Wisdom Sits In Places Summary

I read the article Wisdom Sits in Places, about the White Mountain Apache tribe located in Eastern Arizona. The purpose of this article was describing how Anthropologist Keith Basso worked with two gentlemen from the Apache tribe in recording a topographic map of the area using Apache words. The Apache had named theses areas decades ago but the names were never recorded on a map for other tribesmen to read and learn. Mr. Basso traveled with his companions during the hot and humid summer of 1979. He traveled through the Apache reservation learning the names of these places and the significance to their culture. He tried his best to learn and repeat the foreign Apache words, but this was very noticeably difficult for him. His companions became impatient with him and believed he was disrespecting their …show more content…
Basso soon learned that every word the Apache spoke or named a certain thing would describe what they were seeing with their own eyes. The companions explained to him that the ancestors were there a long time ago. They were poor and had very little belongings and needed to pick the perfect place for the families to live. They needed to be close to water, which was extremely important to them for basic living but also for spiritual needs. They needed to plant crops and be able to hunt. As they came across areas that would incorporate all these things they would settle there. They soon went about naming the areas that would be beneficial to their survival so all their people would know where to go to prosper. One area was called Snakes Water. This area had the beautiful water they sought after but the area was also full of snakes. It was told to the people, that one of their own tamed the snakes and now it was safe to gather water there. They also had words that would describe the perfect area for farming and for hunting turkey, they named it Goshtl’ish Tii Bit Sikane or in English Water lies with mud in an open