History ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-29-2025

Abstract

This dissertation examines strategic relationships that Mescalero Apaches made among themselves and with non-Mescalero communities from 1660 to 1865. It references Mescalero place names in piecing together pertinent stories across their vast ancestral homelands, demonstrating regional continuities in social, political, and economic dynamics over two centuries. It argues that bonds of interdependence, rather than armed resistance, were critical in maintaining autonomy and the ability to move freely, conduct effective diplomacy to protect claims to homelands, access resources in times of scarcity, and form key alliances that presented possibilities for resistance to colonial domination. Central to these dynamics were Mescalero and other Apache women, whose everyday work and leisure supported and expanded social, political, and economic networks. Kinship ties, whether they were a result of intermarriage or captive-taking, have offered a reliable framework for the establishment or reestablishment of good relations between Mescaleros and other peoples.

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Degree Name

History

Department Name

History

First Committee Member (Chair)

Samuel Truett

Second Committee Member

Katherine Massoth

Third Committee Member

Manuel Garcia y Griego

Fourth Committee Member

Jennifer Denetdale

Fifth Committee Member

Larry Ball

Language

English

Keywords

apache, mescalero, borderlands, new mexico, diplomacy

Document Type

Dissertation

Comments

Revised to change the numbered appendices to lettered and to add my name and degrees to the abstract page.

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