Keith H. Basso It is rare to find a book that is as informative as a textbook but reads as easy as a short story. But Keith H. Basso is successful in creating an interesting ethnography about the Western Apache culture by using two usually overlooked topics, geography and oral history. Geography and the location of places is usually forgotten or seen as just topography, but Basso proves that geography is more than a location. It is the forgotten history of the name of a place that makes the locality more important than it seems. While whitemen (a term frequented by the Apache to describe White European culture) has constantly renamed places for convenience and prove of colonization, Basso overturns this ignorant and offensive practice and attempts to understand and map the geography of Western Apache by using the original place-names. Therefore this paper will be an attempt to explore the "sense [sic] of place as a partake of cultures, of shared bodies of 'local knowledge' with which whole communities render their places meaningful and endow them with social importance" (Basso 1996:xiv). And from Basso's detailed accounts of interacting with the natives of Western Apache, I will also attempt to demonstrate the importance of spoken (oral) language in relating and learning about ancestral history. As we have sorted out the themes of this book, we can then look at how the book is structured and why I have acclaimed it to be informative and yet so easy to read and understand. At the beginning of the book, we learn that Basso had first traveled to Cibecue in the summer of 1959 as a nineteen-year-old college student but then returned numerous times after his graduate studies was done (Basso 1996:xiv). We can conclude from th... ... middle of paper ... ... is not enough space to discuss the importance of wisdom and how it is interrelated with the themes of land and language. But the main focus of wisdom is that one must have smoothness, resilience and steadiness of the mind. These three traits must be cultivated by acquiring relevant bodies of language and to apply them critically to the workings of ones mind (Basso 1996:130). Wisdom sits in places and at each place, we learn more about the culture and ourselves. The language is a teaching tool of the culture for a new generation of Apache natives and from Basso's book, we as readers have also learned the importance of place-names and how it affects our sense of self. Bibliography: Basso, Keith H. 1996 Wisdom Sits in Places. Albuquerque :University of New Mexico Press Haviland, William A. 1994 Anthropology. Texas : Harcourt Brace College Publishers
Leslie Marmon Silko, Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination, A Sense of Place, Forbes Custom Publishing 1999
Hämäläinen goes on to explain that his purpose is to trace and analyze the contradictions of the Plains Indians’ horse culture, rather than just condemning it as something baleful, which many historians tend to do. Hämäläinen also refutes the common eastern farmer-western nomad manner of analyzing Plains equestrianism, in which there is “a tendency to cast the villagers as cultural reactionaries who failed to embrace the liberating powers of equestrianism and, locked in space and time, were crushed by the double invasion of the aggressive nomads and the encroaching Americans,” (Hämäläinen, 2) and instead proposes that Plains horse culture is understood from a latitudinal --rather than longitudinal-- viewpoint, since horse culture spread from the south, northwards. It is also explained that the latitudinal spread of equestrianism gave rise to the creation of markedly diverse horse cultures, vary...
As an outsider looking in we are transformed through an era where a young Indian boy grows up to become the man he is today, a medicine man. We are taken through his assimilation in to the modern white society, and as we look at this we are reminded, through Lame Deer, of the hardships that he went through, his experiences as a single individual and many important events that defined who he is. We also took a look into his later years as he grew up to be an elder and developed a natural calling to be a leader. It explains throughout that he clings to the lingering fact that he desperately holds onto what he assumes is little dignity he has left and the worth of the land that has been diminished through the destruction of white culture. Once we have a correlation between Lame Deer’s life stories, events that he endured, and overall perception of what went on we can then look at the accuracy of his claims in correlation to world events that occurred. We can also observe, though this book, the tremendous clarity and insight it provides us about natural medicines that were used during his time, and major cultural and tradition ceremonies that where conducted, which in turn provided Native American Indians with self-purpose and self-identity and a unique form of symbolize that can be traced back to their ancestors. Lame Deer stresses the importance in self-identification through these forms, in
the symbol of honesty in the native culture. Herb’s first impression of the Native culture,
There is a deep connection between the environment and Western Apache people. The connection between the two is so strong that it's embedded in their culture and history. Keith Basso is the author of wisdom Sits in Places, expanded on this theory by divulging himself into Western Apaches life. He spent many years living with the Apache people learning their relationship with the environment, specifically focused on ‘Place names. After Basso first began to work with the Apache people, one of his Apache friends told him to ‘learn the names, ‘because they held a specific meaning with the community. Place-names are special names given to a specific area where an event took place that was significant in history and crucial in shaping morals and beliefs. Through environment of place-names, the surroundings became a teaching tool for Apache people.
The objective of this article is to inform the reader about the Apalachee Indians interaction with the French, English, and Spanish forces, as well to show the lifestyle of the Apalachee Indians, in which he uses mainly primary resources for his article. One of the many conflicts stated in this article started with the Spanish disapproval of some of the Apalachee customs like “Tribal dancing featuring scalps taken in raids” (Covington, 1972) and also the act of scalping were outlawed by the village council, in which causes a revolt that turned out unsuccessful for the Indians. Therefor the Spanish punishes all the Apalachee men as well all the ones that were loyal to the Spanish by forcing them to contribute in labor which “was hard work
Oral history teaches the Navajo be aware of changes in the land and to protect Navajo synecdoche by avoiding ominous threats like rodents (35). But more significantly, oral history, as taught by the elders, requires the Navajo to respect their ceremonial dances, winter shoe games, and spiritual artifacts by refusing to sell their culture for capital (39). Navajo leaders used this 1993 illness to evaluate ignored cultural values and use ceremonies to strengthen “familiar ties and relationships” (40). By neglecting their traditions, the Navajo were bringing destruction upon themselves. Elders also sharply pointed out that “physical changes in the land reflect a break down in the proper relationship between Navajo and mother Earth” (39). The destruction of the Navajo exists in the uranium mining pits, road and water projects and dumping sites, unless prescribed healing ceremonies and future obedience can redeem their relationship with the land and the Holy People.
