Being Comanche: The Social History of an American Indian Community (Paperback)

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Product Description

Comanches have engaged Euro-Americans' curiosity for three centuries. Their relations with Spanish, French, and Anglo-Americans on the southern Plains have become a highly resonant part of the mythology of the American West. Yet we know relatively little about the community that Comanches have shared and continue to construct in southwestern Oklahoma. Morris Foster has written the first study of Comanches' history that identifies continuities in their intracommunity organization from the initial period of European contact to the present day. Those continuities are based on shared participation in public social occasions such as powwows, peyote gatherings, and church meetings Foster explains how these occasions are used to regulate social organization and how they have been modified by Comanches to adapt them to changing political and economic relations with Euro-Americans. Using a model of community derived from sociolinguistics, Foster argues that Comanches have remained a distinctive people by organizing their face-to-face relations with one another in ways that maintain Comanche-Comanche lines of communication and regulate a shared sense of appropriate behavior. His book offers readers a significant reinterpretation of traditional anthropological and historical views of Comanche social organization.

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Comanches have engaged Euro-Americans' curiosity for three centuries. Their relations with Spanish, French, and Anglo-Americans on the southern Plains have become a highly resonant part of the mythology of the American West. Yet we know relatively little about the community that Comanches have shared and continue to construct in southwestern Oklahoma. Morris Foster has written the first study of Comanches' history that identifies continuities in their intracommunity organization from the initial period of European contact to the present day. Those continuities are based on shared participation in public social occasions such as powwows, peyote gatherings, and church meetings Foster explains how these occasions are used to regulate social organization and how they have been modified by Comanches to adapt them to changing political and economic relations with Euro-Americans. Using a model of community derived from sociolinguistics, Foster argues that Comanches have remained a distinctive people by organizing their face-to-face relations with one another in ways that maintain Comanche-Comanche lines of communication and regulate a shared sense of appropriate behavior. His book offers readers a significant reinterpretation of traditional anthropological and historical views of Comanche social organization. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (December 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816513678
• ISBN-13: 978-0816513673
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #478,626 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insighful!, January 24, 2001

By	Janice (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews

I would recommend this book for those who are interested and would like know more about Indian tribes - especially Comanche. This book is divided into different time periods, for instance in 18th Century, the Comanches were nomadic people and after that, they stayed in reservations, etc. The author also explained the relationship between Comanches and the Euro-Americans and how the federal government implement various policies.

It's also interesting to see over time, what Comanches cultures persisted and what changes they are. One notable change was their economic activity which changed due to the economic and political situations. But one element that persisted over time was their kinship and friendship among themselves and how they can always rely on that even though everything else change.

This book explained the stereotypes that Euro-Americans have over the Native Americans and also what the Comanches thought of the Anglos (Euro-Americans)

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a quick note, February 12, 2007

By	Texas Book Lover "K" (TX) - See all my reviews

This book: Winner of the American Society for Ethnohistory's Erminie Wheeler-Voegelin Prize. Just thought you'd like to know.