Chapter 6: The Business of Fancydancing and Postmodern Native Amercia

            Goebel rounds out the book with Sherman Alexie’s collection of poetry entitled, The Business of Fancydancing.  Alexie appears to be the premiere Native author writing today.  No matter where I go in this country, when I mention that I live and teach on a reservation, at least one person asks if I have read any of his work.  Embarrassingly, I have not prior to this study, but he is on my ‘wish list’ on amazon.

            Alexie’s work would be a perfect read for students of any culture because, “…the book continually challenges stereotypes, both malevolent and benign, and complicates simple perspectives of Native peoples” (p. 143).  In some brief follow-up research after this chapter, I found that Alexie balances his work between traditional stories and contemporary issues.  He writes about what it is like growing up on a reservation in today’s world which many Native children can relate to.  But teens of all cultures can understand the struggles of freedom, impending life choices, and dedication to family.  One doesn’t have to grow up on a reservation to relate to the characters in Alexie’s poems and stories.

            To wrap up his study on how to teach Native American literature, Goebel provides a glaring look into how we view multicultural texts in our current educational system:

            “When we speak of Shakespeare or Hemingway, there is an implicit recognition of craft, or the                      artistry of the writer.  When we look at multicultural literature however, we often focus on issues                    of ethnicity to the exclusion of aesthetics.  Such an approach carries the hidden curricular                              message that, while worth of anthropological study, Native American literature is not really art.” 

             (p. 143)

Maybe I’m an idealist, a dreamer, a revolutionary, but I really hope that someday we can look at literature from all the cultural groups that have influenced our current society and read them as American literature and not separate them by cultural parameters. 

            All students should receive well rounded instruction in literature.  For groups that have been historically marginalized, it is vital that their literature is taught on par with literature with the culture of power.  We can’t make up for centuries of atrocities, but literature is a fine place to start.

Chapter 5: Ceremony and Healing Twentieth-Century America

     As I approach the end of the book, I realize that often times my perception of the book is sometimes misguided.  I often feel frustrated that what the author Bruce Goebel discusses is irrelevant to my needs.  He presents how to incorporate Native American literature to non-Native students.  In my frustration, I missed the overall value of the activities that he describes.

     In this chapter he maps out a read, paired selection, reread activity based around the novel Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko.  Unlike some of the other pieces of literature described in the book, this novel is set in modern times.  “Haunted by the sterile logic of Western society and tempted by the drunken escape of his fellow veterans [military], Tayo instead chooses to carry out his late uncle’s dreams of raising cattle that are crossbred or survival in the harsh Southwest” (p. 100).

     By blending historical and modern aspects, students are given a glimpse into real world issues that many Native American students face today.  Goebel makes a point that is so valuable, that I felt silly for not picking up on it before.  He stresses that along with the historical pieces of literature, teachers should also include these modern stories to show the balance between traditional and contemporary ways of life.

     Just when I think that I am getting the hang of this teaching thing…

Theory into Practice

     I was bad yesterday.  Ok, well, 'bad' in the sense that I actively engaged in a discussion that caused my students to question everything about our reading curriculum.

     Along with this course, I am taking LLSS 532, The Reading Process.  This past week we have been focusing on critical literacy and I found myself reflecting on Critical Race Theory.  This aligned with my students' reading selection of 'Go West!' an expository piece about how railroads helped settle the desolate southwest...

     We started a discussion about how inaccurate that statement is.  One student even pointed out that the events in the article occurred after their ancestors began settling near Abiquiu and Cimarron.  This then led to a search through our textbooks to take inventory of who is portrayed in the stories.  Sadly, the students were not surprised that none of our main selections contained Native American characters.  There was one paired selection, The Storytelling Stone, and that was it.

     This coming week we will be conducing research into pieces of literature that have Native characters that we could possibly read in place of the basal curriculum.  Our major hurdle is convincing the principal and the instructional coaches.

Chapter 4: Fools Crow and the Nineteenth-Century Blackfeet, pt. II

            Though indirectly, this chapter’s discussion of Fool’s Crow has brought up an issue that I have been struggling with since becoming a teacher in Dulce over four years ago.

            Fool’s Crow is a piece of literature that is historical fiction.  Though the characters and plot are made up, it is based on actual events.  One of these events is the Baker Massacre that occurred on January 23, 1870.  I have linked the Wikipedia page above because I feel it isn't appropriate at this time to review the events of that horrific day.

            The story, like many other pieces of Native American literature deal with issues of subjugation, assimilation, and many other atrocities committed by the culture of power since first contact in 1492.  These are topics that should never be ignored, nor glossed over, by teachers of students of any culture.  Here in lies my issue as a teacher of Native students.  Who am I?

            As many of you know, I am Anglo.  Born in Aspinwall and raised in the Borough of Etna along the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, PA.  I come from a tight knit blue collar, Irish family.  My family came to this country at the start of the 1900's, well after the Jicarilla Reservation was established in 1887.  However, I am still perceived as a member of the culture that committed the acts briefly mentioned above.  That is not my issue.  This is something that I have accepted as an inevitability, and moved on from the perceptions of my background.  My issue is who am I?

            Though I do not associate with the culture of power, I am perceived to be, so who am I to teach literature that discusses these topics?  I have only been living on the reservation for four years so I only have a snapshot of the lives of my students, so who am I to lead a discussion about the hardships of reservation life?  I have had no family members that have struggled with addiction, so who am I to present poetry and literature that addresses these problems?

