| dc.description.abstract | Over the course of record regarding Apache history in the United States, there has been little attempt to specify the groups of Apache peoples within the traditional homelands of the Apache residing in the Southwestern United States. The Current literature has done little to rectify this problem within academia, and it continues to create a gap in the historical record regarding the actual identities of the Apache people of the Southwest. More specifically, there has been a lack of identification of the individual bands of Apache currently residing on the San Carlos Apache Reservation; those bands being ethnohistorically known as the Aravaipa, Apache Peaks, Pinaleño, San Carlos proper, and the Western and Eastern White Mountain Apache. Most importantly, it is necessary for the current record to be decolonized and re-indigenized to reflect the views and interpretations of Apache history from an indigenous Nde perspective. Within the academy, the best tool available to relay that message is the Peoplehood Model, developed by Robert K. Thomas. This method promotes the use of a relationship-based model that more accurately produces a perception of indigeneity that would otherwise be misinterpreted. Concurrently, it is necessary to understand the social organization of the Western Apache in conjunction with the model to better understand the damage of the colonial Western perspectives of Nde in respect to their history. The same Western perspective has had a direct impact on contemporary issues relating to Mt. Graham in the early 90s and the ongoing situation at Oak Flat. This research hopes to bring clarity to the issue of identity on the San Carlos Apache reservation using the Peoplehood model, and recognize the consequences of a forced conglomeration of various people groups by an invading force. | en_US |
