Keith H. Basso

Keith H. Basso
Portrait of American Anthropologist Keith H. Basso (1940–2013). Photo courtesy the Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico.
Born	(1940-03-15)March 15, 1940 Asheville, North Carolina
Died	August 4, 2013(2013-08-04)(aged 73) Phoenix, Arizona
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University(B.A., 1962),Stanford University(Ph.D., 1967)
Known for	Study of language and place names of Western Apache
Spouse	Gayle Potter-Basso
Awards	Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing, 1997
Scientific career
Fields	Anthropology,Linguistics,Native American studies,Linguistic anthropology
Institutions	University of New Mexico,University of Arizona,Yale University
Thesis	Heavy with Hatred: An Ethnographic Study of Western Apache Witchcraft(1967)

Keith Hamilton Basso(March 15, 1940 – August 4, 2013) was aculturalandlinguisticanthropologistnoted for his study of theWestern Apaches,specifically those from the community ofCibecue, Arizona.Basso was professor emeritus of anthropology at theUniversity of New Mexicoand earlier taught at theUniversity of ArizonaandYale University.

Early life

On 15 March 1940, Keith was born in Asheville,North Carolinato Etolia Simmons andHamilton Basso.His mother, Etolia was a teacher. His father, Hamilton was a novelist, essayist, and editor, notably ofThe New Yorker.They both had roots in New Orleans.He moved with his parents toConnecticutwhen 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 withClyde Kluckhohn's classes atHarvard Universitywhere he completed his undergraduate studies in 1962withmagna cum laudehonours.During these years, he spent the summer of 1959 in Arizona and began his 'passion for horses, history, and the language and lives ofWhite Mountain Apaches'. He received his PhD in anthropology fromStanford Universityin 1967.

Teaching

In 1967, he started teaching atUniversity of Arizona.Thereafter, in 1982, he moved toYale University.He joinedUniversity of New Mexico(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 inHeber-Overgaard, Arizona.He retired at UNM in 2006.

Research and writing

A classic contribution toethnopoeticsand theethnography of speaking,Basso's 1979 bookPortraits of the Whitemanexamines complex cultural and political significance ofjokesas a form of verbal art.

Basso was awarded theVictor TurnerPrize for Ethnographic Writing in 1997 for hisethnography,Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache.The work was also the 1996Western States Book AwardWinner 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 forWisdom Sits in Places(1996).
• 1997. Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing forWisdom Sits in Places(1996).
• 1996.Western States Book Awardfor Creative Nonfiction forWisdom 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.

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)
• Goodwin, Greenville (compiler) (1971). Basso, Keith H (ed.).Western Apache Raiding and Warfare.Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press.ISBN0816502978.LCCN73-142255.
• 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 andSteven Feld(1996)
• Don’t Let the Sun Step Over You: A White Mountain Apache Family Life, 1860–1975(2004), an oral history withEva Tulene Watt

External links

• Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing Winners, 1997