What is the theme in Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language Among the Western Apache by Keith H. Basso?

While place-names have many functions, Basso focuses most on the place-names' function as enforcers of social morality. Social morality is that part of morality that concerns the interpersonal, how people should treat one another and maintain their status of honor in the community. In chapters three and four, Basso analyzes conversations that mention place-names but are otherwise cryptic. He shows how the conversations can be decoded by understanding the moral lesson associated with the story that is, in turn, associated with the particular place.