The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 69, July 1965 - April, 1966 Page: 551
591 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
shatta remained a unit when forced from their original homeland
is, then, not in the least surprising.
In answer to the second question, the author says (p. 142):
The conclusion we offer may be an approximation to the answer:
The secondary adaptation of the non-maintenance element of co-
operation, developed over a period of great length, and fixed closely
upon the primary woodland pattern of maintenance, became a part
of the forward-moving continuum which carried the Alabama-Koa-
sati through their periods of greatest shock.
This seems to mean that the Alabama-Coushatta were accustomed
to cooperating with one another. But it fails to answer the ques-
tion, which more bluntly put might be: Why were these Indians
tolerated when all other natives were exterminated or run out
of Texas by Texans? The author's inability to cope with this
question is readily admitted, but he alleges that (pp. 142-143) :
The field of anthropology confines itself to the body and the mind
of man. The study of his spiritual qualities is beyond its realm.
Suffice to say without further attempt at explanation, that some-
where along the long road from their legendary beginning, the
Alabama-Koasati developed a modest yet sturdy, rock-like, near-
Puritanical cast of character that even today defies assault. Anthro-
pology can only record the fact; it cannot answer why.
That anthropology should be credited with the author's short-
comings is bound to irritate anthropologists. To say that there
is no answer or that it is a "spiritual" one beyond the realm of
anthropology is even worse, since it shuts the door to further
inquiry. It would be far better to admit incapacity or lack of
information so that the curious at least would be encouraged
to pursue the matter. Actually, the author's failure results
from employing the wrong tool. If he had looked at the docu-
ments dealing with the settlement of the Alabama-Coushatta in
Texas, if he had attempted to understand Texans as well as In-
dians, if he had inquired closely into the events which led to
the establishment of this unique reservation, he might have found
the answer. Such an approach may well have revealed that the
Alabama-Coushatta were too weak, too few, and too remote to
pose a threat to even the most rabid Texan Indian-haters of 1854.
He might have found that even Texans could occasionally be55x
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 69, July 1965 - April, 1966, periodical, 1966; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117144/m1/629/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.