experience of many Hopi in the military services and off-reservation work during and since World War II upon the effective continuation of the Kachina cult.

The book is profusely illustrated with the author's own paintings and line drawings.