Reclaiming Native Education: Activism, Teaching and Leadership

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AUTHOR Stoll, Amy, Ed. TITLE Reclaiming Native Education: Activism, Teaching and Leadership. INSTITUTION Cultural Survival, Cambridge, MA. SPONS AGENCY Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston. ISSN ISSN-0740-3291 PUB DATE 1998-00-00 NOTE 69p.; Theme issue. Photographs may not reproduce adequately. AVAILABLE FROM Cultural Survival, 96 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge, MA 02138. Tel: 617-441-5400. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Cultural Survival Quarterly; v22 n1 Spr 1998 EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Activism; *American Indian Education; American Indians; Culturally Relevant Education; *Educational Change; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; *Indigenous Populations; Language Maintenance; Maori (People); Maya (People); Mexicans; *Self Determination

ABSTRACT The bulk of this theme issue of Cultural Survival Quarterly consists of a 41-page "focus" section on indigenous peoples' efforts to regain control of their children's education and on the role of indigenous educators as agents of change. Following an introduction by Nimachia Hernandez and Nicole Thornton, the articles in this section are: "Contexts and Challenges of Educating Tibetan Children in the Diaspora" (Nawang Phuntsog); "The Educational and Cultural Implications of Maori Language Revitalization" (Linda Tuhiwai Smith); "Our Children Can't Wait: Recapturing the Essence of Indigenous Schools in the United States" (Cornel Pewewardy); "Teaching Tribal Histories from a Native Perspective" (Lea Whitford); "Native Hawaiian Epistemology: Exploring Hawaiian Views of Knowledge" (Manu Aluli Meyer); "Indigenous Rights and Schooling in Highland Chiapas" (Margaret Freedson Gonzales, Elias Perez Perez); "Chanob Vun ta Batz'i K'op of Sna Jr7lihAinm: An Altp.rnativim Reinr,atinn in nfl-r N=riv= L=1-1T,=g=Q11 Acs 1= Torre Lopez, translated by Bret Gustafson); "Who Can Make a Difference? Everybody Can! Sharing Information on Indigenous Educational Success--A Case Study from Australia" (Roberta Sykes); "Maya Education and Pan Maya Ideology in the Yucatan" (Allan Burns); "Indigenous Legal Translators: Challenges of a University Program for the Maya of Guatemala" (Guillermina Herrera Pena, translated by Nicole Thornton); "What Exactly Is It That You Teach? Developing an Indigenous Education Program at the University Level" (Deirdre A. Almeida); and "Historical and Contemporary Policies of Indigenous Education in Mexico" (Salomon Nahmad, translated by Nicole Thornton). This issue also contains brief notes on educational, cultural, political, and health issues of indigenous peoples worldwide; book reviews; listings of resources and events; and updates on special projects. (SV)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 7

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BEST COPY AVAILABLE 3 L._ Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 Volume 22 Issue 1

FOCUS: Reclaiming Native Education Activism, Teaching and Leadership

Students horsing around at the Mounds Park All- Nations Magnet School in St. Paul, MN.

CONTENTS Introduction Departments

Reclaiming Native Education: Activism, Teaching and Leadership EDITORIAL 22 by Nimachia Hernandez and Nicole Thornton, Guest Editor 3

BRIEFLY NOTED Articles 4 Contexts and Challenges of Educating Tibetan Children in the Diaspora 9 CS BULLETIN BOARD 24 by Nawang Phuntsog 10 BOOK REVIEW The Educational and Cultural Implications of Maori Language Revitalization Kenneth M. George David MayburyLewis 27 by Linda Tuhiwai Smith Our Children Can't Wait: Recapturing the Essence of Indigenous Schools in the United States 12 SOURCES 29 by Cornet Pewewardy Teaching Tribal Histories from a Native Perspective 14 SPECIAL PROJECTS UPDATE 35 by Lea Whitford 16 UPDATE Native Hawaiian Epistemology: Exploring Hawaiian Views of Knowledge Native North America 38 by Manu Aluli Meyer 90 NOTES FROM THE FIELD Indigenous Rights and Schooling in Highland Chiapas Bret Gustafson 41 by Mat:garet Freedson Gonzales and Elias Perez Perez 62 IN MEMORY OF ALSELMO PEREZ Chanob Van ta Batz'i K'op of Sna Jtz'ibajom: An Alternative Education in Our Native Languages 44 by Antonio de la Torre LOpez, translation by Bret Gustafson 64 SPECIAL: UPDATE FROM CHIAPAS Who Can Make a Difference? Everybody Can! Sharing Information on 46 Indigenous Educational SuccessA Case Study from Australia by Roberta Sykes Maya Education and Pan Maya Ideology in the Yucatan 50 by Allan Burns

Indigenous Legal Translators: Challenges of a University Prograinfor the Maya of Guatemala 53 by Guillermina Herrera Pena, translation by Nicole Thornton

What Exactly Is It That You Teach? Developing an Indigenous Education Program at the On the cover 57 University Level Students at school in Katsel, Tibet by Deirdre A. Almeida Photo: Courtesy of the Tibetan School Project Historical and Contemporary Policies of Indigenous Education in Mexico 59 by SalomOn Nahmad, translated by Nicole Thornton

Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 1 CULTURAL SURVIVAL

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Indigenous children in Mexico have suffered from assimilationist educational policies to Mexicanize' the Indian, but some states, like Oaxaca, have passed progressive educational laws that provide bilingual and intercultural education to all indigenous peoples.

Her Majesty Queen Margrethe ADVISORY BOARD Maya Manche Scholarship Fund (for- GENERAL INFORMATION of Denmark, merly Kekchi High School Scholarship Honorary Member Roberto Cardoso de Oliveira, Fund) Copyright 1998 by Cultural Survival, Philippa Friedrich, John Marshall, Richard Wilk, Coordinator Inc. Cultural Survival Quarterly (ISSN David Maybury-Lewis, Francesco Pellizzi , Louis B. Sohn, 0740-3291) is indexed by Alternative Press Founder Stefano Varese, Evon Z. Vogt, Jr. Orang Asli Assistance Fund Index (API) and Environmental L'eriodicals Kirk Endicott, Adela S. Baer, Coord nators Bibliography Cultural Survival Quarterly is BOARD OF DIRECTORS STAFF Sna jtz'ibajom, Chiapas Writers' published four times per year for $45 per Cooperative year by Cultural Survival, Inc., 96 Mt Auburn Maria Tocco, Managing Director St., Cambridge, MA 02138. Periodicals David Maybury-Lewis, President Robert Laughlin, Coordinator postage is paid at Boston, MA, permit no. Department of Anthropology The Suyd Project 8-189. Postmaster, send address changes Harvard University Publications: Anthony Seeger, Coordinator to: Cultural Survival, 96 Mt. Auburn St., S. James Anaya Cultural Survival Quarterly Tibetan School Project Cambridge, MA 02138. Printed on recy- University of Iowa Law School Amy Stoll, Managing Editor Nancy Mayo-Smith, Coordinator cled paper in the U.S.A. Please note that Harvey Cox Bartholomew Dean, Book Reviews Editor the views in this magazine are those of Xavante Education Fund the authors and do not necessarily repre- Harvard D'Arinity School Sofia Flynn, Distribution Laura Graham, Coordinator sent the views of Cultural Survival. Wade Davis Cultural Survival Series on Ethnicity Sarah Fuller and Change Education and Outreach: Designer, Jason Gross Decision Resources, Inc. David Maybury-Lewis & Theodore Nicole Thornton, Coordinator Elizabeth Grady Macdonald, Jr., General Editors Heather Armitage, Library Coordinator WRITERS GUIDELINES The Cambridge Publ c Schools Center for Cultural Survival: View the writers' guidelines at our Jean Jackson Interns, Bazaars & Local Affairs: web site (wwwcs.org) or send a self- David Maybury-Lewis, Senior Fellow Department of Anthropology addressed, stamped envelope to Peter Wogan, Editor, Active Voices: Pia Maybury-Lewis M.I.T Cultural Survival, Writer's Guidelines, The Online journal of Cultural Survival. Interns: Marcela Betzer, Felisa Richard Lee Brunschwig, Soo Sun Choe, Lynne 96 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge, P Ranganath Nayak Special Projects: Curran, Julia Dickinson, Allison MA, 02138. Requests sent without proper postage cannot be fulfilled. The Boston Consulting Group, Donald, Matthew V Goodwin, A. Cambridge Maria Tocco, Sofia Flynn, Coordinators David Hendricks, Yuki Kuraoka, Orlando Patterson Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco Shamali Kuru, Sabine Pust, Seema ADDRESS Sharma, Nancy Silva, Lara Zielen Cultural Survival Department of Sociology (formerly Chinchero Culture Project) 96 Mount Auburn Street Harvard University Nilda Callanaupa, Coordinator Cambridge, MA 02138 Membership: tel: (617)441-5400, fax:(617)441-5417 Marguerite Robinson Ersari Turkmen Vegetable Dye Weaving Pamela Wells, Coordinator Web site: www.cs.org Harvard Institute for International Project and Tibetan Rug Weaving Project E-mail: [email protected] Development Chris Walter, Coordinator Bookkeeping/Personnel: THIS ORGANIZATION IS FUNDED IN PART BY Ruben Shohet Garifuna journey Meridian Partners, New York Andrea Leland, Kathy Berger, Sofia Flynn Sylvia Shepard Coordinators The Program on Non-Violent David Smith Gwich'in Environmental Knowledge Project Sanctions and Cultural Survival Harvard Law School Gleb Raygorodetsky, Coordinator (PONSACS) MASSACHUSETTS CULTURAL COUNCIL Lynn Stephen ....OMNI WM. projearns Me arts. hunlanNeS, and acersa Department of Anthropology and Sociology Burl Forest People's Fund A Joint Program of The Center for Northeastern University David Wilkie, Gilda Morelli, Bryan International Affairs at Harvard Curran, Robert Bailey, Coordinators Corrections to CSQ 21(4): John W Terborgh University and Cultural Survival On page 44, the last sentence of the first paragraph in FOMMA David Maybury-Lewis, Director the second column should read: Currently Tim Center for Tropical Conservation Ericson, an American from Modesto, California is in Duke University Miriam Laughlin, Coordinator Doug Bond, Theodore Macdonald, Jr., Associate Directors the process of developing Syriac (not Islamic) fonts Barbara Wilk for use on-line. We apologize for the mistake.

2 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 EDITORIAL

The Context of Education

by David Maybury-Lewis

The recent passionate debates concerning teaching history peoples who do not face the double burden of being indigenous and representing minorities in American classrooms have in and refugees from their home countries face difficult problems made us all aware that education is not a culturally neu- as they try to devise educational systems that can overcome the tral process. It is not simply amatter of teachers drilling their prejudices and injustices of the past. The Maori, for example, are students in the three Rs and then going on to fill their heads with now receiving considerable support from the government of New progressively more advanced levels of knowledge. What is taught, Zealand for Maori language educational programs, but they are the perspective from which it is taught, the language in which it discovering that the revitalization of Maori culture is more difficult. is taught, and the cultural context of teaching are all important They face a poignant and familiar dilemma where young Maori aspects of education, and this becomes abundantly clear when have been taught the Maori language, but have drifted away from the teachers do not share the same cultural background as their Maori culture, while older Maori are trying to keep Maori culture students. This has traditionally been the case in the education of alive, even though they no longer speak the language. indigenous peoples who, when they received any education at all, The whole point of indigenous educational systems is to were normally taught by aliens who considered their students keep both language and culture alive, to teach people to see the inferior, thought they needed to be trained to despise their own world from the special vantage point that their culture provides. language and way of life, and accept the language and culture of The cruel irony is that now, as nations are increasingly willing to their conquerors. The articles in this issue summarize that bitter permit indigenous peoples to develop their own systems of edu- history, but they also show the difficulties of establishing different cation, those systems and the cultures that give them meaning are educational systems once it has been decided to do so. threatened with erosion by national or even global forces. The The histories of indigenous educational experiences differ in teachers who strongly resist teaching Mayan children in their own their particulars but are sadly similar in their generalities. The languages are themselves Maya who feel that the children would Maya, for example, have fought for centuries to maintain their be better off with a stronger grounding in Spanish. Meanwhile ancient culture in the face of attempts, first by the Spanish and the children risk being alienated by an overly Hispanic curricu- later by the governments of Mexico and Guatemala, to eradicate lum or isolated by an overly Mayan one. But the risk of isolation it. The indigenous peoples of the U.S. and Australia had their is more than offset for the Maya by the exhilaration of recovering children forcibly taken from them and thrust into schools that their culture, its world view, its calendar, its literature, and mak- tried to educate them away from the languages and customs of ing them central to the education of their children. Native their ancestors. The Tibetans have only recently come to the Americans in the U.S. are likewise experiencing the excitement of experience of being indigenous, that is to say being marginalized devising curricula that seek to express their holistic and synthetic in their own country by conquering outsiders. Their traditional thinking rather.than the piecemeal and analytical approach previ- educational system has been abolished by the Chinese and it is ously imposed upon them. only refugee Tibetans who can try to revive it in the diaspora. In The good news therefore is that indigenous peoples are all these instances the alien education systems sought to eliminate taking control of their educational systems in so many parts of the cultures of the people they were educating. Indigenous edu- the world. The sad news is that this does not solve all their education systems, by contrast, are as much concerned with cultural cational problems. Now their systems and the people educated in survival as they are with the transmission of knowledge; yet this them have to compete for acceptance in societies that may be is easier said than done. dubious about multiculturalism or that accept it in theory but not The Tibetan refugees, for example, face an uphill struggle as in practice. Still, as the nations of the world struggle towards a they try to maintain their monastic educational system abroad, or multicultural future, their acceptance of the cultural context of alternatively, to develop a new and secular system. They want educational systems is a giant step in the right direction. their educational institutions to keep Tibetan language and culture alive among their children while at the same time preparing David Maybury-Lewis is Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University. their children to cope successfully with life outside Tibet. Even He is also Founder and President of Cultural Survival

Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 19983 6 BRIEFLY NOTED

FOR MORE INFO The Native American maintain and strengthen effective architects of Preparatory School both their traditional Contact Native American Prepatory United States policy We School PO Box 160, Rowe, NM 87562, help our exceptional values and native identities tel (505) 474-6801, fax (505) 474-6816 by Allison Donald students recognize their while enriching their acad- and Elizabeth Martin Public Relations, own abilities, and prepare emic experience through a 411-B Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501-1938, them to wrestle with for- In1988,The Native American Western education. This tel (505) 989-1733, fax midable societal chal- Preparatory School (NAPS) was established combination enables (505) 989-3928. lenges that face all of us. to enrich the education of American students to meet the chal- With quality education, American Indian people Indian children in seventh, eighth, and lenges of higher education through a will regain their rightful place in ninth grades in preparation for higher unique and culturally rich experience. America-proud of their culture and education. Located in Rowe, New Mexico At comparable college prep schools, traditions, and confident in their abil- on a 1600 acre campus, NAPS has evolved average yearly tuition per student can ity to succeed at any endeavor." from a challenging five week summer range around $20,000 a year. NAPS Sources: school for junior high school students, however, is the first privately funded The Native American Prepatoty School: to include a highly prestigious four year school for American Indians and while www.gse.uci.edu college prep school which admitted its need-based financial aid is available, the Press Release from Elizabeth Martin Public Relations, Ltd. first class in September,1995. average student tuition is$900annually Now in its third year, the college Foundation grants and individual dona- prep school includes a student body that tions are also a source of financial aid. The Interconnection Between represents 13 states, 33 tribal entities, Students are admitted through an appli- Culture and Medicine and two countries-the U.S. and Canada. cation process on the basis of academic by Lara Zielin Compared to the50Navajo youths that merit and personal achievement. made up the first summer school pro- One of the goals of NAPS is to rede- According to panel members of gram in1988,NAPS' expanse, both in fine the Native American educational Alternative Systems of Medical Practice, its programs and its student body, is system. As founder and chair of NAPS, 70-90%of global health care systems largely due to the philosophy on which Richard P Ettinger states: conceptualize and interpret sickness dif- it was founded. "the youth who are educated at the ferently than through the schema of NAPS is dedicated to providing a Native American Prepatory School will modern medicine. Interestingly, these rigorous and challenging environment in be the leaders not only of their own alternative schemas (often termed 'folk' which American Indian students can tribes and states, but will also become practices or illnesses) are beginning to influence medically advanced societies- particularly the U.S.-which has previously ignored these seemingly superstitious medical methodologies. The Texas Medical Institute has emphasized that understanding the cultural context from which a patient comes is as important as understanding the sickness itself. In Texas, overwhelming numbers of Hispanic immigrants seeking effective health care simultaneously draw from folk or traditional medical practices and beliefs. For example, susto, a 'fright

17-N sickness,' illustrates the relationship /111.11 between the social and physical realms and is common among Mexican or Hispanic populations in Texas. Teacher vorking with NAPS students. According to Dr. Rodriguez, Director of

4Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 BRIEFLY NOTED

the Center for Immigration Rese.arch at Cartesian mind/body dualism pervades In recent years, agitation for sepa- the University of Houston, "if you're treatment and illness is analyzed and rate statehood within the Indian union frightened or shocked by something so treated apart from the social context in has mobi- that your body or your spirit is believed which it is found. The Texas Medical lized the FOR MORE INFO to be in disequilibrium, you're in a state Institute is quickly discovering that this hill people For more info on Uttarakhand and the Himalayas, please contact of susto...For us, it would be comparable analysis of sickness is not always effec- as never Rajiv Rawat at [email protected] to anxiety or depression." Some symp- tive. Consequently, the interplay between before, as vard.edu or (617) 623-4226 toms of susto can include sleeplessness, the biological and the social is worthy of hopes for a or check out the website at w.geocites.com/kar- apathy, crying easily, or weight loss. investigation, not only in cases of susto better navati. However, according to anthropologist but also in sicknesses more commonly future Frank Lipp, susto's symptoms and diag- prevalent in dominant United States culture. have found expression in calls for self- nosis determination and local control over FOR MORE INFO Sources: cannot be government and resources. This past fall Rubel, O'Nell and Collando- www.texmed.org/home/news_events/texas_medicine/ne_t Ardon, "The Folk Illness Called "reduced exmedfeatureoct96.htm overseas friends of these social move- Susto" in The Culture Bound to and www.nlm.nih ments established a web page highlight- Syndromes. 1985. embedded www.naturalhealthvillage,com/uctreportlaltsysterns.htrn ing the issues confronting the Himalayas- Texas Medical Institute: into" a sin- Lipp, Frank. 1987. "The Study of Disease in Relation to and its peoples. Located at www.texmed.org. gularly sci- Culture: The Susto Complex Among the http://www.geocities.comf-karnavati, the entific Mixe of Oaxaca." Dialectical Anthropology 12:4. pp. site offers a wealth of information on the framework without understanding the 435-442. ways in which it is "culturally designed Scheper-Hughes, Nancy and Loch, Margaret M. 1987. vi and experienced." Treating susto is not "The Mindful Body: A Prolegomenon to Future as simple as prescribing pills and waiting Work in Medical Anthropology." Medical Anthropology Quarterly 1:1. pp. 6-41. for them to take effect. Rather, treating the sickness may entail understanding how the sickness is culturally designed, experienced, and translated. Web Site Highlights Struggles of India's Hill Peoples Robert Carlson, author of "Flour from a Different Sack" featured in Texas by Rap Rawat Medicine, indicates that modern medi- Hill women foraging for fuel wood, an activity that often consumes 16 hours a day. cine must expand its analysis of sickness The hill districts of India's largest state, and treatment to meet the needs of the Uttar Pradesh, have attracted interna- history, geography, and current events of burgeoning Hispanic population, for tional attention from environmentalists' the Indian Himalayas. As such, support- whom susto embodies much more than efforts to safeguard the Himalayan ers hope to educate Uttarakhandis, other an individual with certain symptoms. forests. As the source of the Ganges River Indians, and world citizens alike, as the When a person is affected by susto, "the and home to India's highest peaks and first step to raising support for the ongo- whole community is believed to be in holiest shrines, deforestation in this area ing struggle of the hill people to deter- danger. Therefore, the treatment must called Uttarakhand has led to environ- mine their own destiny address the entire community rather mental deterioration. This process has than just the patient." Medical anthro- made living even more precarious, pologists Nancy Scheper-Hughes and adding to the already difficult conditions HIV/AIDS Funding Denied for Margaret Lock believe that modern med- of hill life. Chipko, India's first modern Natives icine is often incapable of defining illness environmental movement, began in these by Seema Sharma as anything more than just a physical hills as did other awareness campaigns. malfunction. According to Scheper- Involving thousands of mostly women Hughes and Lock, those who practice villagers, these movements have fought In the 29 years of its existence, the and partake in modern medicine often social ills brought on by the exploitation American Indian Community House lack a precise vocabulary to deal with of natural resources as a result of the (A1CH) of New York City has developed mind/body/society interactions. Thus, a nation's industrialization and development. culturally sensitive approaches to manag-

8 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 5 BRIEFLY NOTED

ing, counseling, and educating Native In a 1994 issue of AIDS Weekly,. pub- The Educational Future of Cree Americans about job training and place- lisher Charles Henderson writes that as of by Marcela Betzer ment, health services, HIV/ AIDS August 1994, there have been 818 reported referral and case management, and coun- AIDS cases among Native Americans nation- seling programs for alcohol and substance wide. It is believed that many cases go The Cree School Board recently intro- abuse. In addition, the AICH HIV/AIDS unreported due to denial and the fact that duced Cree as a language of instruction, Project has established an Outreach many tribal leaders do not consider AIDS a huge step forward from the mentality education a priority Tom of the residential schools of previous Program to assist Native FORMORE INFO Americans living with Lidot, coordinator of an AIDS years. Residential schools that instructed Contact theAmerican Indian Cree children in English or French, HIV/AIDS. Since its incep- Community House, Inc., education program for tion in 1991, the Outreach iana Gubiseh-Ayala California-based Indian Health believed that Cree was not a sufficient (212) 598-0100 x.255. Program has provided over Council Inc., says "You are language to study Former Chairman of 17,000 people with infor- talking about a community the Cree School Board, Luke MacLeod, mation about its services and primary that is isolated in the world, a place that asserts that the Cree should learn and care services throughout the greater New has its own values and traditions. And we study in their own language and that York area. have leaders-leaders chosen for their age French and English should also be and wisdom who dictate values. If they learned, but as secondary languages. Until recently, this program received feel that AIDS is a threat for any reason, its funding from Medical Health Research The introduction of Cree as a lan- then, yeah, the blockades go up." Associates, Inc. (MHRA) with Ryan White guage of instruction occurred in the Title I funds. However, as of November 14, According to the Phoenix Indian midst of drafting the Cree Education 1997, the AICH HIV/AIDS Project was de- Medical Center, AIDS cases among Native Act. This act places local schools under nied approval of two grant applications Americans increased by 20% during the direction of local communities and for promoting access to early intervention 1996-a rate 20% higher than the general extends Cree School Board leadership and case management services. The MHRA of population. Further, once diagnosed, positions from one to three years, among New York City, the very agency allocating Native Americans with HIV/AIDS have a other provisions. The Cree people funds for Ryan White Comprehensive shorter life span by 50% compared to expressed positive opinions when con- AIDS Emergency Act Title I, was respon- any other ethnic group reports Constance sulted about the Cree Education Act. sible for repealing funding. This decision James, the medical center spokeswoman. They see the Cree School Board as having a "central role in preserving and will result in the shut down of the AICH The conservation of protective ser- strengthening the Cree language, culture, Project by the end of February, 1998. vices for Native Americans is required to and values." The implications of this project termi- sustain this dwindling population. nation are profound as thousands of Native Unfortunately, one vital service provided The success of Cree as a language of Americans surviving with HIV/AIDS will by AICH functioning to preserve Native instruction is already apparent. be left without culturally appropriate Americans has been expunged and will Educators within the program agree that means for dealing with HIV/A1DS and the lead to further decline of the Native since the introduction of Cree, children accompanying hardships. Further, in a American population. As Rosemary have been able to learn more easily time when HIV/AIDS studies-conducted Richmond, Executive Director of the because they understand their teachers by the Center for Disease Control (CDC)- American Indian Community House without the need for translation and exclude or underrepresent Native Americans, articulates, "the ability of the American learn the Cree values inherent in the lan- any services benefiting and or support- Indian Community House to conduct guage as they learn to read and write. ing this population are imperative. In outreach, for the purpose of accessing Children are introduced to French and addition, according to Teresa Diaz, MD HIV related services to our community English in the third grade when they are of the CDC, the number of AIDS cases has been dealt a devastating blow. Many more prepared to immerse themselves in among Native Americans is likely to be lives of our community are now at stake." another language.

an underestimation due to ethnic mis- Sources: However, the new program faces a few problems. Cree parents concerned classification. In fact, the percentage of www.abest.com/@aichnycihtm cases mis- or underrepresented among AIDS Weekly, September 26, 1994, p. 10(2) and with their children's inevitable future Native Americans may be as high as 21%. December 16, 1996 p. 5(1). interaction with English and French are

9 6Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 BRIEFLY NOTED

not convinced yet that the change is for moting aboriginal music, Yothu the better. The parents do not under- Yindi also promotes awareness of stand why Cree should be taught at issues pertaining to Yolngu cul- school if it is spoken at home and are on ture, including land and resource the whole more interested in their chil- struggles in which the Yolngu are dren learning French and English, possi- involved. bly a residual impact of the Residential One of Yothu Yindi's founding schools' mentality The program is also members is Mandawuy hoping to improve their libraries as they Yunupingu, the recipient of have very few texts with Cree syllabics in Australia's 1992 Australian of the \ their libraries for the students' use. Year Award and the first person The Cree School Board is hosting an from Arnhem Land to gain a uni- upcoming conference entitled Cree versity degree. Yunupingu is Language and Cultural Conference with responsible for much of the band's the theme Remembering our Children in music and lyrics, including hopes of outlining its future goals and "Treaty," a song from Yothu Yindi's providing evaluation and direction for Tribal Voice album. Treaty, written the participants. Also, another hope is in the Gumatj language is "a plea , that other Native groups in Canada will for recognition sparked by former be interested in what the Cree School Australian prime minister Bob _Tb4r7 net, Board is doing and will generate ideas to Hawke's commitment to negotiate Yothu Yindi founder Mandawuy Yunupingu with a yidaki (traditional use their own languages for instruction a [land and resource] treaty" aboriginal instrument) player between the descendants of abo- for their people. vocalize the clan's concerns. Yunupingu riginal and non-aboriginal people Sources: conveyed to Rolling Stone magazine that, in Australia. Yunupingu is familiar with "Cree Educators and the Language They Love," in The "[Yothu Yindi] operate[s] in two aspects the process of land and resource negotia- Nation. October 24, 1997. "Taking Education of reality One is restricted (sacred); the tion. His father was one of the leaders of Seriously," in The Nation. August 15, 1997. other is unrestricted (public). That is the Gumatj and Rirratjingu clans who why I find it easy to come into the white presented petitions to the Australian man's world and operate, then go back Yothu Yindi Provides Much- government in the 1960s asking for to my world without fear of losing it. I'm Needed Bridge Between recognition of aboriginal claims to land. Cultural Gaps using white man's skills, Yolngu skills The petition, written on bark, led to the and putting them together for a new establishment of the Woodward by Lara Zielin beginning." Aboriginal Land Commission Of 1973 Anthropologist Helen Ross suggests and 1974 "which prepared a blueprint Out of the continually diversifying that successful communication between for vesting Aboriginal land rights in realm of music, Yothu Yindi (pro- aboriginal and non-aboriginal cultures the...Northern Territory The blueprint, nounced Yo-thoo yin-dee) has emerged must begin with an understanding of enacted in 1976, was used to design a as a band which combines traditional both cultures, which Yunupingu and land rights law applicable to the history aboriginal Yolngu music with non-abo- Yothu Yindi possess. Ross maintains that and conditions in the Northern riginal Balanda music. The importance of miscommunication is all too common Territory" the music's cultural amalgamation is among aboriginal and non-aboriginal more than just a triumph over cacoph- Yothu Yindi's ability to promote and negotiation processes due to a failure to ony The assimilation of "traditional song address aboriginal issues stems from the understand cultural norms. For example, cycles of the Gumatj and Rirratjingu band's successful navigation between timing, consultation, and value systems clans of the North-East Arnhem land" aboriginal and non-aboriginal cultures. are cultural issues which can convolute into mainstream music has helped foster The band keeps its finger on the pulse of negotiations for both aboriginal and a deeper understanding between aborigi- its clan members through tribal consul- non-aboriginal peoples, pivoting on a nal and non-aboriginal cultures. By pro- tation, but also utilizes white culture to lack of understanding about how the

1 0 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 7 BRIEFLY NOTED

FOR MORE INFO issues differ agreed to give the logging company, by the group. Also, the Mayor violated If you are interested in obtaining Yothu Yindi's between Barren Commercial, logs from the new Guatemalan laws which allow the music, contact groups. municipal ejido lands; ejido referring to a Maya people to participate in the man- www.mushroom.com. Yothu Yindi, collectively owned land unit. The agement and protection of their lands. by promot- Biosfera ltza Reserve is one of the areas According to Goodland, the actions of ing awareness and understanding of abo- of the municipal ejido lands that is still "the widespread pattern of forest riginal culture with the rest of the world, forested. The logging of these forests will exploitation are both environmentally has helped negotiate tenants between make this area "accesible, subjecting and economically costly" aboriginal and non-aboriginal culture, these areas to further dis- FOR MORE INFO In order for this crisis with tangible results. turbance that is often EcoLogic Development Fund do to gain the attention it Sources: more severe than the log- the Bio ltza Committee Legal Fund, deserves your support is P.O. Box 383405 Ross, Helen. 1995. "Aboriginal Australians' Cultural ging itself' according to an necessary The Maya ltza Norms for Negotiating Natural Resources," in advisor to the Environment Cambridge, MA 02238- are in urgent need of jus- Cultural Survival Quarterly; 19:3. pp. 33-38. 3405 tel.(617)441-6300, Department of the World fax(617)441-6307 tice for their survival. The Yothu Yinid's website: www.yothuyindi.com Bank, Robert Goodland's time of action is now, 1986. "Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia," in Cultural book, Race To Save The Tropics. If the please send letters and financial contri- Survival Quarterly; 10:2. Adapted from "Watching Mayor is successful these lands will soon butions to the address below. Brief on Land Rights" by Jon Altman and Michael experience their last rainfall. Dillon in Austrialian Society, June 1985. The Bio Itza Committee has hired a Sources: lawyer tp protect themselves from the The Ecologic Foundation: [email protected]. Threat of Maya Land illegal actions that the mayor has under- Goodland, Robert. ed. Race To Save The Tropics: Destruction taken, such as accusing the Committee Ecology and Economics for a Sustainable Future. Island Press: Washington, D.C. by Nancy Silva of acting irresponsibly and attempting to confiscate all material donations collected

Tie Maya Itza are one of the Mayan linguistic groups in Guatemala still in existence; however, the group is struggling with a major threat to their cultural survival. The ltza are trying to preserve their municipal forests that may be destroyed. In order to save their lands from mass destruction, in 1991, they established the Committee of the Biosfera ltza Reserve. With this effort the Itza hoped they could banish any plans of- of demolition of the forests. Though this A/ was a great effort on their part, it was not enough to halt the grand plans of - greed already in process. The current Mayor of San Jose decided it would be

more profitable to break up the original ILL committee and replace it with immigrants who have a strong desire to termi- .200 , nate the forests, thus creating room for Wiligaint44,1-01P^ agricultural plots. In addition, the *4: Mayor's new plans include the improve- NhaL . -% ment of roads within his municipality As "440. payment for the labor the Mayor has Members of the Bio ltza Association working in the reserve.

8Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 CS BULLETIN BOARD

Cultural Survival Welcomes our Newest Members Cultural Survival Receives Grant Cultural Survival is proud to announce the (joined between 10/19/97 and 1/28/98) award of a grant from the BridgeBuilders Foun- dation which will enable Cultural Survival to Jan Aceti Marianne L. Goudreau Jean Russell Miller Rich expand its Curriculum Resource Program (CRP). Diane Akula Jeanne Griffin Joan Rising Cultural Survival extends its gratitude to the Cole Arbuckle Jane Adele Gray Cynthia R. Robinson BridgeBuilders Foundation for recognizing the Mark & Andrea Arratoon Falk Grossmann David Rosen CRP's dedication to working within the local John E Austin Denise Gualandri Anna B. Safran community to bring global issues into the classroom. Diane Austin Thomas Hartmann Shirley Saintell The BridgeBuilders Foundation's general Maria Bakkalapulo Midori Hatakeyama Maxwell Schnurer goal is to support small, community-based Hayes Batten Jennifer Hays Janet Schreiber organizations that work to build bridges between Stephen Beidner Mary Ann Height Kathleen Sepelak groups of people that differ with respect to J. Christopher Bernat Logan A. Hennessy Michael P Smith race, ethnicity, age, gender, economic resources, Mary Jane Bomon Harold Herbig Jan Smola and physical or mental ability. Specifically, Jeffrey Bronfman Rick Holz Priscilla Sonville BridgeBuilders funds projects that promote Dan & Tammy Brotman- Denise Hoover Peter & Lucy Sprayregen social, economic, and environmental justice. Woodward The trustees of the Foundation are particu- Catherine Horn Amelia Stafford larly interested in programs that encourage D. Broudy Harriet Hornblower Juliane Stookey Elizabeth Brown young people to broaden their experience. Sylvia Jalil-Gutierrez Stephen Taranto Cultural Survival will use the BridigeBuilders Pamela Bruder-Freernan Hubert Jessup Janet Thigpen Foundation grant to fund another student Karen Budd Alison M. Johnston Maureen Tierney conference in 1998 and the CRP is looking Kevin D. Butt Susan Kattlor Aurea R. Torneski forward to another successful experience with Robert & Sharon Camner James & Elizabeth Keel Libby Tucker the local community Alan Carle Monica Kidd C. Luis Vasquez Through the annual student conference, the Andre Carothers Jana & Robert M. Kiely Sequoiah Wachenheim CRP has provided high school students with Julia E Carpenter David Kuchta Suzanne Watzrnan the opportunity to further their knowledge Beth Carter Julie Kuhn Marc Weitzel about specific ethnic minorities such as the Crystal Carver Julia Ann Laird Sharon K. Westre Chiapas Maya and the Aboriginal culture of Steve Colf Mei-Hua Lan Phylis R. Wheeler Australia and also to understand many of the Charlie Conklin Cesare & Irena Lombroso Jack Wittenbrink larger issues surrounding global minorities. Carole M. Counihan Rolf Lunheim Felice Wyndham Through the type of experience provided by Todd Covalcine Melissa Malouf Elizabeth Zinderstrein Cultural Survival's CRP, students not only Carrie Daily expand their knowledge of facts, but also gain Jessie Manuta Aid Development and Kim Dcandrade conflict resolution anc' perspective-taking Ama Marston Information Center skills which they can then bring to other S. Demerly Tania Maxwell Albion College Josh Dewind areas of their lives. Both students and teachers Molly McDaniel Asian Pacific Resource Center have expressed their enthusiasm for the stu- Linda Dick-Bissonnette Aaron McEmrys Austin College Library dent conference and about their experience in Candice Dugan Cindy Miller Bruno-Manser-Fonds working with Cultural Survival. Barbara Dugelby Winifred Mitchell Bryn Mawr College, The underlying goal of Cultural Survival's R. Dunipace John G. Moore Canaday Library CRP is to educate students and the general Claudia Eberspacher Lena Mortensen Cleveland Public Library public about issues surrounding multiculturalism Deanna Elliott Toshiyuki Nakazawa Inter-American Development Bank and to instill the respect and understanding Scott Englander Anne Nelligan Lange & Springer that global ethnic minorities command. The Lawrence M. Epstein Eleanor Nickerson Minneapolis Communication curriculum introduced by the program specif- Leah Ermarth Christine Noonan and Technology College ically seeks to break stereotypes which stu- Christophe Evers Rodney S. North Mugar Memorial Library dents hold in regard to global ethnic minori- Hilary Farmer lchiro Numazaki National Park Service, Denver ties by providing students with a variety of Armelle Faure-Osei Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney Pearson Peacekeeping Center perspectives and resources to supplement reg- Zoe Foster Jeanie M. Olivares Rutgers University, Law Library ular textbooks. Through experiences like the David Freidel Sherry Oliver Truckee Meadows student conference, students frorn different Daniel Fretts Community College, schools are able to share what they have Joyce Ortega Learning Resource Center Lilian Friedberg learned with one another and to connect their Thomas Plunkett University of Southern personal experience to a global one. Geraldine Gamburd Sarah Pope Queensland Chris Gibson Cultural Survival is grateful for the Jerome & Dorothy Preston University of Arizona Library BridgeBuilders Foundation grant and looks Richard D. Glovsky Mary Pulford University of Maryland, forward to continuing to work in partnership Andreas Gobel Shirley Reaves Office of Multi-Ethnic Student with the community Brooks Goddard Deldy Reyes Education by Felisa Brunschwig

1 2 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 19989 BOOK REVIEW

Literacy, emotion, and authority Reading and writing on a Polynesian atoll

by Niko Besnier

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1995. xx, 224 pp., figures, maps, tables, orthography, glossary, and index. ISBN 0-521-48539-8

Review by Kenneth M. George, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon

