Keith H. Basso

landscape and language among the Western Apache

Wisdom sits in places

Keith Hamilton Basso

Drawing on current theory in symbolic anthropology and sociolinguistics, this interpretive essay investigates a complex form of joking based on material collected in a Western Apache community wherein Apaches stage carefully crafted imitations of Anglo-Americans.

Linguistic Play and Cultural Symbols Among the Western Apache

Portraits of 'the Whiteman'

This remarkable book introduces us to four unforgettable Apache people, each of whom offers a different take on the significance of places in their culture. Apache conceptions of wisdom, manners and morals, and of their own history are inextricably intertwined with place, and by allowing us to overhear his conversations with Apaches on these subjects Basso expands our awareness of what place can mean to people. Most of us use the term sense of place often and rather carelessly when we think of nature or home or literature. Our senses of place, however, come not only from our individual experiences but also from our cultures. Wisdom Sits in Places, the first sustained study of places and place-names by an anthropologist, explores place, places, and what they mean to a particular group of people, the Western Apache in Arizona. For more than thirty years, Keith Basso has been doing fieldwork among the Western Apache, and now he shares with us what he has learned of Apache place-names--where they come from and what they mean to Apaches. "This is indeed a brilliant exposition of landscape and language in the world of the Western Apache. But it is more than that. Keith Basso gives us to understand something about the sacred and indivisible nature of words and place. And this is a universal equation, a balance in the universe. Place may be the first of all concepts; it may be the oldest of all words."--N. Scott Momaday "In Wisdom Sits in Places Keith Basso lifts a veil on the most elemental poetry of human experience, which is the naming of the world. In so doing he invests his scholarship with that rarest of scholarly qualities: a sense of spiritual exploration. Through his clear eyes we glimpse the spirit of a remarkable people and their land, and when we look away, we see our own world afresh."--William deBuys "A very exciting book--authoritative, fully informed, extremely thoughtful, and also engagingly written and a joy to read. Guiding us vividly among the landscapes and related story-tellings of the Western Apache, Basso explores in a highly readable way the role of language in the complex but compelling theme of a people's attachment to place. An important book by an eminent scholar."--Alvin M. Josephy, Jr.

Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache

Wisdom Sits in Places

An ethnographic contribution describing the beliefs and ideas associated with witchcraft as shared "knowledge" that the Apaches have about their universe. Uncovers the types of interpersonal relationships with which witchcraft accusations are regularly associated and posits explanations for these associations.

Western Apache Witchcraft

This is a remarkable series of personal narrations from Western Apaches before and just after the various agencies and sub-agencies were established. It also includes extensive commentary on weapons and traditions, with Apache words and phrases translated and complete annotation.

Western Apache Raiding and Warfare

Cultural anthropologist Keith H. Basso (1940–2013) was noted for his long-term research of the Western Apaches, specifically those from the modern community of Cibecue, Arizona, the site of his ethnographic and linguistic research for fifty-four years. One of his earliest works, The Cibecue Apache, has now been read by generations of students. It captures the true character of Apache culture not only because of its objective analyses and descriptions but also because of the author’s belief in allowing the people to speak for themselves. Basso learned their language, became a trusted friend and intimate, and returned to the field often to gather data, participate, and observe. Basso’s goal in this now-classic work is to describe Cibecue Apache perceptions, experiences, conflicts, and indecision. A primary aim is to depict portions of the Western Apache belief system, especially those dealing with the supernatural. Emphasis is also given to the girls’ puberty ceremony, its meaning and functions, as well as modern Apache economic and political life.

The Cibecue Apache

Steven Feld

Eight respected ethnographers explore and evoke the ways in which people experience, express, imagine, and know the places in which they live.

Keith H. Basso

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