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Many American Indian tribes are today expanding the use of their homelands beyond natural resource extraction and tourism, by turning back to their land as a source of pride, orientation, and strength. Our topic is the Ndee, also known as the Western Apache of what is today called Arizona. We discuss the indivisibility of Ndee land and culture, the historical forces that operated unsuccessfully to alienate the Ndee from their land, and how the Ndee are returning elements of their geographical, cultural, and linguistic heritage to a central place of honor while addressing contemporary challenges.
If there is a single nugget of insight to harvest from our discussion, it is from the first lesson that Welch learned from then-White Mountain Apache Tribal Council Chairman Ronnie Lupe: the deceptively simple Apache word ni'. A small word, to be sure, but a potent one. Its potency derives from multiple meanings and the somewhat elusive link between two meanings.
In the Apache language ni' means both land and mind, that is, country and way of thinking. This is no accident or random convergence. For the Apache people, as for many other Native Americans - to borrow a bit recklessly from the great anthropologist, Levi-Strauss - land is good to walk and good to think. The inseparability of land and thought, of geography and memory, and of place and wisdom has long been recognized by non-Indians. For a much longer period - since time immemorial, in fact - this unity has been put to work by Ndee, Dineh, and other people who possess spirits embedded in their place of living. What is relatively new and worth emphasizing is how this concept is at last receiving the attention it deserves from resource managers, from linguistic preservationists and cultural perpetuationists, and from historians, archaeologists, astronomers, tribal advocates, and teachers, to name just a few.
HOW THE LAND WAS LOST
To honor this vital link between place and people fully, one must know something of the Ndee homeland, centered on the spectacular reservation lands occupied by the White Mountain and San Carlos Apache tribes. This rugged area north of the Gila River was the exclusive province of the indomitable Apache until 1870. It is a magnificent place in which to travel and...