In “Portraits of the Whiteman,” Basso examines the different attempts of the Western Apaches to understand Anglo-Americans. They do so by trying to make sense of the behavior of Anglo Americans by imitating them and creating other forms of verbal humor. Moreover, Basso sheds light on the distinctive manner in which Apaches navigate interactions with Anglo-Americans and attempt to gain insights into their cultural dynamics. Furthermore, this manuscript reveals how the Western Apaches viewed themselves, and their unique perspective and relationship with the surrounding world.
For example, the term “whiteman” already presents an interesting dynamic between the Anglo-Americans and the Western Apache. The “whiteman” is a cultural representation of Anglo-Americans created by the Western Apache as a model to interpret and manage their relationship with Anglo-Americans.
The jokes that are in English made by the Western Apache is a prime example of code switching, where the Western Apache switch from their native Southern Athabaskan language to English in order to portray their joke in a more effective way. Moreover, the scenarios presented in the joke are real situations that the Western Apache have experienced with their interactions with the Western Apache, providing a different form of linguistic and cultural portrayal that conceptualize the social issues and dynamics.
Although the social dynamics present between the Western Apache and the Anglo-Americans may not be as existent, I do realize that when I interact with peers who speak both Japanese and English like I do, code-switching provides another complexity in my conversations. By incorporating specific words, it adds another layer of cultural context which I won’t be able to achieve with just English or Japanese. I’ve never truly understood the reasons for mixing Japanese and English in conversations except for it being “easier”, but this manuscript prompted me to make a new revelation about my experience being bilingual.