            These are highly sensitive topics that need to be addressed.  I would be doing my students a disservice if I ignored them.  But who am I to do so?  What right do I have?  Through the years I have made friends with and discussed my concerns with tribal members who understand my issue.  The most common answer I receive is that these things should be discussed at home, but not ignored in school.  There is no clear cut answer to this issue.  I will just continue to do the best that I can for my students and hopefully come to an understanding on my role as an educator.

Chapter 4: Fools Crow and the Nineteenth-Century Blackfeet, pt. I

            Due to the length of this chapter and the importance of the content that it contains, I have decided to split it up into two segments.

            The chapter begins with the author providing an example of a piece of Native American literature that he uses quite frequently, Fools Crow by James Welch.  This novel is a piece of historical fiction that provides a glimpse into how life was like for the Blackfeet and their neighboring tribes during the nineteenth century.  During Goebel’s summary of the book, I skipped a lot.  I plan on reading the book when the semester ends and I hate spoilers.  If you would like to read a summary, one can be found here.

            Instead of what the novel is about, I chose to focus on the novel’s intent.  The book reflected heavily on themes common throughout many Native American texts.  The most important portrayed is that, “…being an adult means accepting responsibility for one’s own actions, taking a role in civic leadership, and giving back to one’s community” (48).

            This is a notion that not many outsiders to Native communities may be familiar with.  The way Hollywood has portrayed Native communities and customs has been off the mark to say the least.  Goebel reminds the reader that they should discuss issues of masculinity and warfare in regards to Blackfoot traditions because of movies and television.  In fact, a point that was made that caught me by surprise was that except in extreme situations, individuals were not forced to bend to the opinion of the chief or the majority.  Coming from a culture where we elect our representatives and then are at their mercy, I found this to be fantastic while becoming overwhelmed with jealous rage.

            Goebel also reminds the reader that student’s should be allowed to apply their own understanding and experiences to Native American literature so as to draw comparisons.  To me, this reaffirms the point that Native literature should not be viewed as a separate entity that we read in November, but a piece of American literature.  Period.

            The author mentions that Fools Crow, like most Native literature, is a gateway to issues such as manifest destiny, racism and the (im)morality of warfare.  In my next post I will focus on how literature can and should be used to address sensitive subjects such as these. 

Chapter 3: Early Native American Poetry

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

            To start my post about early Native American poetry, I decided to share my all-time favorite poem by William Carlos Williams.  This poem frustrated so many of my friends in high school, yet I am as entranced, dumbfounded, and filled with excitement today as I was over a decade ago.

            I still cannot understand Williams’ intent, and I don’t think that I want to.  I tend to shy away from online analyses because I enjoy the mystery in trying to unravel the imagery.

            One of the reasons behind my adoration for this poem is because of the meaning I find each time I read it.  My understanding tends to vary depending on my mood, my surroundings and other factors.  Perhaps though, the most significant issue related to this poem is the memory I have of debating it with my mother.

            We are very similar my mother and I, but we sharply disagreed when it came to this poem.  I remember the satisfaction in flustering her with my interpretation and her walking away because for the first time, I felt like she viewed my as an intellectual adult.  Since then she has ‘schooled’ me multiple times on other poems and works of art, but the memory of that debate is what makes this poem special.  Early Native American poetry is rooted in meaning making events such as this but, “…no body of American literature receives less attention in our classrooms.” (29)

            Poems, like songs, carry spiritual, religious and cultural meanings. Particular tribal groups would create and use poems for specific purposes.  Goebel provides a list of categories that many of these poems fit into:

·       Religious songs

·       Hunting songs

·       Medicine songs

·       Dream songs

·       Lullabies

·       Gambling/game songs

·       Personal achievement songs

·       Love songs

·       War songs

·       Social dance songs

·       Honor songs (30)

The author then goes on to express various ideas on how to read Native American poetry for non-native classrooms. 

            As a teacher in a Jicarilla Apache school, introducing the meaning behind the poems may appear to be a task that carries little value as the students are well aware of what the poems are used for.

            An idea that I did take away from this section was an activity that looked into the elements found in Native American poetry.  Some of the elements listed below can be found independently or with others depending upon the meaning or the author’s intent.  The most common elements are:

·       Repetition and parallel structure

·       Concrete natural images

·       Conciseness of sentence length and length o song

·       Frequently reflect a spiritual commitment, even in humorous songs

·       Imply a tribal, public audience that already understands context

·       Avoid the personal intellectualizing of much European and American poetry (33).

            At this time, I must be completely honest.  Until this chapter, I was grossly unaware of culturally relevant poetry as a form of literature that could be used in my instruction; partly because I have little to no exposure to it and partly because of my ignorance to its existence.  The chapter ends with a quote that sums up my sheepish feelings, “If you have an idea in mind of what ‘Indian Literature’ is, I suggest you reconsider” – Wendy Rose (37)

Chapter 2 - First Encounters and the Language of Race

This chapter, as you can probably surmise from the title, deals with the ever controversial Christopher Columbus and his policy of eradication and subjugation. 

It’s true that his policies and the policies that followed directly influence my students today; however, I found that this chapter dealt more with the definition of ‘race’ and Columbus and his perception in society than impact on language and reading, so I have chosen not to spend too much time on it in this blog.  The notes I took from this section belong in a history blog more than a literacy-oriented web log.

The following chapter on Native American poetry is much more interesting and relevant, so I will focus more on that in the next posting.