Wisdom sits in places : landscape and language among the Western Apache

Book

Wisdom sits in places : landscape and language among the Western Apache / Keith H. Basso.

Basso, Keith H., 1940-2013 (Author).

Summary:

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.

Record details

ISBN: 0826317235
ISBN: 9780826317230
ISBN: 0826317243
ISBN: 9780826317247
Physical Description: xviii, 171 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Publisher: Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, ©1996.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-166) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: Western Apache pronunciation guide -- Quoting the ancestors -- Stalking with stories -- Speaking with names -- Wisdom sits in places.
Awards Note:: Western States Book Award for Creative Nonfiction, 1996.