2262 Race and Pedagogy Project - Research Archive » Native American

Native American

January 23, 2006

Champagne, Duane. “American Indian Studies is for Everyone.”American Indian Quarterly. 20.1(1996), 77-82.

January 23rd 2006 Posted to Native American

In this article Champagne addresses the concerns of American Indian studies scholars who believe that only Indians are qualified to study Indian life, history and culture. As a counter to these critics’ claims, Champagne writes that, “To say that only Indians can study Indians goes too far toward excluding American Indian culture and history from the rest of human history and culture…Indian nations are human groups, part of the broad history of all humanity, and therefore can be compared with other groups in technology, cultural world views, history and adaptation to global markets and expanding state systems, etc. One does not have to be a member of a culture to understand what culture means or to interpret a culture in a meaningful way” (77). (Read the article)

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January 10, 2006

Connolly, Mark R. “What’s in a Name? A Historical Look at Native American-Related Nicknames and Symbols at Three U.S. Universities.” The Journal of Higher Education. 71.5 (2000), 515-547.

January 10th 2006 Posted to Native American, The Academy

In this article Connolly examines the arguments surrounding the use of Native American-Related nicknames and mascots at three U.S. Universities: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (the “Fighting Illini”), Miami University in Ohio (the “Redskins”) and Eastern Michigan University (the “Hurons”). After reviewing the history behind these nicknames and examining the controversies surrounding them, Connoly concludes that the attitudes many universities adopt towards Native American nicknames reflects a kind of institutional racism that must be dealt with not just by changing the university’s mascot but by implementing fundamental changes in school policy and attitudes. (Read the article)

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November 21, 2005

Swisher, Karen Gayton. “Why Indian People Should Be the Ones to Write about Indian Education,” American Indian Quarterly. 20.1 (1996), 83-90.

November 21st 2005 Posted to Native American

In this article Swisher argues that, while many attempts have been made to research the unique needs of Indian students in schools, “much research is still presented from an outsider’s perspective” (83). Swisher claims that non-Indian researchers cannot accurately represent life on the reservations, the struggle for recognition and the importance of preserving the language and culture of indigenous tribes. “If non-Indian educators have been involved in Indian education because they believe in Indian people and want them to be empowered,” she writes, “they must now demonstrate that belief by stepping aside” (85). (Read the article)

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September 22, 2005

Native American Studies Bibliography

September 22nd 2005 Posted to Native American

Adams, David Wallace. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1995.

Adams, David Wallace. “Fundamental Considerations: The Deep Meaning of Native American Schooling, 1880-1900,” Harvard Educational Review. 58.1 (1988) 1-28. (Read the article)

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September 19, 2005

Owens, Louis. “Moonwalking Technoshamans and the Shifting Margin: Decentering the Colonial Classroom.” In Race and the College Classroom. Eds. Bonnie Tusmith and Maureen T. Reddy. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2002: 253-263.

September 19th 2005 Posted to Native American, Whiteness Studies

This essay examines the tactical play with Native American stereotypes enacted by Native American students in a course taught by Owens in 1991 at UC Santa Cruz. This course, devoted to the Native American novel, was unusual in Owens’ experience because the Native American students made up a significant portion of the class; they took advantage of this situation by exercising their knowledge and authority with the cultural material in such a way as to displace the expectations, including what Owens calls the “literary tourism,” of the participating EuroAmerican students. The essay shifts between an analysis of the Native American students’ discourse, and an examination of the trauma negotiated by the EuroAmerican students. (Read the article)

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September 15, 2005

Lomawaima, K. Tsianina. “Educating Native Americans.” Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education. James A. Banks and Cherry A. McGee Banks, Eds. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2001, 331-347.

September 15th 2005 Posted to Native American

In this article Lomawaima sketches a history of the education of Native Americans over the course of the past two centuries. She then addresses a variety of issues related to the challenges faced by Native American students in the U.S. education system, ranging from the high drop-out rates of Native American students to unique learning and interactional styles to curriculum development. Lomawaima draws from a large body of research published in the past thirty years, providing several useful summaries of cornerstone studies. (Read the article)

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September 13, 2005

Sarris, Greg. Keeping Slug Woman Alive: A Holistic Approach to American Indian Texts. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

September 13th 2005 Posted to Native American

This collection of eight essays offers a rare perspective on the issue of cross-cultural communication. Greg Sarris is concerned with American Indian texts, both oral and written, as well as with other American Indian cultural phenomena such as basketry and religion. His essays cover a range of topics that include orality, art, literary criticism, and pedagogy, and demonstrate that people can see more than just “what things seem to be.” Throughout, he asks: How can we read across cultures so as to encourage communication rather than to close it down? Sarris maintains that cultural practices can be understood only in their living, changing contexts. (Read the article)

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