Dissertation Information for Gerald Louis BettyNAME:
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SCHOOL: ADVISORS: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: MPACT Status: Fully Complete Title: “Comanche Society, 1706-1850” Abstract: Over the course of the twentieth century, historians of Comanche Indians have integrated anthropological interpretations of Comanche culture into their descriptions of these people's history. The dominance of cultural determinism in the field of anthropology over the last hundred years has influenced historians of American Indians to comprehend the past with the utmost regard for the cultural peculiarities demonstrated by various Indian peoples. Comanche history has especially been affected by this way of thinking. The anthropological representation of Comanche culture as atypical in relation to other Plains Indians, has led scholars to attempt to identify the particular historical influences that molded Comanche culture and their behavior. This approach to Comanche history is fundamentally flawed due to the analytical inconsistencies of cultural determinism. In acknowledgment of previous theoretical shortcomings, a new approach to the interpretation of Comanche history is proposed. The key to understanding human behavior in general, and that of Comanches in particular, is through social and kinship behavior. Social behavior implies one individual helping another, and kinship appertains to people's recognition of their genealogical connections. The identification of Comanches' social and kinship behavior within the Spanish- and English-language historical sources provides important insights into the personal motivations of their historical behavior. As opposed to culturally based interpretations of Comanche history, this approach emphasizes the role of individuals with regard to their past residential, religious, political, pastoralist, migrational, economic, and hostile behavior. |
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