Niko Besnier's Literacy, emotion, and authority is a brilliant efforts to exchange letters, lists, and records of various kinds. and painstaking ethnographic study of literacy on Nukulaelae At the time of Besnier's study, the textually dominant forms of Atoll, Tuvalu (formerly the Ellice Islands). The book has spe- Nukulaelae literacy were personal letters and sermons, forms cial relevance for readers of Cultural Survival Quarterly, not so that connected powerfully to matters of affect and authority, much because of its contemporary and historical portrait of respectively this remote island community (pop. 347 [1979 census]), but rather because of its comparative implications for the way we Letter writing and reading are heterodox practices, to be think about literacy and social transformation in any society In sure, but Besnier discovered that affect was a conspicuous fea- keeping with the most recent theoretical ture in virtually all discourse levels within letter advances in the anthropology of literacy (which NNr.4.r..1 I .r Jot exchanges. Integrated as they are into networks he covers in a wonderful and very thorough A of gossip and economic transactions, the com- introductory chapter), Besnier treats literacy as a Literacy, mingling of emotion and letter-exchanges show social practice. In this approach, the 'effects' of emotion, and that the Nukulaelae speech community has literacy are charted in the waters of social authority managed to construct a culturally and ideologi- encounter and event. From this vantage point, cally specific form of literate practice. By way of Pt whom nod wrIlont on a writing and reading appear not so much as Polvnestan atoll contrast, written sermons evince a certain conti- generalized technologies of communication or nuity with, and seizure of hegemonic forms of modes of cognitiOn, rather, as particularistic and truth introduced in the colonial period. Their historically shaped practices that mediate referential, grammatical, and pragmatic (or politics, morality, emotions, and with them, indexical) dimensions play a central role in the human agency. social construction and display of authority His careful work with these two genres leads Besnier What Besnier shows so well in this study is to argue that Nukulaelae is a showcase for an that literacy is never a neutral or all-purpose "incipient literacy" in which atoll inhabitants means of communication. Literacy 'arrived' on appear not as passive recipients of an Nukulaelae a little over a century ago during a autonomous and hegemonic structure of linguis- time of British and Samoan missionization, tic exchange, but as active agents in charge of Peruvian slave raids, and German plantation ventures. Reading their own communicative economy and destiny and writing thus cannot be disentangled from the social tactics and strategies of codeswitching between the Nukulaelae dialect Full description of the ethnographic riches and theoretical of Tuvaluan, Samoan, and other languages, from a history of discriminations made in Besnier's book would demand far schooling and religious conversion, or from the social and cul- more space than that allotted to this review. The appeal of this tural currents of colonial and postcolonial political-economic book for the specialist or the seminar room should be plain. formations. Literacy also appears in genres of greater or lesser But further, its suggestive findings are especially significant for importance: Not everything is written down or read in the practical and intellectual work of those who deal with liter- Nukulaelae, and that which is written and read takes particular acy as an ambivalent sign of community empowerment or and authoritative forms. Introduced with the purpose of disenfranchisement. Niko Besnier has produced a probing and getting Nukulaelae islanders to read the Bible, literacy subse- exceedingly useful study of the highest caliber. Readers of CSQ quently came to include, and be dominated by Nukulaelae will find this work immensely rewarding. 1 3

1 0 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 BOOK REVIEW

A Violência contra os Povos Indigenas no Brasil 1996

by CIMI-CNBB

CIMI-CNBB Brasilia, 1997. 87 pp., illustrations, charts.

Review by David Maybury-Lewis, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, President and Founder of Cultural Survival

C1MI (the Indigenist Missionary Council) is affiliated with aggressions outnumbered those of ranchers or logging companies. Brazil's National Council of Bishops. It was founded about the In some cases, campaigns against indigenous groups were same time as Cultural Survival and both organizations have effectively genocidal, bringing them to the verge of extinction. defended indigenous rights for just over a quarter of a century Twenty years ago a local landowner massacred all but 100 of now. Sadly CIMI's recent publication entitled Violence Against the Ava-Canoeiro in the state of Goias. In 1996 the construc- the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil in 1996, makes depressing tion of the Serra de Mesa hydroelectric plant on their lands reading. It is a compilation of statistics with the minimum of without any accompanying measures to protect the Indians has commentary, concerning the many kinds of vio- reduced them to less than 40 individuals. The lence that are being visited on the indigenous A-VIMCne'l -,- Nambikwara in Mato Grosso are threatened with peoples of Brazil. contra_ns extinction now that their lands have been invad-

. ed by miners and loggers. A remote group in CIMI claims that there were twice as many 1-A7-os -ffifiren Rondonia is being wiped out by ranchers who acts of violence committed against indigenous no, claim their lands, even though the government's peoples in 1996 as there were in 1995. Although Indian Service has officially and fruitlessly we cannot make a close analysis of CIMI's statis- denounced their murders. Meanwhile the tics, they do indicate beyond a reasonable doubt Yanomami in Rondonia continue to suffer mas- that aggression agaMst Brazil's indigenous peo- sive depopulation while about 8000 gold miners ples has increased substantially CIM1 states that continue to work on their lands. this is largely the result of an increasing number of contlicts over and invasions of indigenous Where the authorities are not directly lands. These were in turn prompted by the noto- responsible for violenceagainst Indians, the gov- rious decree no.1775, issued in January 1996, ernment regularly claims it is powerless to protect them which the federal government formally made it possible for because it lacks the resources to do so. This excuse has even those considering themselves interested parties to contest the been used in the Yanomami case even though the congress official demarcation of Indian lands. For years, the Brazilian voted the money necessary to defend them. It seems that the government has failed to obey its own laws regarding the root of the problem is that the Brazilian government not only timetable for the demarcation of indigenous lands. Decree lacks the will to protect the nation's indigenous peoples, but no.1775 compounded that omission by, in effect, inviting chal- that it encourages policies that are leading to their physical and lenges to the boundaries of lands involved in the glacially slow cultural extinction. process of demarcation. Worse still, according to the statistics, the leading perpetrators of violence against Indians in 1996 Note: This report is available through CIM1, SDS Edificio Venecio 111, salas 309 a 314, 70390-900, Brasilia, DE Caixa Postal 03679, 70084-970, Brasilia, DE tel: 061-225- were representatives of state and municipal authorities whose 9457, fax: 061-255-9401, e-mail: [email protected]

Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 199811 SOURCES

PUBLICATIONS Ashkenazi Jews in Mexico: any stage of early parenting. Also Ideologies in the Structuring of a included is an epilogue of further Mas Antes: Community teachings from the Tibetan heritage Adina Cimet takes a detailed outlook that are sure to enrich and educate Hispanic Folklore of the Rio Puerco all readers. Valley into the Jewish population of Mexico and the uncertainties they face today Maiden, Anne H. and Edie Farwell. Boston: Wisdom Nasario Garcia has invested his efforts The book also explores the problem of Publications. 1997. $16.95 Iwo; ISBN 0-86171-129-7. in preserving the vivid memories of his ethnic identity and the survival of their Rio Puercoan culture. The book contains culture. Cimet offers her readers a pos- an extensive amount of the people's sibility to learn more about the issues enriching history through colorful MUSIC Jews must confront by living in a land stories, songs, and letters. Although the so culturally complex. valley has long ago been abandoned, Prairie Plain Song -Mas Antes offers the readers an excellent Cimet, Adina. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1997. $19.95 paper, ISBN 0-7914-3180-0. PRAIkIE PLAINSONP This collection of opportunity to understand the every- well-crafted flute day life of its people. A Condor Brings the Sun melodies is sure to Garcia, Nasario, Ed. Sante Fe: Museum of New Mexico This novel by Jerry put anyone's mind Press. 1997. $24.95 cloth, ISBN 0-89013-320-4. at peace. In the McGahan follows the $12.95 paper, ISBN 0-89013-323-9. background, beauti- struggles of 23 gen- ful sounds of nature: bird songs, ocean erations of native waves, and rainfall can be heard. Al Through Navajo Eyes: Peruvians. The story An Exploration in Film is focused on a Jewer draws the listeners to a place of Communication and Anthropology woman named Pilar serenity and escape. Authors Sol who, living in the Al Jewer c/o Laughing Cat Studio, 11537 Walnut Lane, 1111 Fort Atkinson, WI 53538. Sol Worth and ancient Runa culture Worth John Adair, of Peru, endures continual threats made John Music of Indonesia: Adair decided to see to her survival, serenity, and strength of what would mind. With this novel McGahan creates a Music of Biak, Irian Jaya Through take place if convincing story of a woman discover- Music of Indonesia offers an array of Navajo Eyes they taught ing self-identity and love in a World full pleasurable sounds and rhythms of Biak, people who of conflict and confusion. Irian Jaya. In this recording, tradition Richard never used or meets the new and the result is a delight- chaffer, McGahan, Jerry. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. made motion 1996. $25.00 cloth, ISBN 0-87156-354-1. ful mixture of dance music and medita- pictures before tion. This assortment of music is sure to to do just that. The Tibetan Art of Parenting: stir anyone away from the ordinary This book is a chronicle of film making From Before Conception Through Center for Fon* Programs & Cultural Studies, 955 and editing involving a group of six Early Childhood LEnfant Plaza, Suite 2600, MRC 914, Smithsonian Navajo Indians in Arizona. They offer This book offers new Institution, Washington, DC 20560, SF CD 40426. readers the rare chance to attain a and future parents a broader understanding of the impor- unique perspective Lotus Signatures tance of the experiment. The book has on parenting. By This recording is cast a strong visual influence in the dis- dividing the book both lively and ciplines of visual anthropology com- into seven steps of spiritual, trans- munications, and film. childbearing: planting the.listener Worth, Sol and John Adair Albuquerque: University of preconception, con- to a world full of New Mexico Press. 1997. $19.95 paper, ISBN 0- ception, gestation, mysticism. These 8263-1771-5. birthing, bonding, infancy, and early melodies capture the essence of south childhood, parents can get fresh tips to India. The world renowned bamboo

12 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 SOURCES

flute player, Dr. N. Ramani, shares cen- Produced and directed by Chris Christophe. 1992, Earth Day Argonaut Productions, Ltd. 51 minutes. Bullfrog Films, ter stage with the gifted Negai April 22 Muralidaran on violin, Trichy Sankaran Inc., Oley, PA 19547. Tel: 215-779-8226. Check local listings for events in your on the mrdangam, V Nagarajan on the Faces of the Hand hanjira, E. M. Subramaniam on the area. This movie is an expedition into the ghatam, and A. Kannan playing the Committee on Economic. morsing. everyday way our hands express culture and personality By venturing through a Social and Cultural Rights Music of the World, Ltd., P 0. Box 3620, Chapel Hill, April 27-May 15 NC 27515-3620. varied range of cultures and personal experience, we gain a better insight into Geneva, Switzerland Steven Cragg Discovery the importance our hands play in Reports that will be considered: Sri expression. Our hands are powerful This is a combination of special effects, Lanka (initial), Uruguay (2nd), Cyprus and can both heal and destroy the natural sounds, and voice samples of (3rd), and Netherlands (2nd). world around us. Through this unique African, Australian, and Tibetan cul- Contact: UN Centre for Human Rights, Geneva Office, film we are able to see the ways that tures. To get this unique sound, Steven Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland. different cultures make use of their fine Cragg focused on the varying sounds tools of communication. This film is an of the didgeridoo, a traditional British Council International amazing combination of science, poetry, Seminar on Human Rights- Aboriginal instrument of Australia. and anthropology as it explores various Their Protection at a Discovery is a delight to hear whether ways our hands communicate with the National Level in a car, or at home. rest of the world. May 10-16 Steven Cragg. New World Music Limited, The Barn, Becks Green, St., Andrews, Beccles, Suffolk NR34 8NB Producer: Kent Martin. Director: Tamas Wormser 1995, Belfast, Northern Ireland England. Tel: 01986-781682. National Film Board of Canada, Studio B. 28 min- Contact: International Seminars, The British Council, 1 utes and 03 seconds. Bullfrog Films, Box 149, Oley, PA 19547. Tel: 610-779-8226. Beaumont Place, OX12PJ, UK, e-mail: internation- [email protected]. VIDEO Zimbabwean Music Festival EVENTS May 29-31 Kings of the Jungle: Victoria British Columbia, The Story of Claudio and Orlando HURIDOCS Conference on Canada Villas Boas Human Rights and Information Contact: Zimbabwean Music Festival, 1921 Fernwood This video focuses on two brothers and Road, Victoria BC 'I8T 21'6, Canada', tcl: 1-250 their dedication to a cause they have March 22-26, Tunisia 384-1997, fax: 1-250-388-5258, e-mail: fought for 30 years. At first they HURIDOCS Task Forces present a [email protected], website: wwwzimfest.org intended to open up the jungle by conference on software and electronic (coming soon). building a series of air strips connected communication among human rights Indigenous Perspectives in by roads which would, inevitably, dev- organizations. Ecuador astate the forest. They quickly realized Contact HURIDOCS, 2, rue Jean-Jaquet, CH-120I May 18-31 the tragic outcome that would result if Geneva, Switzerland, fax: 41-22-7411768, e-mail: they followed through with their plan. [email protected] Minneapolis, MN Not only would their plan cause irre- The Center for Global Education pre- versible effects on the land by deplet- Human Rights Committee sents an educational travel seminar ing the resources, but it would drive 62nd Session exploring the growing empowerment the natives out of their natural habitat March 23-April 9, 1998 of indigenous people in Ecuador. as well. This documentary traces the Geneva Switzerland Contact: Center for Global Education, Augsburg steps that they both took in defending College, 2211 Riverside Ave., Minneapolis, MN Contact: UN Centre for Human Rights, Geneva Office, 55454, 800-299-8889, ermail: the rights of the natives and the land. Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland [email protected];

1 6 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 199813 SPECIAL PROJECTS UPDATE

The Orang Asli Assistance Fund Project Site: Peninsular Malaysia Coordinators: Kirk Endicott and Adela Baer

"During the war with the Japanese, we Without adequate land and resources, called 'positive discrimination,' it has were forced to move from our settlement. people can no longer support themselves by rewarded individuals and communities who During the war with the communists, we subsistence foraging, farming, or selling adopt Islam and neglected those who do were also forced to move. And now, we are crops and forest products. Most individuals not. The government has tried to create a again forced to move. Is this the war of the government?...We are not nomads. The lack the education and skills needed for situation in which the only way Orang Asli government keeps telling us to stay put in anything but menial labor in the modern can gain the rights and protections afforded one place. But now it is the government market economy Government statistics for other citizens is to cease being Orang Asli. that is forcing us to move!" 1997 show that 81% of Orang Ash live Most Orang Ash want to participate in The Orang Asli, meaning 'Original People,' below the official poverty line, and 50% are the nation's growing prosperity, but do not number about 90,000 in 19 culturally distinct classed as termiskin, the poorest of the poor. want to have to give up their ethnic identi- groups and traditionally lived in villages and To the Malay-domi- ties, religions, languages, camps scattered across the Malay Peninsula, nated Malaysian govern- and customs. In 1991, a from the mangrove swamps of the coast to ment, one problem group of distinguished the rainforest of the interior. Since 1960, concerning Orang Asli is Orang Ash leaders drew up however, the majority of Orang Asli have that their very existence a list of urgent needs of been displaced from their homes by devel- contradicts the official Orang Ash. They called for opment projects, including logging, planta- ideology that Malays are the same rights and tions, mines, dams, highways, power lines, the indigenous people of privileges as Malays; land golf courses, airports, universities, and Peninsular Malaysia. The rights; economic develop- housing subdivisions. The few Orang Asli government's solution is ment; better infrastructure, still living in their hereditary areas fear that to assimilate 'all Orang education, and health care; they too will be forced to move. Their fears Asli into the Malay recognition of their right to are well-founded. Under Malaysian laws, ethnic group, causing maintain their cultures and Orang Asli have no legal claim to their land; them to disappear as a religions; political repre- they are 'squatters' on state land. State and distinct category of A Batelt father bathing his young daughter, sentation at the state and federal governments can seize any land, even while a son, who is afflicted with spinal national levels; and revi- people. To become tuberculosis, bathes himself 0976). in the few designated Orang Ash reserves, Malays, Orang Ash must sion of the act that gives for any purpose. Until recently, the only become Muslims and adopt the Malay the Department of Aboriginal Affairs compensation the governments had to pay language and customs. Despite the constitu- (JHEOA) absolute control over Orang Ash. was a nominal amount for destroyed fruit trees. tional guarantee of religious freedom, the So far the government has ignored this Today, most displaced Orang Ash live in government has poured millions of dollars memorandum, although for bureaucratic government-sponsored regroupment into mostly unsuccessful efforts to convert reasons, it has transferred education and schemes, desolate settlements in logged-off Orang Ash to Islam. Since 1991, it has built health care from the JHEOA to the wastelands with minimal facilities and inad- Muslim chapels and posted missionaries in Ministries of Education and Health. The equate land to support the population. over 250 settlements. Following a policy JHEOA tries to undermine or co-opt any 17 14 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 SPECIAL PROJECTS UPDATE

