Preface Summary and Analysis

The preface opens by asking what the attachment is between persons and place. We all understand that it matters in the abstract though we also take our real attachments for granted. It is when we lose our place that we feel adrift. Sense of place involves culture and "local knowledge". Many anthropologists have been hesitant to focus on place, but this has started in recent years. Fifteen years ago, the author, Keith Basso, had already been involved with research in Western Apache villages for two decades. He first visited the town of Cibecue in 1959 and was captivated. After graduate school, he wrote a wide range of articles and books on various aspects of Apache culture-their ceremonial symbolism, verb stems, social interaction and so on.

Basso, however, eventually became bored with anthropology, and so Ronnie Lupe, the chair of the White Mountain...