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.
Basso describes ‘place-names’ as a “universal tool of the historical imagination and in some societies, if not the good majority, it's sure enough among the basic of all.” The Apache people link places with events that have taken place in history. Basso describes several of those place-names in his book and every of the stories tell a tale of history and morality in reference to the environment. I found it very fascinating that no dates were connected to the stories. i think this is because time frames deduct from the meaning of the story. Old narratives, in a sense, decrease important because we think of them as old and out-dated.
The Apache people gave places-names in order to notify people of their past, also to show respect for the land in which they lived on for so many years. Charles Henry, is a friend of Bassos and Apache informant, explain his ancestors naming process, “this place ma...
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... in their history and although it was never on a conventional map, it remained tremendously important to the Apache heritage.
In Apache culture, Basso theorizes that there is a bond between oral narratives and the environment. He claims that story telling is a very influential tool used by the Apache people and it is used to “create bonds between human beings and features of the landscape. Bassos, as well as a number of Apache elders, believed that the disconnection among the land and people is the reason of many problems.
When I read Wisdom Sits in Places I could sense the importance of place-names through the words of the Apache people’s stories. Events that took place many years ago in specific areas reiterate the morals and beliefs the Apache people hold near to them. To say that they are anything but important to Apache history and culture would be a mistake.
Our name is derived by Vetromile from the Pānnawānbskek, 'it forks on the white rocks,' or Penobscot, 'it flows on rocks’. My tribe connected to the Abnaki confederacy (q. v.), closely related in language and customs to the Norridgewock. They are sometimes included in the most numerous tribe of the Abnaki confederacy, and for a time more influential than the Norridgewock. My tribe has occupied the country on both sides of Penobscot bay and river, and claimed the entire basin of Penobscot river. Our summer resort was near the sea, but during the winter and spring we inhabited lands near the falls, where we still reside today, My tribes principal modern village being called Oldtown, on Indian island, a few miles above Bangor, in Penobscot county.
Kathryn book Life in the Pueblo is based on excavations that she did at Lizard Man Village (Kamp, 1997). This was a small pueblo located in Arizona which is believed to be inhabited between 11th and 13th century. These ancient excavations were first carried out by United States Forest Service and were parts of Grinnell College field school (Kamp, 1997). The aim of the book was to describe Lizard Man Village and present excavation processes and analysis. Kamp 1997 offers archaeological interpretation of the site in relation to the past understandings. She bring out successfully three narratives. These narratives include ethnographic data in relationship to traditional accounts from Hopi (a place which is believed to be the first resident of Lizard Man) (Kamp, 1997). He also bring out clearly the issue of archaeology as well as fictional account basing it on both ethnography and archaeology.
Cahokia: Ancient America’s Great City on the Mississippi, by Timothy R. Pauketat, is on the history, society, and religious customs of the Cahokian people. Consisting of twelve chapters, each chapter deals with a different aspect of Cahokian society. Chapter one opens up by telling the reader how the stars in the sky played an important role in the Native American belief system. The Planet Venus was the key figure in all of this, in fact the ancient Maya believed Venus to be a god. According to the Cahokians , Venus had a dual nature, in the daytime Venus was viewed a masculine, and in the evening it was seen as feminine. In the same chapter, Pauketat lets us know about the discovery of, two hundred packed-earth mounds constructed in a five-square mile zone represented the belief systems of the Cahokian people. Historical archeology was the main reason for the discovery of two hundred earth packed mounds. At its peak, Cahokia had a population of over ten thousand, not including the people who lived in the towns surrounding the city. By the time the 1800s came around, the European Americans had already been living in North America for some time; however, many Europeans refused to acknowledge the Native American role in building these ancient mounds. Instead, they believed the mounds to been built by a race of non-Indians. Due to the preservation of Cahokia within a state park and modern highway system, many things became lost. Since many things became lost, very few archaeologists have a good understanding of Cahokia. While there may be a loss of a complete picture, archaeologists are still making progress with numerous discoveries. These discoveries bring into question long-held beliefs such as a people who were peaceful an...
“There is one Acoma. It is a class by itself. The peer of it is not in the world…The longest visit never wears out its glamour: one feels as in a strange, sweet, unearthly dream, whose very rocks are genii, and whose people swart conjurors. It is the spendthrift of beauty”-Lummis, 1983 (James 18). Acoma was a beautiful, strong village, drawing many people to it, even though they were usually unwelcome. “From the very outset Acoma excited the curiosity and even the fear of pioneers because of the strangeness of its position and the reputation of its inhabitants for ferocity” (Sedgwick preface). Although Acoma had such a reputation, it did not stop Don Juan de Onate from taking over such a magnificent place. Once Onate gained control, the Acoma reputation vanished and all lives of the Acoma Indians changed politically, economically, and especially socially.
