|
Nebraska
Press Series 1
|
Comanche Political History
An Ethnohistorical Perspective
Thomas W. Kavanagh, Cloth: 1996,xvi,586,CIP.LC
96-391,0-8032-2730-2
Studies in the Anthropology
of North American Indians Series
|
 |
For more information
or to purchase this book, you can also visit the
University
of Nebraska Press
The Comanche Indians are one of the
most widely known yet least understood groups on the
Plains. Although much has been published on Comanche
history and culture, this is the first in-depth historical
study of Comanche social and political groups. Using
the ethnohistorical method, Thomas W. Kavanagh traces
the changes and continuities in Comanche politics from
their earliest interactions with Europeans to their
settlement on a reservation in present-day Oklahoma.
Based on documentary material from historical and anthropological
archives in Spain, Mexico, and the United States, the
book examines the different ways the Comanche tribes
-the Yamparikas, Jupes, Kotsotekas, Quahadas, Penatekas,
Tenewas, and Nokonis- organized and reorganized themselves
around the changing resource domains of hunting, warfare,
trade, and diplomacy. The book presents detailed histories
of each of the Comanche tribes and raises larger questions
about political processes. What are the origins and
fates of political organizations? Why do peoples come
together? Why do they disperse? In classical political
philosophy, tribes, nations, and ethnic groups have
clear, unchanging boundaries; their origins are mythical
and unknowable, and their collapse is pathological.
In contrast, using the record of the Comanches, Kavanagh
argues that political formation and re-formation is
not only normal but frequently ignores existing political
and ethnic boundaries. Thomas W. Kavanagh is curator
of the William Hammond Mathers Museum, Indiana University.
He has published articles in such journals as Visual
Anthropology and Plains Anthropologist.
Back
to Nebraska Press Series 1
|
