ies done by Frank Boas on Eskimos, we can see the importance of oral histories and the great impact they had on the people in which they were studying. The oral histories behind place-names connected the people to their cultural roots by linking them to their historical environments. Basso found out that in western Apache life, peoples sense of place, history, and present self, are inseparably intertwined Bassos, as well as a number of Apache elders, believed that the disconnection between the land and people is the cause of many problems. Ronnie Lupe, Chairman of the White Mountain Apache Tribe said, “Our Children are losing the land. It doesn’t go to work on them anymore. They don’t know the stories about what happened at these places. That is why some get into trouble.” (38) This confirms that there is a powerful relationship between place-names and the Apache people and when they disconnect from each other problems arise. There is no special ‘model’ nor ‘scientific’ reasoning applied to Western Apache place-names. The significance of place-names can be seen in the following quote given by an Apache named Benson Lewis. I think of the mountain called ‘White Rocks Lie Above In a Compact Cluster’ as it were my own grandmother. I recall stories of how it once was at that mountain. The stories told to me were like arrows. Elsewhere, hearing that mountains name, I see it. Its name is like a picture. Stories go to work on you like arrows. Stories make you live right. Stories make you replace yourself. (38)When I read Wisdom Sits in Places I could feel the importance of place-names through the words of the Apache peoples stories. Events that took place many years ago in a specific areas reiterate the morals and beliefs the Apache people hold near to them. To say that they are anything b...