Philippi is not a working city, and as a result, the significance of what happened here is more important than what can actually be seen.? Therefore, a clear grasp of past events is essential toward appreciating the importance of the land.
The Plains region extends from south Canada into modern-day Mexico and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The relatively large area hosts many Native American tribes, which includes the Comanche, Kiowa, and Pawnee just to name a few. One of the biggest events and aspects of Plains region culture is what is known as the Powwow. This event is what makes this region unique and will be the main focus of this part of the essay.
Cruikshank, Julie 1990 Getting the Words Right: Perspectives on Naming and Places in Athapaskan Oral History. Artic Anthropology 27: 52-65.
Blij has clearly put this book into historical significance by mentioning the idea of geography and how it plays a role in societies all over the world. However, the five themes of culture regions, cultural diffusion, cultural interaction, cultural ecology, and cultural landscapes are all clearly defined within a specific context to a particular nation. Through reading this intriguing piece of literature I received the underlying notion that Blij firmly believes that landscapes of the world realm are not going to change. De Blij worldview of regions, diffusion, interaction, ecology, and landscapes has allowed him to simultaneously link issues together from the United States all the way to Southeast Asia.
There seems to be a central theme to Sears’ book, Momaday’s book, and the various films we have reviewed, that there are old stories told about all of these "sacred places" that show us how to understand, care for, preserve, and protect the land around them. There are two aspects that stem from this main theme: that the words of these stories are traditional and sacred, and that people value different parts of the land in different ways. Some cultures value land as a worshiping center while others use it merely for entertainment and recreation. A problem comes into play when the culture’s views clash and the people don’t respect each other’s customs. When people don’t understand native’s points of view, they don’t understand how important their values are either.
Indian nations like the Cheyenne Tribe, the Choctaw tribe and the Navajo tribe are often overlooked, though they have been quite influential in our history as a continuously growing world. Modern culture and society cares nothing for the start of the tribes, nor their modern state, their help to our beginning and continuance, or to the modern culture and society of those indian tribes.
In this paper you will read about the many ways that the Apache Indians used different
Throughout my life, I've heard many different stories about my family. Because of these stories, I know about my background, and they have helped form my identity. Randall Bass, professor of English at Georgetown University, agrees that stories help shape people's identities. Bass states that, "Individuals derive their sense of identity from their culture, and cultures are systems of belief that determine how people live their lives" (Bass 1). Cultural stories about family history, religion, nationality, and heritage help influence people's behavior and beliefs. Identities of different people come from their cultures. Story telling begins at home. Stories help connect people to their systems of beliefs. They sculpt people's lives by giving them a model of how to live. People receive their earliest knowledge from different stories.(Bass)
There are many similarities between The Namesake and “Interpreter of Maladies.” In both of these, an identity crisis is faced. In The Namesake, Gogol faces identity crises by rejecting his unusual name. “The family looked Indian but dressed as foreigners did, the children in stiff, brightly colored clothing and caps with translucent visors.”(Lahiri44) In “Interpreter of Maladies” the family faced an identity crisis trying to merge their American identity with their Indian identity. Even though they could have dressed like Indians in India, they didn’t. They dressed as they would in America and stood out. Both “Interpreter of Maldies” and The Namesake are related to the second generation Indian-Americans, along with Jhumpa Lahiri herself.
...she refutes this with strong counterarguments about the changes that has happened to Fox Hill; thus the need to view the village not as the marker of Bahamian identity but as this malleable, fluid source of “Bahamianness” that is free from stagnation. When Bethel discusses the Pierce Lewis Theory of Monuments she introduces this argument of monuments amping the reader to think that the marker of the ideal Bahamian national identity is in Rawson's Square. However, after Bethel attributes the un-relatable nature of this argument to the Bahamian context any hopes of monuments being the cornerstone of national identity was washed away. This style of writing is very effective because what it does is introduce what the reader may be thinking and then logically proves why this viewpoint is wrong. As a result, allowing the reader to see that only her viewpoint makes sense.
Hirsch, E. 1995. “Introduction, Landscape: between place and space” in Hirsch, E. (ed.) The Anthropology of Landscape: Perspectives on Place and Space. Oxford : New York: Clarendon Press.