FOR MORE INFORMATION a dam. We hope that similar legal actions For further information on Orang Asli and the Orang Ash Assistance Fund, please see the book will be successful in other parts of the The Appeal mentioned below consult the Orang Ash Assistance Peninsula, where Orang Ash have been dis- We welcome donations to assist the Fund web site at www.clartmouth.edu/asli, placed for the benefit of others. or contact the Fund coordinators, Kirk Orang Ash in achieving the health, Endicott, Department of Anthropology, education, prosperity, and rights they Dartmouth College, 6047 Carpenter Hall, Hanover, NH 03755-3570; email: deserve as indigenous Malaysian citi- [email protected] or Adela Baer, Bibliography zens, including the right to be them- Department of Zoology, Oregon State University, selves. Please send your donations to: Cordley Hall 3029, Corvallis, OR 97331-2914; Dentan, Robert K., et al. Malaysia and the "Original email: [email protected]. People": A Case Study of the Impact of Development Cultural Survival on Indigenous People. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997. Orang Asli Assistance Fund individuals or organizations opposing the Nicholas, Cohn. "Orang Asli and Development: Chased 96 Mt. Auburn St. assimilation policy Away for a Runway" Pernloi Gah: Orang Ash News 3:5- Cambridge, MA 02138 6, 1991. The Orang Ash Assistance Fund was established in 1997 by anthropologists Robert K. Dentan, Kirk Endicott, and Alberto Gomes; Special Projects are independent initia- money order or credit card to Cultural Malaysian law specialist M. Barry Hooker; tives that aim to empower indigenous peo- Survival/Special Projects, 96 Mt. Auburn and Orang Asli health specialist Adela Baer. ples in areas that are basic to their self- St., Cambridge, MA 02138. Tel. 617-441- The first four are co-authors of Malaysia and determination. Special Projects seek to pre- 5400, Fax: 617-441-5417. Please specify the "Original People": A Case Study of the serve, protect and promote the rights of to which project you are donating. Impact of Development on Indigenous People indigenous people through various means, in the Cultural Survival Studies in Ethnicity such as obtaining land rights, providing Special Projects and Coordinators and Change which describes in detail the health or legal services, managing natural Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco resources, or marketing sustainable sourced problems and aspirations of Orang Asli (formerly Chinchero Culture Project) today All royalties from the book go to the products. Cultural Survival does not Nilda Callanaupa, Coordinator Orang Asli Assistance Fund. directly fund projects; however, it serves as Ersari Turkmen Vegetable Dye Weaving fiscal sponsor to enable projects to pursue Project and Tibetan Rug Weaving Project The general aim of the Fund is to help grants through U.S. foundations and tax- Chris Walter, Coordinator empower Orang Asli to achieve their own deductible contributions from private The Garif una Journey Andrea Leland, Kathy Berger, Coordinators goals. This includes supporting the activities donors. In addition to the benefit from our Gwich'in Environmental Knowledge Project of independent Orang Asli and pro-Orang tax-exempt status, Special Projects are Gleb Raygorodetsky, Coordinator Asli organizations in Malaysia. Currently publicized in our publications (most hurl Forest People's Fund only three exist: the Association of Orang notably the Cultural Survival Quarterly), David Wilkie, Gilda Morelli, Bryan Curran, Robert Asli of Peninsular Malaysia (POASM), the promotional literature, on our website Bailey, Coordinators (www.cs.org), and in appeals to our FOMMA (La Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya) Center for Orang Ash Concerns (COAC), Miriam Laughlin, Coordinator and the Indigenous Peoples Network of members. Cultural Survival has a long- standing commitment to working in defense of Maya Manche Scholarship Fund (formerly Malaysia. Specific purposes for which funds Kekchi High School Scholarship Fund) indigenous rights, and all of our Special will be used include forming and strength- Richard Wilk, Coordinator Projects complement that mission. Orang Ash Assistance Fund ening Orang Asli organizations, education, Kirk Endicott, Adela S. Baer, Coordinators legal actions, health care programs, public- Donations and Project Proposals Sna Jtz'ibajoni, Chiapas Writers' ity and lobbying, and emergency assistance. Cooperative To submit a proposal for a Special Project, Robert Laughlin, Coordinator A recent Malaysian court decision gives please contact the Projects Coordinator at The Suyd Project reason for optimism that such efforts can Cultural Survival for guidelines, or review Anthony Seeger, Coordinator help. For the first time a court ruled that a them on the Cultural Survival homepage Tibetan School Project Nancy Mayo-Smith, Coordinator state government (Johor) must pay substan- (http://wwwcs.org). Donations for a spe- tial compensation to an Orang Asli commu- cific Special Project can be sent by check, Xavante Education Fund Laura Graham, Coordinator nity that lost its land due to construction of

Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 15 Native North America UPDATE

Navajo Indian Voices and Faces Testify education and went into the military; the few high schools to the Legacy of Uranium Mining on the Navajo reservation were closed for lack of students. As the U.S. entered the nuclear age, the Navajo Nation by Doug Brugge and Timothy Benally was still struggling economically Due to the U.S. government's demand for uranium, mining boomed in the Four The Navajo nation covers a vast stretch of northeastern Corners area. On the Navajo reservation, uranium was dis- Arizona and parts of New Mexico and Utah in the covered in Cove, Arizona and then on other parts of the southwestern United States. It is home to the majority reservation and work became readily available. When the of the more than 200,000 members of the Navajo tribe that mines started on the reservation, most families were very live in sparsely populated small towns and isolated home- thankful that they had employment and expressed such steads that dot the countryside. The Navajo lands range sentiments to the Office of the Navajo Uranium Workers from desolate stretches of rock and dirt to lush mountains, (ONUW): from strikingly beautiful sandstone canyons to volcanic stone monuments that rise precipitously above the plains. "We were glad that our husbands had jobs and that they didn't have to go away to other places to do railroad work...But what the The Navajo nation is also home to almost 1100 aban- people that operated these mines did not tell the Navajo people doned uranium mines and four former uranium mills, a was that danger was associated with uranium mining. If they had legacy of the cold war that has left scars on the land and the told us that danger was there, we might have done something else people to this day It is the Navajo nuclear experience, their to find employment." unresolved grievances, and the need to heal old wounds The U.S. government and the mining companies knew that prompted a team of Navajos and supportive whites to of the health hazards of uranium mining; the Public Health undertake the Navajo Uranium Miner Oral History and Service even conducted a study to document the develop- Photography Project. ment of illnesses that they expected. The miners and the

Historical Perspective The Treaty of 1868 established the U.S. government's responsibility for Navajo economic, education, and health services. In the early 1940s, the Navajo nation was still recovering from the devastating livestock reduction period of the 1930s. To meet the economic gap that was created by the livestock reduction, Navajo men

sought work away from the A reservation on railroads in the western states. Employment opportunities consisted of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), traders on the reservation, and a few of the border town business- es where employment was based ri4C, on ones level of education. When World War II broke out,

many Navajo men aborted their Mary Frank is the widow of a former uranium miner who died in 1994. She lives in Shiproch, Cove and Red Valley in the Navajonation.

16 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Native North America UPDATE

widows however, were never informed of such health hazards and had to find out about the danger on their own. The doctors didn't know what was wrong with their husbands until they were diagnosed with lung cancer. As a result, many Navajo women became widows and had to take on men's roles in the household like chopping the wood, hauling wood and water, feeding livestock, and so forth. For the widows and children, losing their husbands and fathers created great hardships. In 1960, the widows came together and talked about the nature of their -44 husbands' deaths. The meetings had a snowball effect and they formed a 4;pp 14itt , committee. The Navajo communities hired an attorney to assist them in .1 their struggle and after many years, the .14 Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Joe Ray Harvey (left) and Phil Harrison (right) stand on Cove Mesa tn 1995 One area of the Navajo nation that is peppered (RECA) was passed in 1990. Its purpose with abandoned uranium mines. was to provide "compassionate compensation" to miners Oral history was, of course, the first kind of history and and their survivors. Unfortunately, RECA has fallen short of it still has a strong place in the Navajo culture. Black and being just compensation since many former miners and white photography and video were seen as key accompani- their families continue to have their claims denied. ments to the oral statements. By using a method that resonated with Navajo traditions, we hoped to produce The Project Concept something that was of greater relevance to the Navajo The project's goal has been to use oral histories and people and to facilitate a process by which people with little visual images to produce a book and exhibit (accompanied access to larger audiences could 'speak' relatively directly to by a short video tape) consisting of the personal reflection other Navajos and the general population of the U.S. of Navajos who were part of this series of events. Each Therefore by using oral histories, Navajos affected by urani- aspect of the project was envisioned as being something um mining could preserve their own interpretation of what that would continually be available to Navajo miners, their uranium mining represented in their lives. families, and their communities. The purpose of the project was conceived to produce Oral history was chosen as a method because it lets materials (principally the book and exhibit) which would the people speak for themselves. Unlike traditional docu- serve multiple functions and have an impact in a variety of mentaries, oral history does not lend itself to simple or spheres. Education of both Navajo and non-Navajo audi- convenient interpretation, nor is it as straight forward or ences was our most important reason for undertaking the superficially precise as quantitative science. We saw this as project. Though many Navajos are familiar with the an advantage since we agree with Paul Thompson that uranium mining experience, many more live at a distance "ftleality is complex and many-sided; and it is a primary from mining areas or are too young to know first-hand and merit of oral history that to a much greater extent than failed to pick up the history of uranium. most sources it allows the original multiplicity of Beyond the boundaries of Navajo country, there was a standpoints to be recreated." need to spread the word of how Navajos had been affected

20 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 17 Native North America UPDATE

by uranium mining. Too often, there was broad national voices of the affected people at the forefront since there consciousness and controversy about the effects of nuclear would be no interpretive element. power and the use of atomic weapons, but little or no The use of the materials that we developed can also be knowledge about how the first steps in the nuclear cycle used as Navajo language teaching tools. The oral statements had damaged the health and impacted the lives of Native were preserved in both Navajo and English and should be Americans, arguably one of the populations in the U.S. that usable by Navajo language instructors. Because the Navajo has suffered the most from the development of nuclear language is being lost among younger generations, there is technology By educating a broad sector of the public, we merit in contributing to efforts preserving it. In addition, we could contribute to campaigns that aimed to remedy or are trying to identify areas needing environmental research redress the historical injustices the Navajo had been based on the issues raised in the interviews. subjected to. As part of this aspect of the project, we anticipated distribution of the book to policy makers at the level Project Method of the tribal government and to the U.S. and state The overall framework of,the project was a university- governments. community collaboration between Tufts University School In general, we felt that the oral histories and images of Medicine and a pool of individuals, community organiza- would create a valuable addition to the historical record. tions, and tribal agencies. The tribal office of ONUW the While a major book had been published which document- Uranium Radiation Victims Committee (URVC) and Dine' ed the main historical events from a journalistic perspective, College (formerly Navajo Community College) were the this project was intended to be more accessible to people central groups to the collection of interviews and their who would be unlikely to to purchase of read a lengthy processing into the book and exhibit. book. In addition, the oral history format would put the Funding was obtained from four sources (U.S. E.PA., Ruth Mott Fund, Ford

7, Foundation and Education Foundation of America) and over 100 small donors during the course of the project. The interviews were conducted by Timothy Benally (then director of the ONUW) and Phil Harrison (URVC). Martha Austin-Garrison and Lydia Fasthorse-Begay transcribed the

0.. tapes into written Navajo. The majority of interviews were conducted in Navajo. 1.?.Ths.'-.-v.10':Z.;:: (VI Persons interviewed were pri- - marily former miners, widows - of miners, and a few children of miners. We wanted to include the perspective not only of the , workers themselves, but also of family members whose lives (, ) were affected by the experience. People who were related to _ ...... :.1 Navajos work a uranium mine in the area around Cove in the Navajo nation in the 1950sIt was common practice to dump low deceased miners gave the most grade ore over the side of the mesa into tailing piles that remain radioactive to this day. emotionally charged interviews. 21

18 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Native North America UPDATE

We were also asked by interviewees to ensure that our ten Native American tribes to assist them with a their pro- work would not result in a profit-making product or in ject to documenting the Indian point of view that was omit- money being earned by people other than those in the min- ted from U.S. Department of Energy's summary of environ- ing communities. mental impacts of the Cold War. We have also held a work- Complete sets of the audio tapes, photographic nega- shop with school teachers at Laguna Pueblo in New tives, contact sheets, video footage, transcripts, and transla- Mexico, site of a massive open pit uranium mine, so that tions are now archived at the University of New Mexico and their students could undertake a similar project. the Navajo Nation Museum. The archives hold open the This, along with the general utility of the book and possibility that they will be used for other non-commercial exhibit and the positive reaction that we observe in people projects in the future. An unplanned offer has also led to who see our work, leads us to believe that there is a com- inclusion of the exhibit in a cyber gallery on the World mon thread in the nature and form of the project. We think Wide Web (www-busph.bu.edu/gallery). that it serves as a complement to the technical reports and statistics that tend to dominate environmental issues. Results and Conclusions Communities want something that is more fully their own, Perhaps the most visible result of the project to date that expresses what they think and feel, and we hope that has been the widespread dissemination of the book. We more communities will undertake efforts of this sort in the printed 2,000 copies, most of which have been distributed future. and we are initiating a second printing. The majority were provided free of charge to a variety of Navajo audiences. Doug Brugge is director of the project and is on the faculty of the The greatest number have been given to people in the min- Department of Family Medicine and ComMunity Health at Tufts ing communities. These communities have shown great University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. interest in the book because it records the images and words of people that they know Timothy Benally is a bilingual Navajo, a former uranium miner, a veter- Copies have also been given to schools and colleges an of the Korean War, and the Director of the Uranium Education Center and Navajo communities grappling with proposals for new at Dine' College in Shiproch, New Mexico. leachate uranium mining. It is unlikely that many other publications based on the knowledge of the Navajo have References been so accessible to Navajos. Two Navajos who reviewed Austin-Garrison, M. B., B. Casaus, D. McLaughlin and C. Slate. 1996. "Dine' Bizaad the book both came to favorable conclusions. One wrote: Yissohigii: The Past Present, and Future of Navajo Literacy." In E. Jelineh, S. Midgette, K Rice and L. Saxon, eds. Athabaskan Language Studies: Essays in "The Navajo men and women...were photographed in positions Honor of Robert W Young. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. of telling their stories from their heart and soul ...It Their facial pp.349-89. lines, their hand gestures, their intense eyes glowingall these and Brugge, D.B., TH. Benally, P Harrison Jr, M. Austin-Garrison, L Fasthorse-Begay, more nonverbal map of Navajo uranium experiences bring harsh 1997. Memories Come To Us in the Rain and the Wind: Oral Histories and reality to something that...happened years ago, before our times." Photographs of Navajo Uranium Miners and Their Families. Boston: Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Tufts School of Medicine. The book has been targeted to the U.S. E.P.A. and U.S. Crank, D. L. "Uranium Miners, Relatives Recall Yellow-Water Days." The Independent. Department of Justice officials. Efforts to target a broader Gallup, NM. November 13, 1997. p. 8. sector of policy makers, including elected officials, are Dawson, S.E., PH. Perry and P Harrison Jr 1997. "Advocacy and Social Action Among expected to expand in 1998 in conjunction with a growing Navajo Uranium Workers and Their Families." In Social Work in Health campaign to reform the federal RECA compensation process Settings: Practice in Context. New York and London: Haworth Press. and our national tour of the exhibit which begins in April pp.391-407. 1998 at Dene' College, Tsaile, Arizona. Eachstaedt, PH. 1994. If You Poison Us: Uranium and Native Americans. Santa Fe: Red Crane Books. Our primary objective, the education of Navajo and Samet, J.M. et.al. "Uranium Mining and Lung Cancer in Navajo Men." The New non-Navajo audiences, has been successful and will likely England Journal of Medicine. Vol.310. 1984. pp.1481-4. continue for some time. As our book and exhibit gained Thompson, P 1988. The Voice of the Past: Oral History. Oxford and New York: Oxford greater exposure, we were approached by a consortium of University Press.

Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 19 NOTEShm"eFIELD

Guarani Educational Politics and Multicultural State-Making in Bolivia by Bret Gustafson

Whom does 'indigenous education' serve? In Bolivia, recent reforms have opened new possibilities for indigenous peoples. Of these, will bilingual education promote more indigenous autonomy? Or is state education, now translated into native languages, a more effective tool of assimilation for the 21st century? Where do ethnic and power politics fit into schooling and curriculum in the Guarani region of Bolivia? Guarani literacy brigades are introduced to written Guarani The Traditional School of the oppressed was effective for con- these practices as appropriation of the The Guarani, like most of trolling, not for learning. The all- cultural capital of the karai or non- America's native peoples, were long Spanish curriculum included repeti- Indian school. targeted by missionaries, soldiers, and tion, dictation, and physical abuse The Guarani language is slowly bureaucrats. The goal, if not annihila- (kneeling on kernels of maize, ear disappearing. "We are more advanced tion, was incorporation into Bolivian twisting, and beatings) for speaking than [nearby] Eiti, they still speak life either as good Catholics, good Guarani in class. Spanish shouted at Guarani" said one Guarani in proletarians, or now, good citizens. Guarani children serve to silence and Ipitacito. This internalization of state Where warfare and Franciscan mis- humiliate; adults today remember the ideologies comes only after centuries sions failed, the rural schoolhouse and school with fear. of resistance. In 1760, while Guarani Hispanic teachers took up the mod- Not much has changed since fought missions and colonists, head- ernizing task after the Revolution of Franciscans forbade long hair and lip man Guarikaya of Piripiri refused bap- 1952. plugs, provided clothes, and taught tism by priests "my grandparents These schools primarily served rote catechism in past centuries. Of weren't Christians. I want to go to hell the state and the ethnic status quo. late, children absorb patriotism by with them." Today only one village The non-Indian teachers from towns memorizing civic dates and heroes out of several hundred refuses educa- and ranches taught like petty dicta- and line up like soldiers each morning tion "we don't want priests or schools, tors. Like missionaries who extirpated to salute the flag and sing the national we will not forget our fathers' words." idols, the Charagua teachers' school anthem. The anthem's last line, morir Other Guarani resist indirectly. had a mission of castellanizacian: extir- antes que esclavos vivir (die before Parents halfheartedly send children to pate the Guarani language and domes- living as slaves), should have reso- school, and remove them after two or ticate and civilize the Indians. Amid nance with Guarani peasants. three years. On the other hand, some barefoot Guarani, these profesores liter- However, monolingual children sing Guarani leaders let American mission- ally polished their shoes and taught in rephoneticized Spanish, aries and the Summer Institute of with stick-in-hand to form new men. mborialzeizekaravoivivi, which means Linguistics (SIL) educate their chil- Far from revolutionary, this pedagogy nothing. Most Guarani acquiesce to dren in the 1960s. (SIL, also known 23

20 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 NOTEShm"eFIELD

as the Wycliffe Bible Translators, is a Hispanic (60% speaks one of 30 structivism,' an ideal that opens space missionary group bent on translating native languages). Indian movements for indigenous modes and idioms of the Bible in every language.) These push for bilingual education and learning. Native language training for- individuals, once in a rush to abandon equal opportunity; they demand the tifies linguistic ability in the mother- the language and culture that brought perceived benefits of education tongue, and Guarani leaders lecture them suffering, now hold leadership despite negative experiences of on history and culture. Debate contin- positions because of their bi-lingual the past. ues about how to incorporate indige- and bi-cultural experience. With bilingual education, the nous cosmovision in the curriculum. Guarani demand schools and Guarani Textbooks in Guarani include histories Bilingual Education teachers. "We used to fight with arms, and culturally appropriate themes Indigenous pressure and interna- now we will fight with education" which is an improvement, but these tional aid pushed for change in the stated leader Mateo Chumira. materials are often superficial transla- late 1980s. Bilingual education began Meanwhile, the regional teachers tions of Spanish texts. Educating in 1989 and the government initiated union and local politics hinder Indians in Bolivia is still a power- educational reform in 1995 that was progress for the Guarani. Indians are laden inculcation of a new kind of funded by the World Bank. The new accused of separatism, primitivism, state, one that includes moderniza- reform is built on popular participa- and backwardness mainly because tion, development, and (now albeit tion and "multilingual intercultural- Spanish-speaking teachers think multilingual-multicultural) citizen- ism," but for whom? bilingual schools threaten their jobs. making. The World Bank is interested in A decade later, bilingual education economic growth through primary is nearly institutionalized. Implem- The Future education-standard neoliberalism entation still faces many obstacle's, The Guarani are experts at using without explicit interest in indigenous one of which is the lack of Guarani what little the state offers to their cultures. The State wants to avoid teachers. advantage. Today, Guarani education Peru-like revolts and form democratic allows access to teaching jobs, defends citizens. Bolivia's elite has finally Teacher Training Guarani identity and language in public discourse (the first Guarani realized that these citizens are not When bilingual education started, Language Congress was held in 1997), there were few Guarani-speaking and seeks the recovery of knowledge teachers. They had struggled through and thp prInratinn nf thp anrentnrc. Spanish schools and showed it. They The Guarani want dignity, leader were not always proficient speakers of Angel Yandura stated "we don't want their language and many were con- special education, we want to be flicted by identity contradictions-they equal." This equality in multicultural had studied to get out, not to go back. education may help build a new kind They reproduced the pedagogy of of state, citizen, cultural respect, and those who had taught them. Some maybe even autonomy Despite many even opposed Guarani language edu- contradictions, the process may be cation until it became clear that slowly beginning. speaking Guarani could get you a job. Things are changing. There is a Bret Gustafson is a Ph.D. candidate in new teachers' school for the Guarani Anthropology at Harvard University. and three other native nations of the region. The reformed pedagogy, still Reference

