Week 10 Summaries and Questions

[esther]

Quoting the Ancestors, chapter one of Wisdom Sits in Places, is about
the idea of place-making, a process by which the Apache people
constructed pieces of history in each place they visited. Each place
has its own descriptive name, such as Water Lies With Mud in an Open
Container, which tells the story (and history) of the location. In
this chapter, Basso is taught by a wise Apache, Charles Henry, that by
saying out loud the names of different places, one is quoting Apache
ancestors who named the land. Charles also reveals to Basso that the
Apache are not interested so much in when but rather where events
occurred, and that the place-names serve to remind people of the past
and to teach them important lessons they can use in the present and
apply to the future.

Chapter two, Stalking with Stories, deals with the importance of story-
telling to the Apache people. They tell stories to teach people
lessons of morality without embarrassing them. These stories are
usually told to people who have done something wrong, such as acting
“too Americanized” like the girl who wore hair curlers to a ceremony
that requires young women to wear their hair down. These tales are
directly related to those who the story is being told to and act as
analogies. The stories serve to change people and “stalk” them to
remind them not to misbehave or do something wrong again in the
future. There are four main categories of stories, which are myths,
historical tales, sagas, and gossip, but the most important ones are
the history stories, which tell of what happened long ago. In essence,
historical tales serve to discourage social misconduct.

The fourth chapter of the book, Wisdom Sits in Places, talks about the
importance of places, and how they bring meaning to people. More
importantly, places can make people wise according to the Apache idea
of wisdom. According to Dudley Patterson, Basso’s long-time friend and
a particularly wise man, wisdom is the ability to foresee danger when
no signs of it are visible, and to avoid the danger. Wisdom is
obtained by making one’s mind smooth, resilient, and steady so that no
outside forces can distract someone when they are thinking under the
threat of danger. Because people aren’t naturally born with this type
of mind, they have the capability to obtain it by studying the
histories of many different places and using the knowledge that they
gain from them in their own experiences. Hence, wisdom sits in places.
Dudley also gives an example of how important it is to listen to wise
people by telling several stories, one of them including the story of
Coyote Pisses in the Water, a tale about people who drank water too
hastily without waiting for a wise man to make sure it was safe, and
ended up getting sick because the water was contaminated. The chapter
also talks about the sense of place, and how it connects people
together and provides them with a shared identity.

Questions:
1. Why is place-making so important for the Apache?
2. Why do you think the Apache use stories to teach misbehaving people
lessons instead of just directly telling them off?
3. How is wisdom defined in American culture? How is it different or
similar to the Apache idea of wisdom?

[Precy Agtarap]

Precy Agtarap

Ch. 1 Quoting the Ancestors
In the first chapter we are introduced to the ideas of place- making
and place- worlds. These ideas conclude that through reviving and
recreating history people find ways to connect to the places for
different reasons. Places and our experiences that occurs in theses
places help to create social traditions as well as to aid in our
search of our personal identities. Forming these connections with
these places also create cultures. In the account relating to the
place, Shades of Shit, the moral is to do what is right and good will
come out of it. Chapter one introduces how names of places were
created and it was for how they saw the place back then. Now, it is
hard to picture a place that does not seem to resemble the given name
but it does help us to use our imagination to connect the past with
the present. Without these places we have no identity or cultural
diversity because places are what makes us who we are.

With the environments continuously changing due to the climate and
other natural phenomenon, do you think it would be appropriate to
rename the places that their ancestors came up with in order to keep
up with the present such as wet lands are now dry lands?

Ch. 2 Stalking With Stories
Like all stories comes a moral lesson. In Apache story telling, there
are four main major types of genres in narrative story telling which
are myths, historical tales, sagas, and gossip. The most common use
of narrative story telling are historical tales in which a story
presents consequences of a person committing an unacceptable behavior
against Apache custom. The Apaches used this form of teaching so that
others will not make the same mistakes as the people in the stories
whom are usually poked fun of or even killed. This is also to inform
the everyone about what is an acceptable social behavior in Apache
customs. The ones who do not know that what they are doing is wrong
don't know until they are with an "arrow". This is when they finally
realize their actions and must somehow learn from their mistake.
These stories are used for "critical and remedial responses" so that
these people can move on but the places will "stalk" them with the
memories of the past unless they can improve their behaviors.

