Grenville Goodwin

Who was Grenville Goodwin?

Grenville Goodwin, born Greenville Goodwin, is best known for his participant-observer ethnology work among the Western Apache in the 1930s in the American Southwest. Largely self-taught as an anthropologist, he lived among the Apache for nearly a decade, and learned their stories and rituals. His monograph The Social Organization of the Western Apache was considered a major contribution to American ethnology. It was published in 1941 after his death at age 32, when his promising career was cut short.

Based on his studies, Goodwin classified the Western Apache into five groups, but some of these divisions have been disputed by other anthropologists and linguists. Researchers have generally agreed on three major groups: the White Mountain, San Carlos and Tonto Apache peoples, with sub-groupings of bands below this classification.