Big Sycamore Stands Alone: The Western Apaches, Aravaipa, and the Struggle for Place

by Ian W. Record

Overview

Western Apaches have long regarded the corner of Arizona encompassing Aravaipa Canyon as their sacred homeland. This book examines the evolving relationship between this people and this place, illustrating the enduring power of Aravaipa to shape and sustain contemporary Apache society.

Big Sycamore Stands Alone: The Western Apaches, Aravaipa, and the Struggle for Place articulates Aravaipa’s cultural legacy as seen through the eyes of some of its descendants, bringing Apache voices, knowledge, and perspectives to the fore. Focusing on the Camp Grant Massacre as its narrative centerpiece, Ian Record employs a unique approach that reflects how the Apaches conceptualize their history and identity, interweaving four distinct narrative threads: contemporary oral histories of individuals from the San Carlos reservation, historic documentation of Apache relationships to Aravaipa following the reservation’s establishment, descriptions of pre-reservation subsistence practices, and a history of early Apache struggles to maintain their connection with Aravaipa in the face of hostility from outsiders.

In addition, Record has mined the research notes of Grenville Goodwin to document important elements of Apache economic, political, and social organization in pre-reservation times.

A landmark ethnohistory, Big Sycamore Stands Alone documents a story that goes far beyond Cochise, Geronimo, and the Chiricahuas. Record’s work is a trailblazing synthesis of historical and anthropological materials that lends new insight into the relationship between people and place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806151908
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	07/01/2015
Series:	New Directions in Native American Studies Series , #1
Pages:	398
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ian W. Record is Director of the Partnership for Tribal Governance for the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C. From 2004 to 2014, Record served as Manager of Educational Resources for the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy at the University of Arizona, where he also received his Ph.D. He is the author of the study We Are the Stewards: Indigenous-Led Fisheries Innovation in North America and the producer and director of the documentary film, Return of the Red Lake Walleye.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgments xi

Author's Note xiii

Introduction 3

1 Singing to the Plants 15

From a Home to a Reservation 26

The "Hard" Way: The Western Apache Subsistence Economy 38

Western Apache Social and Political Organization 43

2 Someday You'll Remember This 55

Home Again: Returning to Arapa and Sambeda 63

Spring: A Time of Rebirth 69

An Enticing Target: New Spain Moves North 73

3 Between Two Worlds 95

We "Belong" Here: Apaches as Arapa's New Minority 104

Farms and Farming: Anchors of Western Apache Life 109

Contact: The American Frontier Reaches Apachería 116

4 Without Saying a Word 127

Arapa: From Full-Time Residence to Reservation Escape 131

Summer: Gathering Apachería's Bounty 135

Western Apaches: A Formidable Foe 142

5 We Have Faith in You 171

Arapa: A Cherished Destination 175

Corn: A Vital Western Apache Staple 178

Camp Grant: At the Edge of the Frontier 181

6 Blood Flowed Just Like a River 216

Arapa: Increasingly Fragile and Distant 218

Fall and Winter: Hunting, Gathering, and Raiding 221

The Camp Grant Massacre 230

7 Don't Ever Give It Up 246

Arapa: An Unbalanced Present, an Uncertain Future 252

The Ripple Effect of the Massacre 256

Conclusion 281

Notes 295

Works Cited 357

Index 367