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

cultural Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

and

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

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

noted for his study of the

Western Apache The Western Apache are an Indigenous people of North America, and a subgroup of the greater Apache identity, who live primarily in east central Arizona, in the United States and north of Mexico in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua. Most live ...

s, specifically those from the community of

Cibecue, Arizona Cibecue ( "Horizontally Red Valley/Canyon")but was originally known as Jił łichiiʼbikoh (Below the red mountain)is a census-designated place (CDP) in Navajo County, Arizona, United States, on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The populatio ...

. Basso was professor emeritus of anthropology at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

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, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Early life

On 15 March 1940, Keith was born in Asheville,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

to Etolia Simmons and

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 w ...

. His mother, Etolia was a teacher. His father, Hamilton was a novelist, essayist, and editor, notably of

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

. They both had roots in New Orleans. He moved with his parents to

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

when his father took a position as a staff writer for the New Yorker. At Connecticut, he engaged in fly fishing during the day and moved around his father's literary circle in the evenings. Early on, Keith was interested in reading literature and writing. His early inclination to anthropology started with

Clyde Kluckhohn Clyde Kluckhohn (; January 11, 1905 in Le Mars, Iowa – July 28, 1960 near Santa Fe, New Mexico), was an American anthropologist and social theorist, best known for his long-term ethnographic work among the Navajo and his contributions to the d ...

's classes at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

where he completed his undergraduate studies in 1962 with

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

honours. During these years, he spent the summer of 1959 in Arizona and began his 'passion for horses, history, and the language and lives of White Mountain Apaches'. He received his PhD in anthropology from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1967.

Teaching

In 1967, he started teaching at

. Thereafter, in 1982, he moved to

. He joined

(UNM) in 1988, and served as Regents Professor, followed by Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. At UNM, he taught one semester each year and spent the rest of his time living and working on his ranch in

Heber-Overgaard, Arizona Heber-Overgaard is a census-designated place (CDP) in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. Situated atop the Mogollon Rim, the community lies at an elevation of . The population was 2,898 at the 2020 census. Heber and Overgaard are technical ...

. He retired at UNM in 2006.

Research and writing

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

joke 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, ...

s 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 rite of passage, rites of passage. His work, along with that of Clifford Geertz and others, is often ...

Prize for Ethnographic Writing in 1997 for his

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

, ''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.

Awards

* 2001. SAR J. I. Staley Prize for ''Wisdom Sits in Places'' (1996). * 1997. Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing for ''Wisdom Sits in Places'' (1996). * 1996.

for Creative Nonfiction for ''Wisdom Sits in Places'' (1996).

Personal life

Basso was married to Gayle Potter. In his 1988 article 'Speaking with Names', he acknowledged her as 'partner in fieldwork as in everything else, whose steady encouragement, graceful acumen, and sheer good sense helped immeasurably in moving things.' 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 bo ...

(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

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 cultural anthropologists Anthropological linguists American ethnographers Stanford University alumni Harvard University alumni Linguists of Na-Dene languages University of Arizona faculty Yale University faculty