Overview

Full Product Details

9781496231468

Table of Contents

Reviews

[Nevins] brings renewed relevance to Apache texts collected in an earlier era by Harry Hoijer. . . . [This is] an extended ethnographic analysis of Apache interactions with non-Apache people and practices that has implications for cultural interventions of any kind in Apache communities. At its highest level, the book is a demonstration of 'the generativity of otherness.' --Lise Dobrin, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Virginia Lessons from Fort Apache is an important book for people, both Native and non-Native, who are involved with language preservation, maintenance and strengthening programs. Those working for language and culture revitalization will recognize many of the issues, problems, and glimmers of hope described. Those seeking to establish or become involved with such processes may find the insights of this work a welcome buffer against the first onslaughts of angst and self-doubt. --Judith M. Maxwell, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology Nevins argues persuasively that linguists who hope to propagate an endangered language through documentation and the creation of teaching materials must find ways of partnering with centers of linguistic and pedagogical authority that already exist inside the community, and not expect to replace those voices with their own. . . . This realistic, thoughtful study should be regarded as obligatory reading for any linguist genuinely concerned with endangered language maintenance and revitalization. --Edward Vajda, Choice This is a beautifully crafted ethnography that tells the reader much about the complicated terrain upon which contemporary Indigenous language practices subsist. It challenges the reader to question her everyday assumptions about language, American Indianness, and survival. It also demands that the reader reconsider ideas of advantage and salvation that underscore mainstream, institutionally driven interventions and to ask, what are we saving and for whom? --Barbra A. Meek, Language in Society

Lessons From Fort Apache: Beyond Language Endangerment and Maintenance is an important contribution to the literature on language documentation and maintenance, as well as indigenous language revitalization. (American Indian Culture & Research Journal, 19 November 2014) Fort Apache offers a useful nuance to understanding the dynamics of heritage, its meanings, and the mediation between people and their culture. While the Apache language and discursive inventions are the primary focus of Nevins's work, built heritage specialists will find this book useful in helping to understand the relationship between the expert and the community and how this dynamic both impairs and facilitates our understanding of intangible heritage and its sustainable conservation. (Preservation, Education & Research, 2013) This realistic, thoughtful study should be regarded as obligatory reading for any linguist genuinely concerned with endangered language maintenance and revitalization. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. (Choice, 1 December2013)

“Lessons from Fort Apache is an important book for people, both Native and non-Native, who are involved with language preservation, maintenance and strengthening programs. Those working for language and culture revitalization will recognize many of the issues, problems, and glimmers of hope described. Those seeking to establish or become involved with such processes may find the insights of this work a welcome buffer against the first onslaughts of angst and self-doubt.”—Judith M. Maxwell, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology “This is a beautifully crafted ethnography that tells the reader much about the complicated terrain upon which contemporary Indigenous language practices subsist. It challenges the reader to question her everyday assumptions about language, American Indianness, and survival. It also demands that the reader reconsider ideas of advantage and salvation that underscore mainstream, institutionally driven interventions and to ask, what are we saving and for whom?”—Barbra A. Meek, Language in Society “Nevins argues persuasively that linguists who hope to propagate an endangered language through documentation and the creation of teaching materials must find ways of partnering with centers of linguistic and pedagogical authority that already exist inside the community, and not expect to replace those voices with their own. . . . This realistic, thoughtful study should be regarded as obligatory reading for any linguist genuinely concerned with endangered language maintenance and revitalization.”—Edward Vajda, Choice “[Nevins] brings renewed relevance to Apache texts collected in an earlier era by Harry Hoijer. . . . [This is] an extended ethnographic analysis of Apache interactions with non-Apache people and practices that has implications for cultural interventions of any kind in Apache communities. At its highest level, the book is a demonstration of ‘the generativity of otherness.’”—Lise Dobrin, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Virginia

Author Information

M. Eleanor Nevins is an associate professor of anthropology at Middlebury College, Vermont. She is the editor of World-Making Stories: Maidu Language and Community Renewal on a Shared California Landscape (Nebraska, 2017).  

Tab Content 6

Countries Available