Teaching Places and Teaching Place

Keith Basso’s seminal work, ‘Wisdom Sits in Places’, explores epistemologies of place used by the people of the Cibecue Western Apache community in what is now called Arizona, US. One of the major conclusions Basso arrives at is that places for the people of Cibecue are active repositories of wisdom, as embodied in narratives connected to those places. Engaging with the places in a particular way leads to wisdom. Using this book in an academic classroom provides interesting layers of opportunity, in that students can be said to be at university on a similar path, a pursuit of wisdom. This paper will explore the complexity and value of using ‘Wisdom Sits in Places’ to simultaneously teach about the people of Cibecue and their way of finding and making wisdom, and also give students their own set of tools as they attempt to find and make wisdom. Using an epistemological approach from an undergraduate course, “Place and Identity”, this paper will present what it means to teach about a place, to teach a place, and to teach the concept of place all at the same time. Multiple intersections of place, knowledge, and people (folk) will be explored.