Guaraniboys learningto gather honey by teaching each other Western in nature, focuses on 'con- Saignes, Theiny. 1994. Ava Y Karat La Paz: HISBOL

24 Cultural Survival Quarterly.Spring 1998 21 Introduction Reclaiming Native Education Activism,Teaching and Leadership

by Nimachia Hernandez and Nicole Thornton

The idea of `indigenous' or 'native' education is over ing indigenous languages and cultures have been Instrumen- generalized and somewhat misleading because it is conceptu- tal in the support of bilingual and immersion programs on a alized by its opposing nature to Western or didactic models. nation-wide scale in New Zealand. Allan Burns, Salom On It is important to recognize the diversity within indigenous Nahmad, and Margaret Freedson Gonzalez and Elias Perez education, as well as the similarities from a shared colonial Perez discuss the implications of state reform and state laws legacy While impossible to review all the literature on the promoted, in large part, by indigenous teachers and how effects of colonialism on indigenous education, similar poli- these reforms have contributed to curricular content inspired cies have given rise to similar problems and strategies for all and originating from the local indigenous communities. indigenous students and communities. Education contributes to and promotes cultural preser- Policies of genocide, ethnocide, assimilation, incorpora- vation and change. Nawang Phuntsog declares that the tion, and their physical manifestations of removing aboriginal preservation and promotion of Tibetan cultural identity children from their homes have had a tremendous impact on should be a central objective in the education of Tibetan chil- traditional endogenous models of education. Nawang dren. Linda Tuhiwai Smith and Antonio de la Torre Lopez Phuntsog and Salomon Nahmad discuss the impacts of colo- both discuss the positive contributions and expectations of nial education policies and provide a historical context for education in the survival of the Maori, Tzeltal, and Tzotzil indigenous education in modern-day Tibet and Mexico. languages. Antonio de la Torre Lopez also describes the anxi- Amethyst First Rider presents insight into traditional ety of Maya writers when he questioned "why should we Blackfoot education and comments on Blackfoot customs in publish in our mother language if there were no readers?" education to holistically mold 'ideal' people steeped in spiri- The solution lied in the development of a non-formal com- tual and ritual knowledge. munity school to ensure a readership and another generation In the last century and particularly in the last 30 years, fluent in and proud of their native language and cultural there have been significant changes in attitudes and policies heritage. towards indigenous education. Relationshipg between indige- In as much as education can foster cultural pride, it can nous nations and governments across the Americas also bear ameliorate cultural conflicts in education and the marginal- heavily on education and progress in native schooling. ization native students face in a Western paradigm of school- Differences in state and legal recognition of indigenous ing. Most public schools in North America, for example, nations as sovereign peoples has a profound impact on who reflect a Western value system and are commonly viewed as controls indigenous education, who directs or influences the natural extensions of the home. However, they disrupt the process of how indigenous students are educated, and who continuity of the indigenous students' world. Native students advises and contributes to curricular content. Native peoples undergo forced encounters with at least two very different as individuals and communities are not relinquishing their and usually conflicting views of the world in which they live, centuries-old struggle against assimilation through schooling. often resulting in difficult and traumatic cultural and linguis- To the contrary, new indigenous definitions of the role of tic conflicts. schools embody their determination to incorporate native Many of the articles openly discuss problems of educat- languages and cultures into school curricula. Indigenous peo- ing indigenous students in the skills and knowledge neces- ples continue to seek ways to control their children's educa- sary for academic, professional, and economic success with- tion by moving away from cultural and linguistic deficiency out compromising the schools' role as promoters of native models to models that define, develop, and foster indigenous culture and traditional values. Guillermina Herrera Peria and cultures and ideals. Jorge Manuel Raymundo illustrate how programs at Rafael Articles by Allan Burns, Margaret Freedson Gonzalez and Landivar University prepare indigenous professionals to work Elias Perez Perez, Cornel Pewewardy, and Linda Tuhiwai in social services in a relevant manner that does not adversely Smith discuss these basic issues and the role of indigenous affect their cultural heritage. Pewewardy and Lea Whitford educators as agents of change. Cornel Pewewardy argues that illustrate how indigenous models or schools can work for district, state, and tribal policies need to support the goals of both indigenous and non-indigenous students. indigenous education in the U.S., honor tribal sovereignty, Beyond the issues of content and cultural preservation and allow differences between indigenous schools. Linda are the more fundamental and insidious issues of pedagogy Tuhiwai Smith illustrates how international charters recogniz- Indigenous constructions of reality and their accompanying

22Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 25 Introduction

epistemologies contrast dramatically with those of Western What still needs to be done? Institutions must develop cultures. Improved understanding of indigenous epistemolo- curricula that addresses relevant issues for indigenous com- gy is important since the conflicting underlying philosophies munities. Educators must change the dominant pedagogy to that exist in every subject area at every level of native peo- one that recognizes native peoples' knowledge and inherent ples' schooling experiences become obvious. Traditional worth in order to gain understanding and respect for Native indigenous beliefs, values, pedagogies, methodologies, and American belief systems and to improve the educational epistemologies form perspectives about schooling that exem- experiences of Native American students. Researchers must plify native peoples' alternatives to Western religion, econom- look beyond dichotomous classroom vs. community distinc- ic and political beliefs, and cultural values. tions. Alternative and conventional conceptions of education Cornel Pewewardy emphasizes the need for culturally must be investigated so that the literature is not simply about responsive schools, holistic education, and the need to recog- the failure of indigenous peoples in schools, or about schools' nize "the organic, subconscious, subjective, intuitive, artistic, failure to serve the purposes of native education. mythological, and spiritual dimensions of our lives." Manu Mainstream school's strong Western cultural base exacer- Meyer also writes at the forefront of the 'epistemology revolu- bates and enhances differences in culture rather than mitigat- tion,' reminding readers that Western education in its scien- ing them. Changes can be made to make them places where tific objectivity and empiricism has ignored that both experi- indigenous people can be academically successful while ence and knowledge are culturally dependent. She argues allowing them to build upon and maintain their cultural that the contributions of sensual and spiritual knowledge are identity Since native peoples still retain many of their core included in 'ways of knowing' in the Hawaiian context. traditional values and institutions, schools need to value their Indeed, the progress made in indigenous education has role in native-controlled education. While native and non- gained increasing momentum over the last 30 years. native specialists (some represented in this issue) continue to Pewewardy and others discuss indigenous movements since shape indigenous education, moving forward demands that the 1960s and indigenous demands for change. This issue non-native educators and researchers clearly identify their shows those that have manifested in the rise of Native Studies role in this process. programs at universities across the U.S., organizations devel- Educational advancement for indigenous peoples ulti- oped specifically by Aboriginal peoples to address the educa- mately rests on how they define success. Native people will tional needs of the community, the proliferation of courses in then be able to decide whether they would like academic Maya languages and culture at universities and teacher train- achievement to be in conjunction with their cultural assimila- ing colleges, and non-formal community schools. tion or whether they would like educational institutions to Efforts towards self-determination in native communities value their cultural differences. While educational literature need to expand to include community responsibility for on indigenous culture and schools is barely scratching the indigenous education and the promotion of strategies for its surface, this issue of Cultural Survival Quarterly is a start. sustainable development and self-sufficiency Case studies in Nirnachia Hernandez is a Nahua and Blackfoot Native American. She this issue expound on the role of indigenous leaders and is also a doctoral condidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education mentors in the promotion of indigenous students as future working in issues of Blackfoot epistemology. She currently teaches in leaders, professionals, and academics. Roberta Sykes offers an Lethbridge, Alberta. account of the Black Women's Action in Education Nicole Thornton is Education Coordinator at Cultural Survival and Foundation and how the development of this funding and Guest Editor for this issue. support system has promoted the growing cohort of indigenous scholars and leaders in Australia. Further, she argues Acknowledgments This issue would not have been possible without the collaboration of the Harvard University Native American that role models and advanced aboriginal students provide Program, and in particular the efforts of Nimachia Hernandez, younger generations with enough encouragement and sup- Timothy Begay, and Eileen Egan. Further we would like to thank port to realize their academic and professional aspirations. the staff and faculty at HIID and HGSE, and Sofia Flynn. Deirdre Ann Almeida documents the development of the Reference Native Studies program at UMass Amherst and how her Jones-Spark, L 1992. Not in Two Worlds But One. Paper presented at courses exploring indigenous education empowered Mokahit Indian Education Research Association, University of indigenous students in the program. British Columbia.

Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 23 Contexts and Challenges of Educating Tibetan Children in the Diaspora

by Nawang Phuntsog

The 1950s was rightly called the 'Decade of the Uprooted' and pervasive as the invisibility of non-Western systems. as more than 40 million refugees sought asylum in The exclusion and invalidation of non-Western educa- many different parts of the world. Perhaps one of the tional thoughts and practices in the educational discourse is greatest paradoxes of this century is that this unprecedented indeed a major part of the problem contributing to the invis- event occurred in an era when human civilization was supposed ibility of research studies on indigenous education. Even to have made unparalleled strides when scholars attempt to inves- in affirming human rights, self- tigate non-Western educational determination, equality, and jus- practices, they tend to view tice for all. Living today in a them through a lens that not society that exalts self-absorbed only colors their perception, but attitudes, there is a growing trend ots fails to appreciate the colorful to view the refugee problem as t hues of the indigenous educa- that of 'the others.' Yet the fact tional spectrum as viable remains that so long as there are ' options. An interesting study by oppressed people in any part of political scientist Franz Michael, the world the specter of uses the typological approach of

dehumanization haunts us. lob.A biluvag Max Weber to study the role of In a 1959 report called We Tibetan Buddhism in society Students entering the Tibetan school inKatsel, Tibet. Strangers and Afraid published by and state. His primary aim was the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to mark the to analyze the extent to which the Tibetan Buddhist polity fit World Refugee Year, a short paragraph describes the condi- into the Weber's typology of bureaucracy The main bone of tions of Tibetan refugees fleeing from Tibet in 1958. Pointing contention for this kind of approach is the serious flaw with to Tibet as one of the "quite unexpected places" of refugee the assumption that the indigenous people are 'objects' of problems, the report indicated that there were about 10,000 study rather than 'subjects' with the ability to enrich our Tibetan men, women, and children who had fled Tibet. That understanding of the world. This misperception then leads exodus seemed to have no foreseeable destination as thou- to the misrepresentation of indigenous cultures as strange sands of Tibetans continue to strive for physical, spiritual, customs that must be transformed or shed off like snake skin and emotional survival on alien soil. Four decades later, to be relegated to a zone of obscurity Tibetans are still in perennial search for a home away from Closely related to the pervasiveness of Western-centric their homeland, expecting that someday, they may return to educational thoughts is the ubiquity of the perception of Tibet. The marginalization of Tibetans as indigenous inhabi- schooling as the only viable way of transmitting knowledge tants in their own homeland is the most pernicious blow to to children. An attitude of apathy toward indigenous educa- the psychology of Tibetan people. Herein lies the rude irony tion seems to pervade among educators when discussions that the indigenous people assume a subordinate, second- center around its educational relevance, and perhaps this class status in their own native land invaded by external attitude is reflected even more in mainstream journals that forces. If Tibet was not occupied by the Chinese, Tibetans are conspicuous for lack of articles on this subject. A serious will not be labeled indigenous, nor would their culture face part of the problem stems from the fact that educators who the possibility of extinction. frame present day academic discourses have mostly been While doing research for this paper, I found the near socialized into associating and equating schooling practices absence of literature on indigenous education, much less Tibetan as the most discernible ways of offering formal education. schooling, frustrating and discouraging, yet the process was This narrow perception of schooling practices hinders one's revealing and instructive because I realized the dominance of ability to view alternative indigenous systems as a viable way Western ideologies in educational literature is as conspicuous of educating children.

24 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 2 7 Tibetan School Project Update:Interview with Yeshey D. Palsang Our aim is to educate Tibetan elementary students in reading math and science and in their native language and culture. The project also provides basic medical care to the children and their families, reduces malnutrition, and energizes villages to improve their lives. The school is about two hours northeast of Lhasa in the village of Katsel and has grown over the past year to feed 400 children and educate about 250, and includes four dormitory buildings, a large eight room school house, kitchen, dining CI) room, washrooms, and teachers quarters. In addition there is a medical dispensary, a new water-tank for running and hot water, a greenhouse for growing vegetables throughout most of the year, and a 'yak house' and pigs to provide food for the school. A new sports field and a library complete the campus. The staff has increased to 20 and many of the teachers have been trained at Lhasa University Three of the current teachers are originally from Katsel and have returned with the expanding opportunities the school has provided. The villagers have built a Tibetan wall enclosing the campus and 8,000 trees have been planted to protect and enrich the area as well as to extend environmental education, in keeping with indigenous philosophy, to the children, teachers, and the whole village. Currently the project also sponsors a program for street kids in Lhasa which provides food, continuing education, and handicraft workshops. The Future Recognizing that the Katsel School has been successful, the next step is underway to provide assistance to 108 other small village schools in the region. Moreover in Katsel, there are plans to increase the quality and capacity of the local high school and vocational training facilities for children who graduate the primary school.

Monastic Education: A Brief Historical Overview Prior to the Chinese invasion, monastic education was One of the most serious casualties of the Chinese occu- the major factor in the extension of literacy throughout pation of Tibet is undoubtedly the decimation of monastic Tibet. Monasteries and nunneries were easily accessible to all education, the historically indigenous way of educating sections of the population regardless of their social class. Tibetan children. A large number of Tibetan children continue Some scholars therefore believe that Tibet had an extraordi- to receive their instruction in monastic institutions in exile. narily high literacy rate. Tibet has a long history of monastic education begin- Monastery education not only served religious, but also ning in the 7th century when Indian Buddhist culture was the secular ends by preparing monks for the civil services introduced into the land. It is important to point out that and providing instructions in finance, arithmetic, manage- Tibet's culture and language were deliberately transplanted ment, and astrology The ideal educated person is epitomized from India and not from China. The early Tibetan kings and in a popular Tibetan saying, Tam Yig Tsi Sum that includes ministers seemed to have evinced an unflinching determina- three important skills: the ability to engage in argumentative tion to spread Buddhist tradition far and wide in Tibet. It is discourse, write masterfully, and analyze and interpret numer- not very difficult to gauge what a monastic education might ical data. Non-literate Tibetans were not deprived from being have been like when one investigates ancient Indian enculturated into Buddhism. Powerful non-formal ways of Buddhist education as Radha Mookerji writes: learningstofy-telling, participation in religious fcstals, classical operas, oral transmission of rites and ritualsplayed "Buddhist education and learning are centered around monasteries. The Buddhist world did not offer any educational a vital role in socializing children into their culture. The opportunities apart from or independently of its monasteries. unbreakable links between Tibetan culture and Buddhist All education, sacred as well as secular, was in the hands of the education is indeed a historical experience of the Tibetan monks. They had the monopoly and the leisure to impart it." society Carefully preserved in the monasteries, Tibetan However, it this does not mean that the monasteries Buddhist culture withstood the test of many thousands of zealously controlled and guarded its access to the public. It years and only began to crumble in 1960s when the Chinese was indeed truly universal and one could enter a monastic perpetrated cultural genocide following their invasion of Tibet. education at any time in one's life. More than a belief system, A large number of monastic institutions have been rehabil- Buddhist culture was "an educational system developed to itated in India, Bhutan, and Nepal where Tibetan children are cultivate an individual's moral, psychological, and intellectual provided the traditional instructions in Buddhist culture. English perfection in the context of an unlimited horizon of human language, mathematics, and science are also a part of their pro- potential." Unlike medieval England, monastic education in gram of studies. Monasteries have been successful in developing Tibet did not encourage seclusion, rather it was an alternative an educational prototype which allows the study of modern form of education with a unique community living focus. day subjects without undermining the significance of the tra-

28 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 25 ditional Tibetan Buddhist contents. For Tibetans, the process visible and palpable in the '60s and '70s in every Tibetan of modernization and the preservation of their cherished cul- school. Dorjee also writes that the Council for Tibetan ture is not an either-or situation; rather they can coexist in a Education's "inept management, short-sighted policies and a mutually beneficial manner. This aspect indicates the adapt- host of other problems" have contributed to the deterioration ability of Tibetan culture to the changing demands of the time. of educational standards in Tibetan schools. Furthermore, he states that despite the improvement of facilities and qualifi- Formal Tibetan Secular Education: cations of teachers, it is still "common knowledge that our Challenges & Prospects schools are failing to give the right education to our chil- The first formalized secular education for Tibetan dren." It would be tragic if this trend toward educational children began in the early 1960s at a time when thousands deterioration continues without ever identifying the nature of of Tibetans crossed the Himalayas to escape from political the problem plaguing Tibetan education. turmoil crippling their free spirits. If the descent from the Time has now come for all exiled Tibetans to put aside high mountains of Tibet to the lowlands of India was ardu- their petty ideological differences and engage in a construc- ous, then the birth of a secular education in an alien soil was tive dialogue to identify effective ways of educating children no less traumatic. Tibet had the dubious distinction of being that enable an early return to their country If it takes a village a country that deliberately ignored .its secular education for a to educate one child, then the responsibility of preparing very long time, only to be rudely awakened to its signifi- children for reclaiming their country is by no means easy cance in the aftermath of being forced into exile in India. We need to find creative ways to promote and maintain the From its humble beginnings in March, 1960, the first- spirit and the hope of returning to our homeland. The preser- ever formal Tibetan school started with 50 children at in vation and promotion of cultural identity should be one of Mussoorie, India. It has made remarkable progress today the primary objectives of schooling Tibetan children. The growing to be a gigantic enterprise with an enrollment of congruence-of school curriculum and Tibetan culture is cen- over 35,500 Tibetan children in 84 schools that include tral to the process of ensuring the achievement of this goal. elementary, middle, and secondary levels in India, Nepal, Presently, the lack of literature is a serious problem thwart- and Bhutan. The rapid growth of Tibetan schools followed ing the teachers' ability to help children develop a healthy and coincided with a period in the early 1960s when educa- cultural identity Tibetan educators and scholars must work tional systems across the world witnessed expansion together to develop children's literature that are not only cul- unprecedented in history However, the expansion of school- turally responsive, but relevant to the lives of children. The ing in Tibet's case was more a result of the immediate need challenge for educators is to ensure that Tibetan children have to provide a safe haven to thousands of children fleeing not only strong academic skills, but are Tibetans in their hearts Tibet, rather than a planned approach as seen in the rest of and minds so that they will play a powerful role in reclaim- the world. ing our lost nation. Education must then equip Tibetan Tibet's diaspora experience presents problems and chal- children with academic excellence and cultural roots, both of lenges to the education of children. Nowhere is the dilemma which are crucial for the survival of Tibetan identity more pronounced than in the epoused educational aims and goals for Tibetan children. Although cultural and linguistic Nawang Phuntsog is an Assistant Professor of Education at the California State University at Fullerton and received his doctorate degree in education from the preservation is a stated goal of Tibetan schools, the system- UMass Amherst in 1993. His areas of specialization include curriculum develop- rnent, teacher education, and multicultural education. He is the first Tibetan edu- wide curriculum is based on the host country's centralized, cator to assume a teaching position in a major teacher preparation program in the examination-dominated system. For example, the education- United States. He plans to start an education foundation dedicated to research, improvement, and dissemination of Tibetan education. al goals of Tibetan schools strongly echo the common References aspirations of the Tibetan people. The aims of Tibetan educa- Cirtautas, KC. 1963. The Refugee. New York: The Citadel Press. tion are: "to impart the best modern education along with a Dorjee, Nawan,g. 1992. "Assessment of Tibetan Situation in Exile." Tibetan deep and intimate understanding of rich cultural heritage of Review V3 (2). Feb 1992. Tibet, and to cultivate a sense of national identity that will Michael, E 1982. Rule by Incarnation: Tibetan Buddhism & Its Role in Society & State. Boulder: Westview Press. enable the children to share the hopes and aspirations of the Mooherji, R. 1969. Ancient Indian Education. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Tibetan people to return someday to a free and independent Reagan, T 1996. Non-Western Educational Traditions. New Jersey: Lawrence Tibet." Hence Tibetan children face both the challenges of Erbaurn Associates. Rees, E. 1959. We Strangers & Afraid: The Refugee Story. New York: The adapting in an alien country and of reclaiming their lost nation. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In recent years, Tibetan schools have come under heavy Thurman, R.A. 1990. "Tibetan Buddhist Monastic and Intellectual Culture." In C. criticism. Nawang Dorjee, a Harvard-educated Tibetan educator, Elchert, ed. White Lotus: An Introduction to Tibetan Culture. pp.107- 113. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications. deplores the plunging educational standards and the absence Tibetan Children's Village. 1990. Tibetan Children's Village, Dharamsala (1960- of "dynamism, electricity, and the collective will that was 1990). Dharamsala: Tibetan Children's Village.

