One Take-Away From Native American Perspectives

One take-away from Native American Perspectives that helped me understand Native American history more was the idea of regimes of truth from French philosopher Michel Foucault. This idea was vital in understanding Native American and settler colonial relations. Foucault said, “Truth is a thing of this world: it is produced only by a virtue of multiple forms of constraint. And it induces regular effects of power. Each society has its regime of truth, its “general politics” of truth: that is, the types of discourse which it accepts and makes function as true; the mechanisms and instances which enable one to distinguish true and false statements, the means by which each is sanctioned; the techniques and procedures accorded value in the acquisition
Place names are names that provide an abundant amount of detail about the location. Many indigenous languages have place names. As a Diné person I speak some of our language, yet I never recognized place names or their importance before. Clara Kidwell explains in her book Native American Studies, that place names “… express a sense of place- within, above, beside, and so on- by suffixes to or elements after nouns. They are often highly polysynthetic, that is, they combine elements into single complex words rather than using a number of discrete words…” (Kidwell & Velie 87). These places names describe a location’s appearance, an historical event that took place, or a religious sentiment. Additionally, some place names are viewed as especially sacred since the names were created by ancestors who long preceded the current
Basso is not Native himself, but he was emerged in Western Apache culture on the reservation and studied the language. Basso was challenged in his quest to understand and correctly pronounce the Western Apache language. In one instance, Basso gave up in pronouncing a place name in Western Apache and an elder scolded him. The elder’s response demonstrated the importance of place names in indigenous cultures. He said “Why is he in a hurry? It’s disrespectful. Our ancestors made this name. They made it just as it is. They made it for a reason. They spoke it first, a long time ago! He’s repeating the speech of ancestors” (Basso 10). Similarly to myself, Basso was struck in the realization of the sacredness of a place name. After reflection Basso said, “And never had I expected that using Apache place-names might be heard by those who use them as repeating verbatim- actually quoting- the speech of their early ancestors” (Basso 10). After better understanding the idea of a place name he could recognize them on a regular basis. Place names described stunning landscapes as well as historic sites and were often accompanied by stories or songs. Some place names he encountered included Sáan Łeezhiteezhé or Two Old Women Are Buried (a hill), Tú ‘Ahiyi’ee Nziné or They Are Greteful For Water (a small