Keith Hamilton Basso was a cultural and linguistic Anthropologist who studied the Western Apache in Arizona, more specifically a place called Cibecue. In his essay Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache, he traveled with his Apache companions Charles Henry; who he describes as a veteran maker of place-worlds, and Charles' cousin, Morley Cromwell. Together their objective was to record topographic maps of the aproximate location of each and every place that bears and Apache name within a twenty-mile radius of the Cibecue community. Upon Basso's travels he learns much about how the Apache outline their model of place, Basso reffers to the Apache place-making as a form of narrative art. Mainly through story, Charles
Keith H. Basso’s ethnographic research titled, To Give up on Words: Silence in Western Apache Culture is an investigation of situations when members of a certain Apache community in the western United States assume the state of silence as a form of social interaction. In this paper, I will first note details of the society under consideration and Basso’s interests in regards to the questions he is trying to answer. I will introduce some anthropological concepts that are suitable to the discussion, followed by Basso’s observations regarding silence in the Apache community, including his methods, arguments, and conclusion. Finally, I will evaluate Basso’s findings and deduce if the evidence supports the conclusion made; I will also discuss Basso’s entry into the community, which is sparsely described in the text.
In the essay “The Way to Rainy Mountain” by N. Scott Momaday, honors the Kiowa culture and describes its traditions.The author employs a wistful tone, to convey his expression towards the lost of his heritage. Through the use of rhetorical devices, the author conveys his thesis precisely. Diction also plays a vital role in expressing tone. N. Scott Momaday in his reminiscence demonstrates nostalgic longing for a time that cannot be salvaged and is gone forever. The author reminds us of lost tribes, lost religions and lost hope as well as how important a person's heritage is to them.
Momaday forces upon the reader the idea of language as a remedy for sickness; not only of the mind, but of the heart, also. If a speaker can reach a listener and show the listener what she means, then that is the most honorable achievement. Momaday wants the reader to know the importance of word weaving, of weaving the words to form a beautiful picture that can heal souls if spoken correctly. Momaday believes that the Native Americans who never bothered to learn to read and write, those who depend on their words, are those whose words are most powerful. The love for words, spoken with passion, makes them take on a three-dimensional quality. The words become the images and show a listener instead of telling, making the moment an experience instead of just a moment. The listener can feel what the speaker is trying to say; there is no need for interpretation, everything is already understood. Momaday convinces the reader that the spoken language goes beyond what words are being said; the words become their meaning, transcend into complete understanding and clarity. The experience should be remembered as one of self-revelation and understanding, not a moment filled with monotonous words. Momaday does not think it should be about memorizing the words for intellect, but about seeing the image they create. He wants the reader to know how important the woven web of words is so that the reader is able to understand how Native American tradition has lasted so long without words being written; that it is not the remembrance of words, but the remembranc...
This documentary talks about the land of the Native Americans and the economical, political, and cultural effects that caused their deprivation of religious freedom. This documentary also introduces three different stories that show how white Americans play a role in stripping the Native’s land away for lucrative and recreational purposes. This involve the Lakato’s Devils Tower, the Hopi’s Colorado Plateau, and the Wintu’s Mount Shasta who all struggle for the right to practice their religion in their sacred land that they originated from long ago. The idea of not allowing these indigenous communities from practicing their right of the First Amendment essentially prevents them from connecting the natural world with
“Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective” an essay written by Leslie Marmon Silko brings to life the diversified facets of the Pueblo Indian culture, sharing with readers the infrastructure of Puebloan dialect and folklore. Likewise, Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue” details a series of prominent reflections of the nurturing voice responsible for constructing the author’s perceptions of the world. Both of these essays share a corresponding theme of the influence one’s culture can have on can have on individual styles of communication. The implication of the nonfiction elements plot and setting throughout the piece allows the author to adequately reinforce the theme of each piece. Each essay embodies commonalities, as well as, differences in the nonfiction elements used to depict the common theme.
There is a deep relationship between the environment and Western Apache people. The bonds between the two are so strong that it is embedded in their culture and history. Keith Basso, author of Wisdom Sits in Places expanded on this theory and did so by divulging himself into Western Apaches life. He spent fifteen years with the Apache people studying their relationship with the environment, specifically concentrating on ‘Place-names.’ When Basso first began to work with the Apache people, one of his Apache friends told him to ‘learn the names,’ because they held a special meaning with the community. (Cruikshank 1990: 54) Place-names are special names given to a specific locality where an event took place that was significant in history and crucial in shaping morals and beliefs. Through the use of place-names, the environment became a teaching tool for Apache people.
Virgin Land: The American West As Symbol and Myth, by Henry Nash Smith is a very interesting book and it’s not your typical history book. It is an critical analysis of how Americans view the western expansion through the myths, legends, and symbolic culture that’s associated with it. Smith delves into the topic of what the West and the frontier meant to the American public. This is not a book which discusses established history but a book about what people believe is true about the American past. This analysis of the American Western experience is important to American historiographical research. Henry Nash Smith gives those interested in exploring the symbology and mythology of the West and the American experience a place to start.