Keith Hamilton Basso (March 15, 1940 – August 4, 2013) was a

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

and

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

noted for his study of the Western Apaches, specifically those from the community of

Cibecue, Arizona Cibecue ( apw, Dishchiiʼ Bikoh "Horizontally Red Valley/Canyon") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The population was 1,713 in the 2010 United States Census. The ...

. Basso was professor emeritus of anthropology at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

and earlier taught at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

. After first studying

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño a ...

culture in 1959, Basso completed a bachelor's degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

(B.A., 1962) and then took the doctorate at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

(Ph.D., 1967). He was the son of novelist

Hamilton Basso Joseph Hamilton Basso (September 5, 1904 – May 13, 1964) was an American novelist and journalist. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Basso worked as reporter for several newspapers in New Orleans, wrote 11 novels, primarily about the South, and was ...

. A classic contribution to

ethnopoetics Ethnopoetics is a method of recording text versions of oral poetry or narrative performances (i.e. verbal lore) that uses poetic lines, verses, and stanzas (instead of prose paragraphs) to capture the formal, poetic performance elements which ...

and the ethnography of speaking, Basso's 1979 book ''Portraits of the Whiteman'' examines complex cultural and political significance of

jokes A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, ...

as a form of verbal art. Basso was awarded the

Victor Turner Victor Witter Turner (28 May 1920 – 18 December 1983) was a British cultural anthropologist best known for his work on symbols, rituals, and rites of passage. His work, along with that of Clifford Geertz and others, is often referred to as ...

Prize for Ethnographic Writing in 1997 for his

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

, ''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache''. The work was also the 1996

Western States Book Award Western States Book Award honored notable works of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and translation written and published in the Western United States. The award was given annually from 1984 until 2002. Lifetime-achievement awards were also p ...

Winner in Creative Nonfiction. In this ethnography, Basso expressed his hope that anthropologists will spend more time investigating how places and spaces are perceived and experienced; for human relationships to geographical places are rich, deeply felt, and profoundly telling. Basso died from cancer on August 4, 2013, at the age of 73, in Phoenix, Arizona.Cécile R. Ganteaume,
In Memoriam: Keith H. Basso (1940-2013)
National Museum of the American Indian Blog, accessed 10 August 2013

Works

Select bibliography

*''Heavy with Hatred: An Ethnographic Study of Western Apache Witchcraft'' (Ph.D. thesis, Stanford University, 1967) *''Western Apache Witchcraft'' (1969) *''The Cibecue Apache'' (1970, 1986) *''Apachean Culture History and Ethnology'', ed. Basso, Keith H, and Opler, Morris E. (1971) * *''Meaning in Anthropology'', ed. Basso, Keith H, and Selby, Henry A. (1976) *''Portraits of 'the Whiteman': Linguistic Play and Cultural Symbols among the Western Apache'' (1979) *''Western Apache Language and Culture: Essays in Linguistic Anthropology'' (1992) *''Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache'' (1996) *''Senses of Place'', ed. Keith H. Basso and

Steven Feld Steven Feld (born August 20, 1949) is an American ethnomusicologist, anthropologist, and linguist, who worked for many years with the Kaluli ( Bosavi) people of Papua New Guinea. He earned a MacArthur Fellowship in 1991. Early life Feld was born ...

(1996) *''Don’t Let the Sun Step Over You: A White Mountain Apache Family Life, 1860–1975'' (2004), an oral history with

Eva Tulene Watt Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in ...

External links

Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing Winners, 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basso, Keith H. 1940 births 2013 deaths University of New Mexico faculty American anthropologists Cultural anthropologists Anthropological linguists Ethnographers Stanford University alumni Harvard University alumni Linguists of Na-Dene languages University of Arizona faculty Yale University faculty