26 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 29 The Educational and Cultural Implications of Maori Language Revitalization

by Linda Tuhiwai Smith

The Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous adult programs, and advanced degrees in Maori. Funding for Peoples and a number of other indigenous charter Maori language programs for radio, television, and other statements assert indigenous peoples' right to retain resource supports are also being put in place. their own languages and cultures. For many indigenous A revitalization project of this scope has had significant communities, the major language issue has not been so implications in training teachers, developing curricula, much about retaining a language, but about recovering and producing audio-visual resources, evaluating and assessing revitalizing indigenous languages that have been'systemati- projects, and administrating and managing Maori language cally destroyed by a wide range of colonial policies and education. These issues are the ones that are often planned practices. In many cases, language revitalization projects for as they form the basis of educational systems and are have involved intense political activity, official recognition by subject to government policy, regulation, and resourcing. legislation or legal precedent, intervention in schooling, The education budget is highly contestable and advocates for support through broadcasting, and the production of Maori language education have applied constant pressure on resource materials. This has been particularly the case for the the government to ensure that the future needs of Maori Maori language in New Zealand. language programs are fully supported. Maori language In the last two decades, considerable effort and support issues are often placed in direct competition with issues in New Zealand from both communities and government has related to science and technology which are often considered revitalized the Maori language. There are now some quite more significant. comprehensive programs in schools, tertiary institutions, and However, language revitalization also has an impact on communities with an estimated 76,000 children in New indigenous communities and on the new generation of Zealand receiving some form of Maori language-based educa- indigenous language speakers who are for the most part tion. The early childhood 'language nests' or Kohanga Reo children and young people. The cultural consequences of are Maori language immersion centers and the flagship of language revitalization are not always easy to predict, nor are Maori language revitalization initiatives. They began in 1982 they likely to be articulated in relation to language and have attracted international interest from many other revitalization when such issues are also fused with others indigenous communitie. The centers cater to children for related to youth or the younger generation. six months to six years old and began as Maori community Educational Issues initiatives after the idea -was promulgated at a gathering of Maori language programs in schools have been tribal elders. Although they are subject to government developed against a backdrop of wider government reform of evaluation, the rapid growth of Kohanga Reo centers the New Zealand education system. Maori parents want their throughout New Zealand attests to their success. children to be educationally successful on the same terms as Various other models of bilingual and immersion other students in New Zealand, but they also want them to education programs have also been established at elementary be successful within their own Maori language and culture. and secondary school levels. Some schools known as Kura While official support for Maori language is now much more Kaupapa Maori teach entirely in the Maori language and are explicit, there are still enormous challenges ahead if language based on Maori philosophies and preferred pedagogies. revitalization programs are to be successful. There is a While there are only about 56 government-funded Kura serious shortage of qualified teachers who have been trained Kaupapa Maori schools, other programs vary from small to teach through the medium of Maori language. At sec- single classroom bilingual units that offer some degree of ondary levels, where specialist curriculum knowledge is also Maori language to full immersion programs. Schools receive required, the shortage of teachers is particularly noticeable as financial support depending on the degree of Maori being secondary students in Maori immersion programs are not used in the classroom. These official programs are comple- offered a comprehensive range of subjects. External mented by community-based Maori language programs, examinations are not offered in Maori language, therefore,

30 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 27 students may be taught in the Maori language and then eval- language fluently and who have been educated in a Maori C/I) uated in English. schooling environment. Alongside this phenomenon, today's Providing resource materials written in the Maori young people are also better educated and have more work language has also presented ongoing problems for teachers experience than previous generations. However, there are C.) and families. Presently, material is produced with the also negative implications for these Maori communities; support of the government that include a series of school values related to respect, especially for elders, can be LI- journals aimed at different age groups. Unfortunately, there is opposed to values that promote the use of language in still very little material that supports the sciences, technolo- rituals, meetings, and basic social communication. For exam- gy, or other specialist curriculum areas. Small publishing ple, formal speeches are considered the elders' domain, but groups have also assisted in the production of resource young adults who are fluent in the language also speak material for their own communities. Although more without being sensitive to the particular context. Often, materials are being published; the full range of curriculum parents who have politically struggled for Maori language support and recreational reading that children need to stim- can be excluded from debates about the language if they ulate their minds and imaginations has not kept up with the themselves do not speak Maori. This tension exists although demand. In terms of the perceived status and significance of it is often dealt with in pragmatic ways as young people are Maori language, the lack of material emphasizes the greater still considered too young to participate. Within the next five significance of English. years however, this generation will be young parents and Unlike other contexts, Maori is one language with begin to take on leadership roles in their communities. dialect variations. This makes providing materials much Currently, the younger generation of Maori are attracted easier than where there are several languages encompassing by African American hip hop culture and other internation- vast geographical areas and relatively uneven numbers of al-mostly American-cultural influences. The role models for language speakers. A Maori Language Commission, headed indigenous youth are not always indigenous, nor are they by Professor Timoti Karetu, was established under official positive models that reinforce indigenous language. Maori legislation and maintains an overview of the quality of Maori face the issue of making language revitalization appealing language material. Although the Commission is very small, and relevant to adolescent youth. Frequently, the language is funded by the government, and expected to work with other used as a way of defining traditional values and practices. government ministries, its goal is to promote Maori in the Many young Maori find such definitions exclude them from community At the same time, new vocabulary must be participation in Maori society Problems related to youth sui- created to support the rapid expansion of curriculum cide, drug use, unemployment, and poverty are afflicting knowledge. Professor Karetu has been adamant that Maori Maori communities. While many families find support in language education produce quality speakers of the lan- language and cultural programs, many others have become guage. He has spoken publicly about issues of quality and much too disconnected from their own indigenous roots. has insisted that all programs meet certain standards of oral Language, as other indigenous communities have found, and written Maori language. is also about identity The revitalization of Maori language is School programs cater to children, but community just one aspect of a much wider revitalization of Maori language initiatives have also developed to help adults and culture. The wider context of language and cultural parents learn the Maori language. Many of the adult pro- revitalization involve Maori people in an enormous social grams are based on the principle of immersion however, and political project. The inter-connectedness of language, there are other issues related to teaching adults their own education, culture, and economics is something that indige- language which are often about deep emotional matters nous people often struggle to sustain because it involves rather than about teaching strategies. There is, for example, constant engagement with the majority culture. The pressure a sense of shame and inadequacy felt by many adults who to do things 'right' under the gaze of a majority culture who were denied the opportunity to learn their own language. do not necessarily support Maori language revitalization, cre- There are also issues of identity tangled up with language ates an expectation that language revitalization is a straight- and the ability to function inside the culture. These forward educational exercise. The reality is that it is not. concerns make adult language revitalization a challenging field of development. Linda Tuhiwai Smith is an Associate Professor in Education and Director of Cultural Issues the International Research Institute for Maori and Indigenous Education at the University of Auckland. She has been involved in a wide range of Maori education- It is exciting to witness the emergence of a new and al initiatives including the establishment of an alternative school system know as young generation of Maori who can speak the Maori Kura Kaupapa Maori. Her iwi or tribes are Ngati Awa and Ngati Porou.

3 1 28 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Our Children Can't Wait: Recapturing the Essence of Indigenous Schools in the United States

by Come! Pewewardy

C, he only good Indian is a dead Indian" is an American are actively considering a new approach to educating students -n aphorism uttered by General Phillip Sheridan during of color. While programs in these cities differ widely in their the Indian Campaigns of the 1860s and at one time scope and approach, they were all established in response to the considered a tenable solution to the so-called 'Indian lack of academic success, cultural pride, and self-esteem that Problem.' However, as its implementation proved to.be eco- students of color develop in mainstream classrooms. These nomically unsound, other more reasonable and 'civilized' missing pieces have been cited by as the driving force behind alternatives were considered. disturbing dropout rates, low achievement, teenage pregnan- CI) cy, homicide, and violent death among students of color. Introduction Most indigenous schools were started by indigenous With so much attention being paid to the educational parents who sent their children to American public schools. system in the media, Over the years, these chil- national commissions, dren began falling politics, and our everyday through the cracks of the lives, it would be a dis- school system. Out of this tinct pity if we became so concern, grassroots move- ( caught up in the rush ments were initiated by toward excellence that we responsible indigenous neglected to continue ask- parents, working together ing some very critical with public school dis- questions about what tricts toward improving schools do. What is the the attendance and acade- relationship between edu- mic achievement of cation and the larger soci- indigenous children. One ety? Who ultimately gains of these strategies includ- the most froni the ways ed establishing indigenous our schools, curriculum, Donated by a Taos Pueblo Holyman, this drum at the Mounds Path All-Nations Magnet School magnet schools in the represents the rhythm of indigenous people and serves to beep that rhythm going. and teaching practices public school system for within them, are organized? How can you build a political both indigenous and non-indigenous children. power structure in the design of indigenous schools? These are easy questions to ask, but difficult ones to answer. History of Indigenous Schools 'Our Children Can't Wait' signifies that if we, as indige- The history of American Indian education is older than nous populations in the United States, do not preserve our the history of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (B1A). The first tribal cultures and languages, we will lose them through the treaty specifically calling for the federal government to edu- homogenization process typical of the American schooling cate indigenous children was signed in 1794. Throughout system. Ultimately, the real question is whether we have the the 19th century, the government's goal was to fully assimi- will to make necessary changes for indigenous children. late Indian children into American society and to eradicate indigenous culture. Boarding schools were created and other Ethnic Specific Schools educational policies adopted as part of this broader policy Since 1990, a growing number of cities across the country In the 1920s, however, attitudes began to shift toward a have established ethnic specific schools. Schools that give primary more favorable view of cultural pluralism throughout attention to the needs of one specific ethnic or racial group have American society These changes led to a dramatic turnabout been introduced in Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, in Indian policy As part of this policy shift, the federal gov- New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Memphis. These schools ernment introduced Indian history and culture, more

3 2 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 29 reliance on day schools instead of boarding schools, and wire, and smoking locomotives. And in the end, it came in other new educational measures. the form of schools. Since the 1960s, the federal government has adopted a Five centuries after contact with the outside world, policy of Indian self-determination. This policy was applied many indigenous children are in desperate straits because of in a new legislative framework for Indian education built by the immense difficulties that hinder their families and com- Congress in the 1970s by passing the Indian Education Act munities. These children will continue to dropout or of 1972, the Indian Self-Determination and Education 'pushout' until conditions within their communities improve Assistance Act of 1975, and Title XI of the Education and the non-indigenous world arrives at a better understand- Amendments Act of 1978. The cornerstone of this frame- ing of indigenous people. work has been the promotion of direct responsibility for the education of Indian children by tribes and other Indian 'The ImpaCt of Eurocentric Schools groups. Following this objective, Indian groups have con- Marilyn James, a Sinixt (Arrow Lakes Band) from Omak tracted many elementary and secondary schools formerly Washington, writes: operated by the B1A. "The cruelty used against indigenous children of past generations, a double-fisted whammy of church and school, Education for Extinction shows that those institutions were willing to travel to great Historically, the federal government's assimilation strate- lengths to 'take the Indian out of the Indian,' since earlier efforts to 'take the Indian out of the country' had been aban- gy removed indigenous children from their families to attend doned for a more 'civilized' way..not until the educational BIA boarding schools. When the federal government institutions begin to teach and embrace historical truth removed children from their families, entire generations lost instead of the white historical perspective will the situation access to native parenting models, culture, language, and change for my people and all native people across the globe. traditional values. In reality, Indians were defeated not by The truth is that the white historical perspective was created as a bit of fiction that white folks could live and feel com- military force (although this is widely believed), but by fortable with, the same fiction being created on a daily basis politically restructuring educational institutions to mold a now in regard to law, justice, racism, environment, and colonial ethos. Colonialism that imprisons young minds with countless other aspects of our lives. The time of the comfort the concept of racial or ethnic inferiority is by far more zone is passed. Changes must be brought home to bear fruit, tyrannical than brute force. Labeled 'pacification,' education or I fear for the futurea barren intellectual, cultural, and developed by missions and the Indian service encouraged environmental wasteland." young Indian people to lose confidence in their own leaders This complete reorientation of European interest pro- and people and to view history and culture as second-rate. duced an extension of European civilization with its Western Christian missionaries working among American Indian hemisphere heartland centered in the New World. nations were partners in genocide. Nevertheless, the mis- Indigenous peoples realize the atrocities that have been com- sionaries were guilty of complicity in the destructin of mitted against them far better than the greater society Even indigenous cultures and tribal social structures. Ultimately, today, in government, education, films, sports Competitions, this form of colonialism chipped away at Indian cultures, and society in general, indigenous peoples are presented in a making it more and more difficult for each succeeding derogatory fashion. generation to lead autonomous and pro-active lives. Culturally Responsive Teaching, Learning,

The American Holocaust and Evaluation . Teaching from the Eurocentric perspective-that a few Culturally responsive teachers can focus on strengths brave Europeans defeated millions of indigenous people-is that exist in indigenous families while using a culturally highly inaccurate. Rather, diseases brought to this continent accepted group pedagogy to promote social cohesion. Tribal from Europe defeated indigenous peoples. Close to 100 mil- culture can be used to strengthen group ties. For many lion indigenous peoples were exterminated in what is indigenous students, tribal identity is built through their par- referred to as 'The American Holocaust.' ticipation in cultural activities such as intertribal pow wows, The effect of this North American Holocaust on indige- feasts, special events in school, and cultural gatherings. nous peoples, like that of the Jews, was millions of deaths. In Indigenous students have the highest dropout rate of fact, it was in a way, even more destructive since many any racial or ethnic group, almost twice that of white stu- indigenous peoples became extinct. The white man's superi- dents. Although on standardized tests such as the Scholastic or technology, hunger for land, and ethnocentrism seemingly Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing knew no bounds. The white threat to Indians came in many Program (ACT), indigenous student scores are improving forms: smallpox, missionaries, Conestoga wagons, barbed slightly given the current trends, indigenous students will

30 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 33 es)

Lahota singers and holymen giving a blessing to the new Mounds Path All-Nations Magi et School in St. Paul, Minnesota. still lag substantially behind the forecasted scores for all stu- which moves within the Indian context and does not try to dents in the year 2000. The public education system's avoid or escape this context. Despite such relatively heavy reliance on standardized achievement tests may have hurt investment in consolidating a viable model of colonialist indigenous students as they are culturally biased. Students education, and its statutory requirement that all American whose English language background is non-existant or sub- Indian children be subjected to indoctrination within that standard may read and interpret tests incorrectly In addi- model's facilities, Congress proved itself unwilling to commit tion, indigenous cultural values that discourage competitive the financial resources necessary to truly universalize the behaviors can also put students at a disadvantage. education system in Indian country For many years it was not possible for tribes to fund Culturally responsive teaching uses the child's their own schools. That is changing today through gaming culture to build a bridge to successful academic achieve- for many tribes. Casinos are transforming the way indige- ment. It places other cultures alongside middle class, main- nous schools are being financed. Indeed, most American stream macro-cultures at the center of the classroom communities do not support their own schools but receive instruction paradigm. For teachers of indigenous learners, federal, state, county, and private financial assistance. To a being 'culturally responsive' means being sensitive, aware, certain degree, no school district in the U.S. has the financial and capable of employing cultural learning patterns, per- freedom to determine either the process or the content of its spectives, family structure, multiple world views, and tribal education. The issue however, is not funding, it is providing languages in the teaching, learning, and mental ecology the context in which the subject taught and the processes by of the classroom. which it is taught make sense to American Indians. Here, an individual is a tribal member all his or her life, consequently Revolutionary New Indigenous Schools the tribe always has a central core constituency of people The history of tribal control over Indian education who represent its interest. began in this century with the American Indian Movement American Indians are starting to redefine Indian educa- (AIM) in the 1960s. AIM viscerally and intellectually linked tion as an internal Indian institution, an educational process Indian control of education with tribal sovereignty The

3 41 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 31 tribes in North and South Dakota and Nebraska. A number of other former BIA schools in New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma followed suit. Dr. Lloyd Elm started the Native American Magnet School in the Buffalo, New York Public School System in 1980. Buffalo was the first public school district in the country to designate a school a 'magnet' based on ethnicity Minnesota followed suite in 1991 with the American Indian Magnet School in Saint Paul and Four Winds Magnet School in Minneapolis. In the early 1990s, creative public school programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, and New York started to strengthen indigenous cultural heritage. Thus, urban magnet schools offered an environment supportive of indigenous students and offered, for both indigenous and non-indigenous students, a holistic approach to teaching, tribal language preservation, and basic skills that was written or infused across the curriculum. Since most American Indian students attend public schools, it is critical that teachers in these educational systems become culturally responsive to the needs of indigenous learners. Taking Back Indigenous Education If we are to reform public education to meet the needs of indigenous learners, we must align all school system Student at Mounds Park holding a Medicine Wheel he made in class. resources and programs rather than depend solely on special message struck a pan-Indian cord, uniting urban and grant programs and indigenous-operated alternative schools. reservation Indians to demand greater control over Indian Public schools must assess the actual needs of indigenous education. At first, Indian activists created alternatives to the students and organize the entire school program to meet American public schools in the early 1970s in the form of these needs. urban Indian schools in Minnesota's Twin Cities. The Red Indigenous communities throughout the U.S. confront School House was started in Saint Paul in 1970 and the similar problems toward integrating their local school Heart of the Earth School in 1972. Initially, these urban curricula with content representing their local tribal groups. programs were remedial and operating funds were By using multicultural education goals and objectives, contingent upon year-to-year fund-raising initiatives. infusing indigenous content throughout the curriculum was In July 1966, Rough Rock Demonstration School on the possible. To connect generations together, an 'intergenera- Navajo Reservation at Chinle, Arizona came into being. It tional' curriculum was necessary to bring youth and elders was a project predicated upon the premise that Navajo into the educational process. people are the ones best able to decide upon, most interested Indigenous communities are now taking responsibility in being involved in, and the one group most vitally affected for their children's education and making their teachers by the curriculum content and instructional methods used culturally responsible in the classroom. Responses from with Navajo children. Pine Point Experimental Community citizens in Milwaukee, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Diego, School in Ponsford, Minnesota evolved into kindergarten and Denver that have proposed creating their own indige- through 12th grade comprehensive school. Ramah High nous magnet school is one possible solution. Another School in New Mexico was the first Indian-controlled high option is to create indigenous charter schools from President school of the late 20th century The first BIA off-reservation Clinton's charter school initiative. Whatever methods are boarding school to come under Indian control was the Pierre chosen, indigenous peoples can no longer afford to Indian School, renamed the Pierre Indian Learning Center. respond with short-term reactions to a crisis. Long-term, In 1975, tribes petitioned the BIA to assume control of the highly developed formats that demand excellence from our school and appointed a board member from each of the 15 youth are required.

