New Paper Words Historical Images of Navajo Literacy (original) (raw)

Changing the Culture of Schooling: Navajo and Yup'ik Cases

Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 1994

Here we present two cases in which indigenous teacher groups are transforming the culture of schooling. Working within a community school and on the margins of schooling, Navajo teachers at Rough Rock and Yup'ik teachers and elders in southwestern Alaska are finding creative ways to use their culture, their knowledge, and their language in the construction of curriculum and pedagogy. These teacher groups have created zones of safety in which resistance to conventional practices can be expressed and innovative approaches to schooling investigated and practiced. The work of these teacher groups has theoretical implications for community-based teacher preparation. The challenge remains in transferring these cultural creations to the wider institution of schooling.

Navajo Mothers and Daughters: Schools, Jobs, and the Family

Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 1995

Navajo women's historically problematic relation to public schools might be best understood by considering the role that matrilineal networks play in giving Navajo women a place of respect as mothers and daughters-+ life course to which schools contribute little. Navajo women's commitment to cooperative family relations is sharply at odds with contemporary educational practice and much educational thought, which assumes the desirability of an individualistic lifestyle and is devoted to helping students adopt a middle-class orientation.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education. Fastback No. 367

1994

is an associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Eastern Montana College, where he teaches Education and Native American Studies classes. For the past 23 years Reyhner has worked in the field of Indian education, including four years as a teacher on the Navajo Reservation; 10 years as a school administrator on reservations in Arizona, Montana, and New Mexico; and eight years as a professor at Eastern Montana College. He has worked in both public and tribally controlled schools and held numerous Indian education workshops. Reyhner has written extensively in the field of Indian education. He was a commissioned author for the Indian Nations at Risk Task Force and the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs (OBEMLA). He has published articles recently in the Journal of American Indian Education, the Journal of Navajo Education, and the Canadian Journal of Native Education. He currently edits a regular column on Indian bilingual education for the newsletter of the National Association for Bilingual Education. His latest edited book is Teaching American Indian Students (University of Oklahoma Press, 1992). Reyhner received B.A. and M.A. degrees in history from the University of California at Davis, an M.A. in secondary curl iculum and an Ed.S. in secondary administration from the University of Northern Arizona, and an Ed.D. in elementary curriculum and instruction from Montana State University.

An Initial Exploration of the Navajo Nation's Language and Culture Initiative

1997

This paper presents some preliminary findings from an opinion survey on the nature and depth of language and cultural studies to be included in school curricula as required by the Navajo Tribe's Language and Culture Mandate (1984). A 10-question survey was sent to 20 elementary and secondary schools in the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and Arizona. In addition, 21 attendees of the Navajo Studies Conference in Albuquerque participated in the survey. The 37 respondents included community members and teachers ranging in age from 14 to over 65. Respondents felt that Navajo or tribal elders should teach Navajo language and culture and that language arts and social studies were the top choices for curriculum expansion. Sixty-two percent felt that daily instruction was necessary and that students should be competent or fluent in Navajo. Most participants felt that parental/clan involvement was necessary and that parents should be taught Navajo language and culture so they could support and teach their children. They also felt that religion and ceremonial instruction were best taught outside of school. Although the survey showed that members of the Navajo nation are very concerned with the education of their children, opinions on the means and goals of education are not consistently shared. An appendix includes the survey questionnaire. (SAS)

Objects of Survivance: A Material History of the American Indian School Experience

By 1890, the end seemed very near. The Indian Wars had drawn to a close, with the US military the undisputed victor. America's Western frontier was opened to endless waves of settlers, taking land, water, forests, wildlife, minerals for their own. Native Americans, once numbering in the millions, were now less than 250,000. Confined to reservations, a fraction of their traditional homelands, Native Americans continued to lose land throughout the early twentieth century through a process called allotment, which assigned small homesteads to tribal members and sold "excess" land to non-Indians. No longer dependent on their own subsistence, Native people were forced into a labor economy that was foreign and alienating-or were left as supplicants to government handouts. Long-standing religious practices were attacked and outlawed. Many were forced into clothes and homes that were considered by their conquerors to be "civilized. " After centuries of colonialism, the extinction of Native Americans now seemed certain. This fact obliged the US government to determine how to handle the twilight of the continent's first people. With peace, the government could not so simply eradicate the Indians who remained. The only real choice left was assimilation-to force Native Americans to adopt the beliefs, attitudes, tastes, habits, and work of good Anglo-Americans. 1 But how? Education. School was quickly determined to be the avenue by which Native Americans would sojourn into an assimilated future. By transforming the next generation of Indians into good citizens, the government could swiftly sever Indians from the deep roots of their culture. Although Native Americans had long been the focus of educational efforts-Harvard University and William and Mary College began educating Indian youth in the 1600s-this strategy of advancement took on a fresh urgency. 2 Four hundred years after Christopher Columbus made landfall, the work of American colonialism was not quite over. The resources that were used in the old war were needed for a new one-a seamless transformation, often literally, of barracks into boarding schools (figure 1.1). The new battle required new soldiers. Schools required educators willing to run these outposts dedicated to civilizing the savages at the gates of America's future. Jesse H. Bratley was one such man. 1814-1815 A Shoshone with One Arrow Came to Dakota Lodge to Make Peace Was Killed with Dakota Tomahawk Winter The one arrow is noticed in front of the Indian, which indicates that he had come to treat for peace. The tomahawk is sticking in the Shoshone's head. Other Winter Counts call this a Kiowa, others an Arapahoe. 1815-1816 White Man Made House Winter Boke is the name as nearly as I can understand it, which is not an Indian word. 1816-1817 Wounded Heel Went on Warpath Got Shot in Heel Winter As the enemy outnumbered him, on first sight of the enemy he turned and started to run away when he was shot in the heel by an arrow. This man's name was changed after he was shot. 1817-1818 Crooked Wrist Killed Winter This warrior's wrist was crooked from infancy. 1818-1819 Smallpox Killed Dakota Winter The red spots on the body show the disease.