Anthropology’s Annual Visiting Lecture Series - Legacies of War

Talk: The Theodore Roosevelt Boarding School: Ndee (Apache) Persistence and Survivance

Abstract: During the late 1800s in the U.S. Southwest the Ndee (Apache) communities were vehemently defending their homelands against Euromerican encroachment. During this time various forts were established throughout Apacheria to strategically to subjugate and pacify Ndee (Apache) Tribes through military efforts. One of these—Fort Apache located in east-central Arizona on White Apache Tribal Trust lands acts as a physical reminder of the colonial encounters between White Mountain Apache people and the U.S. Government during this time period. These encounters began under policies of extermination, and were followed by assimilatory practices that included the establishment of the Theodore Roosevelt School in 1923. Over time, as generations of White Mountain Apache people have attended the school the community’s associations with the school have become complex acting as both as symbol of ongoing colonial oppression, as well a symbol of the White Mountain Apache persistence in the face of colonial oppression. This presentation will explore the dynamics of such associations through Ndee boarding school survivor realities and experiences.