39 32Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Tribal sovereignty is meaningless unless indigenous and can be used to overcome problems college students peoples educate those of the next generation to take their experience with courses like calculus and statistics. So why -n places in tribal affairs. Indigenous education aims to aren't American schools using it more often? It is my belief eradicate the centuries of colonial ethos imprinted on the that one of the main reasons cooperative learning is not minds and souls of indigenous youth and replace that model taken seriously in American schools is that most public with holistic models of pride, respect, compassion, and schools espouse values based upon individualism, knowledge of tribalism. competition, and materialism. This is untraditional to tn National reports in Indian education like the Indian indigenous educational values. Nations at Risk Task Force Report of 1991 and White House Conference on Indian Education in 1992 offer many recom- The Politics of Education as a Block to mendations and solutions to the dilemma in Indian educa- Pedagogy tion today Why are there still discussions concerning 'why Politics have shaped indigenous schools far more than indigenous children can't learn?' We know that cooperative the pedagogy Our inability to face political realities learning works, both in elementary and secondary education confounds the pedagogy It is because of them that we do not realize excellence for children, even those who are thought to be advantaged. They are only successful by comparison to current notions of the white, Anglo-Saxon norm. It is empty achievement when the highest human values and spiritual levels are out of reach. There is a challenge for each of us to consider the broadest frame for thinking about our children. Indigenous Schools for the 21st Century Transformational indigenous schools for the 21st century must be holistic. Holistic educators recognize that all aspects of human life are fundamentally interconnected. Educational leadership must contend that brain-based education focuses on the physical, emotional, social, esthetic, creative, and spiritual qualities of every person, as well as traditionally emphasized intellectual and vneatinnal ekillc TrI he well-edurnted in the modern industrial world means to be well disciplined; it is to be alienated from one's own spontaneous, creative, self-actualizing impulses. Holistic education calls for a new recognition of the organic, subconscious, subjective, intuitive, artistic, mythological, and spiritual dimensions of our lives. Staying the Course For a true awakening of indigenous schools in the United States, we must return to the central goal of self-determination. To recapture the essence of indigenous educa- This sculpture at the Mounds Park All-Nations Magnet School was commissioned by a native artist and depicts tion, transformational schools must become a a tree whose roots form the roots of the new school. model of thoughtful and moral discourse

3 6 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 33 which is multitribal as well as multicultural. It does so by given away? We will now be tested. It is time to go to work. building and operating the three-dimensional framework. We've come full circle. The first side is the covenant, the agreed-upon principles of teaching and learning that the tribal school community Dr. Cornel Pewewardy, a Comanche and Kiowa, is Assistant Professor in the C.) pledges to promote. The second side is the charter or the Department of Teaching and Leadership, School of Education at the University of agreed-upon and explicitly tribal sovereign governmental Kansas, Lawence, Kansas. He is also the founding principal of the award-winning American Indian Magnet School in the Saint Paul chAN) Public School District. process by which tribal school community members acquire genuine power in making educational decisions. The third References side is the critical-study process by which the tribal school Adams, D. W 1995. Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding community gathers information and studies itself as it strives School Experience:1875-1928. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. to achieve learning priorities Beaulieu, D. 1992. "A Concluding Prospectus on Change and Development for District, state, and tribal policies must change to Native Education." In P Cahape and C. B. Howley Eds. Indian Nations at support the primary goals of indigenous education in the Risk: Listening to the People. Charleston: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural U.S., honor tribal sovereignty, and respect the developmental Education and Small Schools. differences of indigenous schools. Such policies must not Cogan, J. J., Errante, A., Rentel, K. 1994. "Three Ethnic Specific Schools In the Twin Cities: Making Desegregation a Choice?" Center for Urban and mandate uniformity and procedures rather, they must view Regional Affairs-Reporter. 24(2), 1-8. fairness as enabling equality of accomplishment, not same- Elm, L. M. 1983. "American Indian Education: A Constitutional Right." ness of educational treatment. Policies must invite the school Unpublished doctoral dissertation at the Pennsylvania State University, to move beyond existing regulations and use a site-based University Park, PA. covenant, charter, and critical-study process to craft a Glickman, C. D. 1993. Renewing America's Schools: A Guide for School-Based Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. unique and powerful educational tribal environment. If indigenous schools are forced to stay within the givens of Hillabrant, W, Romano, M., Stang, D., & Charleston, M. 1992. "Native American Education at a Turning Point: Current Demographics and Trends." In P Cahape U.S. constitutional law, equity, multicultural content, and C. B. Howley Eds. Indian Nations at Risk: Listening to the People. attention to research, progress toward achievement of Charleston: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. learning goals, and public disclosure of results, then they Huff D. J. 1997. To Live Heroically: Institutional Racism and American should be actively encouraged to be as creative and Indian Education. Albany: State University of New York Press. imaginative as possible. James, M. 1991. Dangerous Memories: Invasion and Resistance Since 1492. Chicago: Chicago Religious Task Force on Central America. The Task Before Us M ller, R. 1990. What Are Schools For?: Holistic Education in American Culture. Brandon: Holistic Education Press. Recapturing the essence of indigenous schools in the Noriega, J. 1992. "American Indian Education in the United States: Indoctrination United States is a tremendously challenging, yet serious for Subordination to Colonialism." In M. Annette Jaimes Ed. The State of Native matter. All of the restructuring in the world will be of no America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance. Boston: South End Press. benefit to children if the philosophy, theory, assumptions, Nichols, R. 1992. "Continuous Evaluation of Native Education Programs for and definitions are flawed or invalid. Indigenous educators American Indian and Alaska Native Students." In P Cahape and C. B. Howley Eds. Indian Nations at Risk: Listening to the People. Charleston: and parents know the problems and their causes. With our ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. limited time and money we must now talk about solutions Pewewardy, C. D. 1994. "Culturally Responsible Pedagogy in Action: An American and their implementation into future indigenous schools. Indian Magnet School." In Etta R. Hollins, Joyce E. King & Warren C. As you can see, I do not find this task to be the least bit Haymon Eds. Teaching Diverse Populations: Formulating a Knowledge daunting from a professional angle since I have been an Base. Buffalo: State University of New York Press. active participant as principal and now as educational con- Platero, D. 1978. "Multicultural Teacher Education Center at Rough Rock." In T Thompson Ed. The Schooling of Native America. Washington, DC: sultant, helping to start up many new indigenous schools American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. around the country Therefore, I know it can be done and Poop, 1. 1993. "Native American Issues." Social Work Perspectives, 4(1), 34-37. with excellence. Stannard, D. E. 1992. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. Promising practices tell us that indigenous schools can New York: Oxford University Press. work for both indigenous and non-indigenous children. We Szasz, M. C. 1992. "Current Conditions in American Indian and Alaska Native must reinforce the achievers in education. We must expose Communities." In P Cahape and C. B. Howley Eds. Indian Nations at Risk: the bad practices that causes our children to fail. The reason Listening to the People. Charleston: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. behind this revolutionary movement toward full integration Thornton, R. 1987. American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population of indigenous schools is that our children can't wait for History Since 1492. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. another generation to just think about recapturing our Tinker, G.E. 1993. Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American schools. Will we save our children? Will we allow them to be Cultural Genocide. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

34Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Teaching Tribal Histories from a Native Perspective

by Lea Whitford

The obstacles and challenges that native teachers have and federal government policies reduced the tribal land to overcome are well worth the effort as cultural preser- holdings. Although the 49th parallel separates the Blackfeet vation and instilling a positive self-identity are immea- (a name given to the Southern Piegan by the federal government) surable aspects of teaching. The rewards of teaching your in Montana from their relatives in Canada, the Blackfoot own tribal histories or languages can have a profound effect Confederacy still maintains their tribal relationships. c-) on people. The audience, whether they are native or not, can The Blackfeet reservation sits next to Glacier National be swept in the pages of historywritten or oral. The validity Park and borders.the United States and Canadian boundary of teaching courses specific to our own tribal history has been There are numerous communities on the reservation and the questioned by native people and non-native people; the debate town of Browning is the largest community It serves as the continues on. However, this argument does nothing for what center for our tribal government and as a shopping center many native people wantcultural preservation and to con- for residents. The school system in Browning is the largest, tinue teaching their own people the value of tribal knowledge for future existence. As a teacher I have seen the positive effects of teaching native studies to native children -.71? and to non-native students. I have seen students make what I call a 'transformation' when they learn about their own tribal history, philosophy, or language. Awareness is brought to a higher level of thought for those non-native students learning about the native people they live among. Learning at about tribal culture empow- ers students to become self- confident and fosters a positive self-identity The growth from cultural knowledge can bring understanding for tribal adversity by embracing Glacier National Park borders the Blachfeet reservation. those things that make each tribal group unique. serving approximately 2,500 students from kindergarten The Blackfeet reservation which I call home is where the through 12th grade. The general population.are Indian prairie meets the Rocky Mountains in northeastern Montana. (mostly Blackfeet) descendants. The school board and At one time, the Blackfoot Confederacy was made up of the administration have recognized the unique background of Kainah (English name Blood), the Pikuni (Piegan), and the the student population and have for a number of years Siksika (North Blackfoot) tribes. The territory of the offered Native American and Blackfeet study classes and sup- Blackfoot Confederacy included southern Alberta, western port services in those areas for students and staff. Classes Saskatchewan, and central Montana. As more people came to include Blackfeet Studies, Blackfeet Language, and Native Blackfoot territory, more the land was in demand; treaties American Arts and Crafts.

38 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 35 I have taught on the Blackfeet reservation both in the Educational Customs of the Blackfoot public school system and at the Blackfeet Community by Amethyst First Rider College. I have observed the sharing of tribal history in the form of storytelling and also traditional methods of teaching. How do Plains Indians educate and inculcate the phi- When students comment about what they have leaned from losophy, customs, and values of their cultures? For the traditional forms of teaching they are aware of the unique most part, education and socialization is achieved through abilities of our elders to pass on information essential to example, actual experience, renewal ceremonies, story- tribal survival. There exists a need for schools and institu- telling, praise, reward, and recognition. tions to allow elders or keepers of tribal knowledge to share Children are greatly valued and considered gifts from their philosophies of native knowing. Those individuals tak- the Creator. From the moment of birth, children are the ing on the responsibility of teaching native studies, tribal objects of love and kindness from a large circle of relatives and friends. They are strictly trained, but in a sea of love and history, and languages often times are faced with skeptics kindness. Children, as they grow, are given praise and recog- and difficulties not encountered by other 'accepted' academic nition for achievements both by the extended family, and areas. Validating reasons for teaching native courses seems a the tribe as a whole. Group recognition manifests itself in never-ending task. Finding the support for such courses no terms of public ceremonies performed for a child, give-aways doubt are causes for cultural conflict in some communities. in a child's honor, and songs created and sung in recogni- These difficulties must be dealt with before actual teaching tion of a child for good deeds and adherence to teachings. can take place. A relative usually takes a young child 'under his or her Many families have a common background of grand- wing' and assumes the responsibility of teaching the child parents and/or parents having unpleasant experiences in everything about the culture and survival, continuously schools that did not tolerate cultural expression whether it making progress reports to friends, relatives, and parents. was speaking their native language or taking part in tribal These progress reports result in praise and recognition for the child. Children are seldom physically punished but are ceremonies. The first educational institutes' focus was not sternly lectured about the implications of wrongful and only to educate, but also to 'christianize' the Indians. The unacceptable behavior. government had little or no regard for tribal traditions, thus Storytelling is also a very important part of the educa- leaving the tribal elders struggling to hand down tribal tional process. It is through stories that customs and values knowledge to their own children when the norm was are taught and made explicit to the young. For most North punishment for being Indian. American Indian tribes, there are hundreds of stories about The interruption of teaching tribal knowing by obser- real life experiences, spirits, creation, customs and values. vance or by family oral histories has left a tremendous Stories are usually told by the loving grandmas and grand- responsibility on the remaining elders who hold the tribal pas of the tribe, but not exclusively. Members of the knowledge. Elders of the tribe feel an urgency to pass on extended family all generally play a role. information essential to tribal existence, fearing that once Given the opportunity, a culture attempts to mold its they are gone, what they know goes with them. We are members into ideal personality types. The cultures of the Plains Indians are no exception to this rule. For Blackfoot, fortunate today our schools have adopted a different the ideal personality is one that shows strength both physi- approach to educating native people which recognizes and cally and spiritually He or she is a person who is generous celebrates the differences of our culture. and shows kindness to all. He or she is a person who puts Deciding how to balance the concerns of the cultural the groups' needs ahead of individual wants and desires. community and the interests of students is at times He or she is a person who, as a generalist, knows all the difficult. The students' innate curiosity to learn about survival skills. With age and experience, he or she is a spirituality can be uncomfortable for some. Respecting that person that grows in wisdom. He or she is a person there is a time and place for certain tribal teachings is steeped in spiritual and ritual knowledge. He or she is a person who, in view of all these expectations, goes about important for teachers to recognize. Books can be a his or her life and approaches 'all his relations' in a sea of cosmetic approach to learning about tribal sacredness, friendship, an easygoing manner, humor, and good feel- however actual experience has its rightful place and only ings. He or she is a person who attempts to suppress inner those given the right to transfer that knowledge should be feelings, anger, and disagreement with the group. He or allowed to do so. Our school district hosted a public forum, she is a person who is expected to display bravery, hardi- inviting the community to voice their concerns about the ness, and strength against enemies and outsiders. He or education of younger generations. This helped clarify what she is a person who is adaptable and takes the world as it the teachers were doing and what the community wanted to comes without complaint. see happen.