What do you feel is more effective, teaching with stories or telling
someone they have done something wrong at the time it occurred?

Ch. 4 Wisdom Sits in Places
In chapter 4, Basso claims that not much work has been to done to
undergo research on how people's surroundings help them survive. By
using the idea of sense of place people are able to connect with their
world or environment and create wisdom such as the story of the Old
Man Owl and the two girls who messed with his mind. These stories
have a way of communicating to the people that their actions need to
change but it just takes self realization to do so. Basso is curious
to learn what constitutes wisdom and learns from the people of Cibecue
the stories that create knowledge. The people say that you need to
know many place- names and know what occurred at these places because
the land "can make people wise". These stories are created to set the
standards and beliefs of Apache people but it also helps the
conflicting person improve on his mistake and develop wisdom.

What is the significance of having knowledge of places and how does it
affect the Apaches?

[Antoinette Patrick]

Chapter 1: Quoting the Ancestors
Within this chapter, the author Basso explains what the term place-
worlds means and it is described throughout the chapter. The Apache
people were very descriptive in telling places they had been and this
is told through this idea of place worlds. The ancestors of the
Apache people told their history by giving certain places such
descriptive names to the scenes in which they envisioned. “The
Western Apache people used this as a way of narrative art” which is
important is telling their history and should not be described
wrongly. Charles, Morley, and Jason are people in the chapter that
helped with the journey. They tell their ancestors stories for
specific places and the importance of the names that were given.
Unfortunately, the Apache history is not explained to its full
potential and the people wanted that to be known.

Chapter 2: Stalking with Stories
This chapter explains and reflects the importance of story-telling
that the ancestors used. The ancestors would tell stories in order to
portray a certain meaning or scare the people listening. This was a
good tactic used to explain why things are the way they are and why
things happen to certain people. The people would become scared to do
specific things and it was what the ancestor wanted. The story-
telling was done through myths, sagas, gossip, and even tales. The
chapter also discusses Nick Thompsons narrative and its reaction with
the Apache people.

The last chapter in the book, Wisdom Sits in Places, basically
explains the entire meaning of the book and what it actually means.
It says how a place has so much meaning and the people also have
meaning in these places. So if you look at a place, there is always
something that happened there before that gives it meaning. It
defines wisdom and makes the point that people should listen to the
elderly because they are considered wiser and experienced more things
within their lives. Also it talks about cultural constructs and a
sense of place and how it “represents a culling of experience.”

1. What makes place-worlds significant for the Apache people and other
people?
2. Why is Nick Thompson’s experience so important in explaining story-
telling?
3. How are cultural constructs and a sense of place explained in our
culture?

[Chanel Golan]

Response to Esther's questions

1) Place-making is so important for the Apache because it helps their
society feel a sense of what their ancestors went through. Instead of
simply understanding the history, the Apache are able to physically
understand the true meaning of their environment by pronouncing the
names of every place they visit. Within this tradition/ritual, the
individuals place themselves in a state of mind which allows them to
visualize where they are standing at a specific moment. Basso helps
the reader relate to these customs by explaining how when thought
about a certain place’s name, it is easy to imagine what the place is
and where it is located.
2) The Apache believe that reading and writing is not as valuable as
the spoken language. Instead of blaming individuals for their
misbehaviors, the Apache tell historical stories which include morals
about misbehavior. I think that the Apache feel the need to discipline
their members in this fashion because of the fact that a child learns
through interesting stories. Since the Apache children are illiterate
at such young ages, it is obvious that verbal narratives are the only
resort when teaching. When a person watches a movie or listens to the
radio, he or she is able to grasp the information in a concise manner
and this is apparent throughout the Apache culture.
3) In American culture, wisdom is defined to be a state of knowledge
which a human being is taught through years of experience and/or
events. In America, a wise individual is someone who attains a strong
intelligence of everyday matters and is able to make sense of
obstacles which is not common for anyone else. In the Apache culture,
wisdom is developed through places and stories; therefore, they have a
saying in which the “land is what makes you wise.” Since the Apache
believe in many myths, it is apparent that whatever is spoken within
their tribe is understood as being true. Their rituals are long-
lasting and the notion that wisdom is derived by the number of places
you visit is known and accepted by their people.