Greenville Goodwin - Career

Career

During his work, Goodwin met and learned from many notable anthropologists. In 1931 he met Morris E. Opler, who was doing field work among the Chiricahua. Harry Joijer coached Goodwin in linguistic transcription. By 1935 he published his first paper in American Anthropologist, and published more in the following years. His close observations from several years of work with the Apache were recognized.

Following the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which enabled tribes to create self-government again, H. Scudder McKeel, a social anthropologist for the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, hired Goodwin to help work with the possible formation of a San Carlos Apache government. Goodwin worked as a consultant and completed a report circa 1937 on the formation of the San Carlos government. Although described as a model of social anthropology, the work was never published.

Starting graduate study in 1939, Goodwin worked with academics at the University of Chicago. There he also completed his monograph, The Social Organization of the Western Apache, which was considered a landmark when published in 1941 after his death. It made him a major figure in American ethnology and anthropology.

A 1942 review by G. A. Richard described it as "a handbook for the White Mountain, Cibecue, San Carlos and Tonto Apache." Richard noted that while the issue of chieftainship had not been treated adequately in the academic literature, Goodwin devoted considerable attention to the subject, stressing the obligations of chiefs as well as their privileges. Goodwin also discussed the origins of clans, which he said only the White Mountain Apache and Navajo had, of the Southern Athabaskan-speaking peoples. He thought the Apache clans related more to their religious practices, and may have been influenced by the neighboring Pueblo. Richard praised Goodwin's discussions of avoidance and joking behavior, for he included many exceptions (and the reasons for them) as well as the rules of practice, to show how the people varied in daily life.

The book was reprinted by the University of Arizona Press in 1969, including a short biography of Goodwin by the anthropologist Edward H. Spicer and a new index. The Press has also reprinted another book by Goodwin, as well as two new volumes collected from his papers and letters, which have been edited by others; all have been published posthumously as part of renewed interest in Goodwin's work.