ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author describes how an anthropological methodology was applied to problems of community development on the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation in northern Arizona. The basic objective of the project was to restore the long dormant communal decision-making process to prominence in tribal affairs. The principal beneficiaries—the real “clients” of the project—were the members of the Kaibab Paiute community. The 200-square-mile Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation lies on the Arizona Strip, a segment of the canyonlands physiographic subprovince just north of the Grand Canyon. With the focus on responding to federal rather than local program guidelines, requirements of the bureau or agency sponsoring a program, or details of budgets, little in the proceedings touched on the immediate needs of the local community. The key problem was to design and implement a planning process involving citizen participation in a community that was not accustomed to having a significant voice in tribal affairs.
