The indivisibility of land and mind: Indigenous knowledge and collaborative archaeology within Apache contexts

Abstract

Contemporary understandings of Apache history and culture have largely resulted from anthropological work by non-Apache researchers. Most of this work has exhibited a limited appreciation of Apache ontologies that provide better understandings of Apache past and present . The goal of this article is to utilize the Apache concept of Ni and Apache interpretations of the Chiricahua mountainscape to demonstrate how Apache communities retain significant and powerful links to the Chiricahua Mountains. It also provides a discussion of the dilemma of utilizing Western theory in collaborative projects with Apache communities and the need to focus more on tribally derived knowledge. Such knowledge can provide unique glimpses into the Apache past and associations to their former homelands that are crucial for contemporary collaborative archaeological–anthropological research projects involving Apache cultural experts and their ancestral homelands.