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Summary
The purpose of this Appendix is to illustrate the range of characters portrayed in Western Apache joking imitations of Anglo-Americans, and to provide supplementary information about the kinds of cultural contrasts these performances serve to highlight and interpret. Besides the four imitations described in the body of the essay, I witnessed eight others. Accounts of seven of these are presented below, together with reports of seven additional performances (selected from among a total of twenty-nine that were witnessed by Apache consultants. I cannot claim that my accounts are entirely faithful or fully complete. Western Apache jokers ply their trade on the spur of the moment, and, in most cases, conclude their imitations less than a minute after beginning them. Usually, it is possible to take note of most that has happened – but never all of it.
1. A ‘physician’ (izee' nant' án).
Setting: A ramada at an Apache camp in Cibecue.
Participants: A (male, age 29); B, A's brother-in-law (age33);and KHB.
Scene: A is sitting in the shade of the ramada, leafing idly through the pages of a comic book. B, who has recently injured his hand in a fall from a horse, enters the ramada and sits down. He examines his hand, which is wrapped in a bandage that has become soiled and dirty.
A: gostood' né? (‘It's hot, isn't it’?)
B: ' aa. gostood'. (‘Yes. It's hot’.)
A: nigan ndiih né? (‘Does your hand hurt’?)
B: 'aa. (‘Yes’.)
A: Why you go let that cloth get dirty? No good! You sit right there, my friend. I take care of you. I know everything! What happen? You been drinking too much?
B: 'ąął (‘That's enough’.)
A: [Ignoring B's request to stop joking] Maybe you been fighting – that's why you get all dirty. Maybe you got family problem. Maybe your wife get after you. Come here. I fix everything.
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- Portraits of 'the Whiteman'Linguistic Play and Cultural Symbols among the Western Apache, pp. 83 - 94Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1979