Kiowa Apache

Essa-queta, Plains Apache chief

Kiowa-Apache

The Plains Apache (also Kiowa-Apache, Naʼisha, Naisha) are a Southern Athabaskan group that lived primarily on the plains of North America. They were extremely closely associated with the much larger Kiowa tribe, although speaking a completely unrelated language. At major tribal events (such as the annual Sun Dance), the Kiowa Apache formed part of the Kiowa tribal 'hoop' (ring of tipis). Many descendants of the tribe currently live in Oklahoma and are enrolled in the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma.

Culture

Never numbering more than about 350 persons, the Kiowa Apache adopted many traits from the Southern Plains lifestyle of the Kiowa, while remaining ethnically distinct. It is recorded that many Kiowa Apache did not learn the Kiowa language, preferring to communicate using the sophisticated Plains Indian Sign Language, at which the Kiowa were past masters (having probably devised much of the system).

Language

The Kiowa Apache language was a member of the Southern Athabaskan language family. The Plains Apache language was the most divergent member of the subfamily. These speakers probably left their northern homeland later than the other Southern Athabaskan peoples. The last fluent speaker of the language died in 2008.

See also

• Apache
• Kiowa

Bibliography

• Beatty, John. 1974. Kiowa-Apache Music and Dance. Occasional Publications in Anthropology: Ethnology Series. Number 31. Greeley, CO: Northern Colorado UP.
• Bittle, William. 1954. “The Peyote Ritual of the Kiowa Apache.” Oklahoma Anthropological Society. 2: 69-79.
• ______. 1962. “The Manatidie: A Focus for Kiowa Apache Tribal Identity.” Plains Anthropologist. 7(17): 152-163.
• ______. 1963. “Kiowa-Apache.” In Studies in the Athapaskan Languages. (Ed. Hoijer, Harry). University of California Studies in Linguistics vol. 29. Berkeley: California UP. 76-101.
• ______. 1964. “Six Kiowa Apache Tales.” Oklahoma Papers in Anthropology. 5:8-12.
• ______. 1971. “A Brief History of the Kiowa Apache.” Oklahoma Papers in Anthropology. 12(1): 1-34.
• ______. 1979. “Kiowa Apache Raiding Behavior.” Oklahoma Papers in Anthropology. 20(2): 33-47.
• Brant, Charles S. 1949. “The cultural position of the Kiowa-Apache.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 5(1): 56-61.
• Brant, Charles S. 1950. “Peyotism among the Kiowa-Apache and Neighboring Tribes.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 6(2): 212-222.
• Brant, Charles S. 1953. “Kiowa-Apache Culture History: Some Further Observations.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 9(2): 195-202.
• Brant, Charles S. 1969. Jim Whitewolf: The Life of a Kiowa Apache. New York: Dover Publications.
• McAllister, J. Gilbert. 1937. “Kiowa-Apache Social Organization.” In Social Anthropology of North American Tribes. (ed. Eggan, Fred). Chicago: Chicago UP.99-169.
• _______.1949. “Kiowa Apache Tales.” In The Sky is My Tipi. (ed. Boatright, Mody). Dallas: SMU Press. 1-141.
• _______.1970. Dävéko: Kiowa-Apache Medicine Man. Austin: Bulletin of the Texas Memorial Museum, No. 17.
• Opler, Morris E. (1969). Western Apache and Kiowa Apache materials relating to ceremonial payment. Ethnology, 8 (1), 122-124.
• Opler, Morris E; & Bittle, William E. (1961). The death practices and escahatology of the Kiowa Apache. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 17 (4), 383-394.
• Schweinfurth, Kay Parker. (2002). Prayer on top of the earth: The spiritual universe of the Plains Apaches. Boulder: University Press of Colorado.

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