"Comanche Land and Ever Has Been": An Indigenous Model of Persistence

Summary

In 1844, the Comanche leader Mopechucope signed a treaty with the state of Texas, in which he described central and western Texas as "Comanche land and ever has been" (Gelo 2000: 274; Dorman and Day 1995: 8). Mopechucope’s understanding of Comanche history lies in stark contrast to the narratives of terra nullius and cultural decline found in colonial documents and reified in anthropological and historical scholarship. Drawing on an indigenous understanding of history and place-making this paper advocates for a critical shift in the way scholars engage with continuity. This alternative model of persistence entails a movement away from one-to-one indices of survival, towards an emphasis on the particular ontologies which inform both cultural maintenance and adaptation. Through a discussion of Comanche archaeology and Ethnohistory in New Mexico, this paper offers a different understanding of the Comanche’s legacy in the Southwest.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Long-term Indigenous Entanglement in the Colonial World   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 348