36 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 have encouraged in my classes. Students are asked -n 413 to do family genealogies or to record stories family members have told. I have asked students to interview a grandparent or an older family member, getting the grandparent to tell a story about their past or things they remember that would be considered tribal history One student commented "this is the first time me an my grandfather sat and visited-about anything." One student had her grandparent talk about a flood and what she could remember about it, "I did not realize the hardships my grandparents went through-I learned something about my grand- ma." These exercises have helped students learn more The prairie meets the Rocky Mountains on the Blackfeet reservation in northeastern Montana. about their family back- In the spring, the Blackfeet Community College has a ground and it gives to them the sense of value oral history week designated as 'Blackfeet Days.' This is a time when the has in cultural preservation. In doing so, self-identity is community is invited to attend the lectures, discussions, enhanced and thus positive self-esteem is nurtured. and demonstrations hosted by the college. They may offer a When I started teaching Native American Studies and course on tipi designs where an elder or someone with Blackfeet Study classes, my own tribal knowledge was tribal knowledge will talk about the meanings of symbols limited. I did not grow up in a traditional family that spoke and how tipi designs may have originated. A hide tanning our native language, nor did I have exposure to any class may take place where participants will be asked to traditional practices of my tribe. I did not allow this to stop bring a hide they wish to tan. The teacher may talk about me from embarking on a journey to learn about my tribal tanning tpchniqupn, npw and nir 1 th,- process of heritage and to share what I learned with others. I firmly learning to hand tan a hide, the teacher may be telling tribal believe learning is a lifelong process. The joy of learning stories constituting traditional teaching. A more formal way about the Amskapi Pikuni has been very fulfilling, but is by of traditional teaching would be to sit with an elder who no means complete. would light a smudge of sweet grass and say a prAyer. The student may then ask more specific questions, it would then Lea Whitford is a mother of two and is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet be up to the elder to answer the questions or inquiries. The tribe and a resident of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. She works at Browning best way to learn tribal knowledge is to listen-listening to High School teaching histoty and physical education. Mrs. Whitford graduated elders when they are telling stories or when attending tradi- from MSU-Northern Montana College in Havre, Montana with a B.S. in Secondary Education in Physical Education and History. She received her A.A. in tional ceremonies. Blackfeet Studies from Blackfeet Community College and Higher Education from Getting students to think critically about their environ- MSU-Bozeman, Montana. ment will take researching and developing teaching practices that can bring students to a higher level of thinking. Acknowledgment Providing reading material on native issues, learning about A special thank you is in order for my dear friend, Cheryl Tailfeathers, who has their tribal governments and how they operate, researching supported my endeavors. and debating current tribal events or history are activities I

Jo Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 37 Native Hawaiian Epistemology: Exploring Hawaiian Views of Knowledge

by Manu Aluli Meyer

"Aloha is the intelligence with which we meet life." facts, logic, metaphors, and stories necessary for completed Olana A'i human reasoning. A pandora's box of perspectives on, and definitions of The epistemology or 'philosophy of knowledge reason, objectivity, and empiricism has been opened. Signs revolution escalates. Sides are being drawn, of entrenchment are escalating however, with verbal attacks, published words are fortifying entrench- labeling the movement anti-intellectual, biased, emotional, feminist, and multicultural. It is some- ments, and academic armies are mobilizing. The "The colonial 'traditionalists,' defend a mono-empirical view of what ironic that these very terms have become the educational the world where empiricism is not culturally tools in which to deconstruct old paradigms or defined. Others work toward broadening the system in Hawai'i vocabulary, and engage in new structures of dis- philosophy of knowledge to encompass the many works very course that include fact, logic, metaphor, and sto- distinct definitions of empericisim correlating to hard toward ries. many distinct cultures. The largest dissent comes homogenization... Knowledge about feelings make empirical from indigenous peoples as we define ourselves verification no less valuable. The crisis of reason is education is not so much a crisis for Hawaiians as a window of through our values and the interpretation of our rooted in the world via cosmology and epistemology Battle opportunity to re-assert our views of the world. casualties point to the elusive specter of power, apolitical and The split between reason and experience, rational- influence, and politics, and as systems continually acultural ism, and empiricism can be healed with cultural dismiss core beliefs of indigenous peoples, assumptions of tools that re-claim these images in a more misunderstanding and antagonism grows. In some oppression and appropriate and Hawaiian light. Thus, identity is strengthened and culture is maintained. circles it has been labeled the 'crisis of reason,' but power..." in my own native Hawaiian milieu, it has been The Hum-Drum Fact of Clashing called a 'window of opportunity' Epistemologies The Crisis of Reason: A Window of Opportunity "Hawaiians, once masters of their honored crafts, poets and The specifics of a Hawaiian philosophy of knowledge wits in their own language, gave way to generations discour- aged and embarrassed in school systems designed by and for focuses on indigenous identity Because of the assimilationist Western culture." practices of the U.S., asserting cultural identity continues to be misrepresented and misunderstood, fueling the epistemo- -M K. Pukui, E.W Haertig, and C. Lee logical war. Critiques of knowledge production influences all The colonial educational system in Hawai'i works very areas of study The hermeneutic position (who creates textbooks and why) is tied to epistemology and has crept into all hard toward homogenization. It is not based on Hawaiian areas of learning that would otherwise have us believe in an beliefs about knowledge, space, cosmology, time, and history, acultural knowledge production center. The very definition rather, education is rooted in the apolitical and acultural assumptions of oppression and power. It is not new to cri- of objectivity is in question. It is an exciting time for indigenous people. This crisis tique the colonial influence on our youth, yet we are begin- of reason questions the building blocks of an objective and ning to sharpen the tools of discourse to engage in the dis- empirically based system that according to Damasio, cussion of how to educate our children. This has led to the separates the "thinking thing from the nonthinking body" very origins of what native Hawaiians value within our cul- The Hawaiian ideal of wisdom, on the other hand, refers to ture that is relevant to knowledge production, exchange, and the na'au, the stomach region, the seat of emotion, feeling, continuity What has come from this focus is the obvious fact heart, and intellect. The smoke has cleared away from that empiricism, itself, is culturally defined. However, science and revealed an insular group that has ignored the Marshal Sahlins states "this does not mean that Hawaiians

38 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 are unempirical-let alone that they privilege the 'ideal' over things, a selective attention and eval- "interpretation the 'real'-but it does mean that they draw conclusions of uation that corresponds to an act of of experience' is "11 their own from their empirical experiences." categorization. Not that we are not dealing simply with physiological a critical idea Empiricism, the philosophical belief that all knowledge sensations but with empirical judg- and must be comes from our five senses, seems at first to be only missing ments. The biological mechanisms a few more sensual cues. A closer look reveals the cultural of perception are not in question, examined within nature of how these multiple senses get developed. In a nor is their universality At issue, a Hawaiian Hawaiian sense, empiricism gets expanded with such notions rather, is the organization of experi- framework if one as akaka, moe 'uhane, 'ulaleo and many other cultural ence, including the training of the senses, according to social canons of is to effectively beliefs that shape a Hawaiian sense of being and learning in releyance." explore how the world. One 'ontological premise' of culture develops "To others who have not known fishers and planters it is impossible to convey even a hint of the quality of mind and empiricism is the fact that the world knowledge." sensory perception that characterizes the human being whose to a Hawaiian is alive and filled with perpetual rapport with nature from infancy has been unbro- meaning and metaphor. Knowledge ken. The sky, sea, and earth, and all in and on them are alive for Hawaiians had direct purpose-whether in developing a with meaning indelibly impressed upon every fiber of the chant for a new baby, treating an illness, or forecasting rain. unconscious as well as the conscious psyche." How one experiences the environment plays a huge role in -Handy and Handy how the world is understood and defined, and this experience is nursed and fed via cultural practices, beliefs and val All of life is alive and filled with meaning. Such is a ues. Hawaiian sense. Fundamental to Hawaiian empiricism is the "...the 'beliefs' of our people in Ka'u arise out of sensory- notion that experience is culturally defined by what Marshall emotional-mental experiences. They were conceptualized in Sahlins refers to as 'social canons of relevance.' He sees the terms of traditional heritage of interpretation and rationaliza- relation culture has to the shaping of sensory knowledge and tion. But the commonly held foreign notion that these questions a universal set of empirical judgments, he sees that 'beliefs' represent nothing more than an intellectual accumu- lation of traditional 'superstitions' will be seen to be devoid of senses are culturally variable. truth, [that] illustrate the fact that the 'belief' originates in "People overestimate their objectivity because they are some concrete and tangible complex or psychological noticing only a fraction of the empirical characteristics of sequence involving sensation-emotion-observation-interpretation-rationalization. In a word, these are not'beliefs'merely: Hawaiian Extra-Sensory Knowledge they are records and interpretation of expe- see akakd vision; also a trance or reflection; vision where one is riences. awake -Handy and Pukui see hihi'o vision; a dream just before sleep or just before awakening hear '615Ieo supernatural voice or sound; sacred sound And so, the 'inter- smell honi paha'oha'omysterious smell; smell that causes wonder pretation of experi- touch 'dull skin signs: ence' is a critical idea and must be examined within a Hawaiian ökakaala goose bumps framework if one is to aki'aki little pinches, nibbles effectively explore how e'au ants crawling under the skin culture develops hu'ihu'i sudden chill or numbness knowledge. The ma'e'ele foot asleep (omens of misfortune signs following example, that supernatural spirits are present) written by lzurriu hula (hula teacher) Pualani "Joy" courtesy of Meleanna Meyer Kanaka'ole Kanahele, points to empiricism

42 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 39 and how a Hawaiian view shapes the very core of sense and how I exchange them. It is an intricate system that is richly experience: moral and deeply spiritual. This article has scratched the "The notion that a rock exists as an inanimate object, surface of cultural empiricism and how is plays an important especially in its creative stages,istotally foreign to the role in epistemology It is time to step from the shadows to tja Hawaiian. Rock, especially fresh lava flow, has a spirit, and confirm and validate other ways of knowing that are more with the assumption of a spirit, procreation is possible. Thus, empowering, more meaningful, more fun, and more rigorous this belief that Pe le (the volcano deity) is magma, Pe le is lava, in the kinds of ways that engender community, extend u. and that she is the one who controls the outpouring of this energy is within this dualistic concept. Pe le is the creative culture, and strengthen commitment to the things and ways force whose name signifies the physical and the spiritual of value. Cultural epistemology is no longer a novelty, it is a essence of newly formed land." fact, and the time has come to expose its suppression and Rocks have spirit, magma is Pe le. Thus outlines the non-reflection in our American educational system. directive for a Hawaiian's sense of the empirical. This sets the stage for the following conversation of signs, portents, Manu Aluli Meyer teaches at the University of Hawan in Hilo. She is co- founder of a revolutionary educational movement based on sustainability and cul- knowledge, and insights gained from sensory and extra-sen- ture. She builds Hawaiian cultural sites in communities that ash for them and she sory cues that are a basic part of shapes rocks for Makahilti competitions. Hawaiian life. "...hearing, Expanding the Notion References seeing, touching,of Empiricism Grosz, E. 1993. "Bodies and Knowledge: Feminism and the Crisis of Reason." In and smelling are Hawaiian empiricism culturally Alcoff, L & Potter, E. Eds. Feminist Epipstemologies, pp. 187-215. includes experiences during wak- Handy, E.S.C., & Handy, E.G. 1972. Native Planters of Old Hawaii. Honolulu: mediated acts ing and sleeping states and Bishop Museum Press. founded on during moments of revelation Handy, E.S.C., & Puki, M.K. 1972. The Polynesian Family System in Ka'u, Hawaiian orhOlke or through the insights Hawai'i. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle. practices and gained by environmental signs, Kanahele, PK. 1990. "Kilauea: Creation and Procreation." The Journal of the lul'ailona. Mary Kawena Pukui, University of Hawai'i Community Colleges. pp. 61-64. beliefs." the lead author and historian of Marttn-BarO, 1. 1994. Writings for a Liberation Psychology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Nana I Ke Kumu, a reference McCloskey, D.N. 1995. "Economics and the Limits of Scientific Knowledge.". In book for professionals who work Goodman, RE, & Fisher; W.R. (Eds.) Rethinking Knowledge: Reflections with native Hawaiians, defined five categories of these forms Across the Disciplines. New York: State University; pages 3-21. of communication and experience that reflect a broader list M.K., Haertig, E.W, & Lee, C. 1972. Nana I Ke Kumu: Look to the of sensory knowledge. Source, Vol. 1 & 11. Honolulu: Hui Hanai, Queen Liliu'ohalani Childrens Thus, hearing, seeing, touching, and smelling are Center culturally mediated acts founded on Hawaiian practices and Sahl ns, M. 1995. How "Natives" Think-About Captain Cook for Example. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. beliefs. If one views a past relative not as a ghost, but as someone to help and guide them through life's problems and hardships ('aumakua concept), then when this person shows up in a hihi'o, akalca or they will be welcomed and listened to. Such is the nature of ontological diversity Hawaiians experience their world in fundamentally unique ways that reflect broader definitions of rationality in specific and timeless fashion. The fact that observable phenomenon is mixed with supernatural ones is basic for Hawaiians and serves to explain our world. Visions play an important part in this discussion of epistemology because they challenge fundamental principles of empiricism both via the cultural-sensory argument and now, in a whole new way They challenge the assumption that we learn only by observable sensory input and not in a more mystical phenomenological way What makes me smart in a Hawaiian cosmos depends on who's judging, what is the quality of my 'products,' and 4 40 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 Indigenous Rights and Schooling in Highland Chiapas

by Margaret Freedson Gonzalez and Elias Perez Perez

cc e want help for our people. Our children however, is a world away from the ideal laid out in federal shouldn't just learn and abandon the way of life guidelines and the San Andrds Accords. This is particularly n of our parents and grandparents. We want them true in Chiapas, where indigenous children routinely aban- to become intelligent but not to lose the knowledge and cus- don school after repeated failures and community dissatisfac- toms of our ancestors, our way of thinking, our way of talking. They must respect and learn the wisdom of our parents tion with teachers is widespread. During the last four years, so that later, they are able to solve problems among their peo- we have spent hundreds of hours in rural classrooms and ple. They must learn the way of life of the mestizos and that spoken with parents and elders in Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya of their own people as well." communities across the Chiapas Highlands. The following -Tzotzil mother, San Andrés Larrainzar, Chiapas overview of government-sponsored schooling in the region draws from these experiences. A New Educational Agenda In February, 1996, representatives of the Mexican feder- Background al government and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation Forty-five years ago, schools were virtually unknown in (EZLN) signed an Accord on Indigenous Rights and Culture most Chiapas Highland villages. Today, government schools in San Andres Larrainzar, Chiapas. The Accord ratifies the right dot the countryside. Although many do not provide of indigenous peoples to an altogether new kind of education, one that is bilingual, Villages of Highland Chiapas intercultural, high quality, and free of charge. According to the text, the government com- Villahermosa mits to "promote, develop, and preserve indigenous language education, the teaching of indigenous language literacy, and assure the opportunity to learn Spanish." At the same time, it must guarantee an education that umbald "respects and promotes indigenous knowl- Yajaldn. 'Clain J-C/:....7 GUATEMALA edge, traditions, and forms of organization." s.marc.Chalchihuitin Maidalenaso.,s.utomi;-Chenathe ethmh.Cancuc e0cosingo There has been little opposition to Larrainzar. 44 ICh.mniao sTeneppa Huistan these demands at the level of public poiicy San Bartolosne de los Llamas 'hail and discourse. Since 1990, the Mexican RA; Constitution has established that the law Jas Margaritas must "protect and promote the develop- Comitin de Dominguez ment of indigenous languages, cultures, r uttlig ETA and ways of life." Mexico's General 4-49,043e Directorate of Indigenous Education followed suit in 1994 by adopting instructional guidelines that reflect a shift away from the assimilationist 'transitional' bilingual education of the past, towards a language maintenance program model. Indigenous children are now to be taught in their Stateof Chiapas native language as well as in Spanish throughout their primary school years. The reality of schooling in most of JVCotter & JDNations Mexico's indigenous communities

Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 41 instruction beyond the fourth grade, nearly every Highland This is the case for at least 35% of all Highland bilingual village has a school. Across the region, more than 72,000 teachers. Many others feel unprepared to promote indige- Tzotzil and Tzeltal children are enrolled at the preschool and nous language literacy among their students since teachers primary levels (See Table). Approximately 77% are taught by themselves have limited reading and writing abilities in their indigenous teachers within the state's Indigenous Bilingual native language. Finally, many oppose the use of native Education system. The remaining children receive Spanish- language instruction on ideological grounds. While indige- L11. only instruction from ladino or rnestizo teachers in general nous languages remain firmly rooted in most communities, state schools. Spanish is the language of status, economic opportunity, and defense against exploitation by Highland ladinos. Linguistic and Cultural Rights in the School children and parents who speak only their maternal Classroom language are often viewed as atrasados or backwards. In practice, the educational programs offered by the Many teachers believe they can make up for children's lan- Indigenous Bilingual and General State school systems are guage 'deficit' by using as much Spanish as possible in the more similar than they are different. Both are characterized classroom. As one Tzeltal teacher explained, "It's useless to by a focus on universal curriculum objectives, textbook speak to the children only in their native language. They'll contents, and identity building accomplished through finish primary school just half-knowing how to read and patriotic exercises that occupy a substantial portion of school write in Spanish. School will not have been worthwhile for time. Far from promoting indigenous knowledge, classroom them at all." practice is rooted in the encyclopedic tradition of Western So embedded is this belief system that some teachers schooling, oriented towards the memorization of terms and view Mexico's recent efforts to promote native language formulas that offer little preparation for the real life literacy instruction as part of a government conspiracy to challenges Highland children are likely to face. Most indige- permanently exclude indigenous peoples from mestizo- nous teachers recognize the inappropriateness of this cur- dominated political and economic spheres. This helps to riculum, but lack the skills, resources, or political will to explain why new Tzotzil and Tzeltal language textbooks, generate alternatives. which are central to bilingual education reform and Several Tzotzil parents explained to us how this lack of available in most Highland classrooms, have been a school support of local culture may stem from teachers' own resounding flop with teachers. educational histories: Ironically, the heavy Spanish-language focus of the "Many teachers, though they are indigenous, no longer curriculum is partly to blame for the limited learning that know our customs because they were only with their parents takes place in Highland classrooms, Children's literacy devel- for six years before they went to boarding schools and then opment, so important to parents, is made painfully slow and to live in the city of San CristObal. They no longer saw how mechanical by the use of a language medium in which their parents lived, nor could they receive their parents' teachings. They cannot orient our children then because they children have limited oral proficiency Moreover, because do not know our way of life, how our thinking develops, how Spanish is taught primarily through unstructured immersion we speak in the community" and literacy rather than using methods specifically designed Language and literacy issues are no less problematic. to promote second language acquisition, most children leave Increasingly, first and second grade bilingual teachers use the primary school with limited Spanish communication skills. Tzotzil and Tzeltal languages in their classroom talk to aid students' comprehension of the 1994-1995Preschooland Primary Sch)ol official curriculum. However, reading and Enrollmentsin 14 1-li,DhlandMunicipalities writing are taught almost exclusively in Spanish, Indigenous Bilingual producing limited opportunities for the largely General State System Total Enrollment monolingual children to interact with written Education System text. By the upper elementary grades, the use of Preschool 8,390 2,242 10,632 indigenous languages has disappeared from the (78.9%) (21.1%) (100%) classroom altogether, save for the rare translation of a Spanish phrase or concept. Primary School 47,691 14,643 62,334 Inattention to indigenous language educa- (Grades 1-6) (76.5%) (23.5%) (100%)

tion is explained partly by the fact that many Total Systrnem-wide 56,081 16,885 72,966 indigenous teachers, although native to Chiapas, Enrollment (76.9%) (23.1%) (100%) speak a language not shared by their students. 'Office of Statistics, Chiapas Sducational Services

42 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 A Promise Unfulfilled? most progressive indigenous education policies. This How do indigenous parents and elders evaluate govern- dynamic is likely to increase pressure on schools to respond ment schools? Most are ambivalent. On the one hand, they to local community interests. believe that schooling can play an important role in prepar- There is a tendency in Mesoamerica towards increasing C-4 ing children for the demands of the world beyond the com- reliance on non-government organizations and the private munity As one father explained: sector to promote educational innovation. Many international donor agencies have shifted their primary focus away from "Now that there's a school here, our children can speak a few words of Spanish so that the mestizos can no longer trick state-sponsored reform projects whose dismal track record is us when we go to sell our products in San CristObal. The well-known, towards more local, community-based initia- youth can look for work in the cities or on the roads and can tives. Many such efforts are described in this issue of Cultural speak with the mestizos. And wherever we go, we can read Survival Quarterly While these projects often provide the the bus routes and easily find our way That's what school creative and political leadership necessary for educational is for." change to take place, they cannot replace the government's Yet parents recognize the negative impact of existing role or responsibility in providing culturally relevant, quality educational models on indigenous values and customs. educational services to indigenous children and youth on a Schools are blamed for making children less respectful of large scale. their elders, less interested in learning traditional knowledge and skills, and less willing to fulfill their domestic or agricul- Margaret Freedson Gonzalez has lived and worked in the Chiapas tural responsibilities. Parents also see that schools often fail Highlands since 1993. She has conducted research on indigenous education with the to deliver on their most basic promises. One former student Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas, the Rigoberta Menchu Foundation, captured the frustration of having spent so many years in and the Centro de Lenguas Artes y Literatura Indigena de Chiapas. She is currently a doctoral candidate in Language and Literacy at the Howard Graduate School primary school for so little return: of Education. "When I was in school, my teacher told me 'Learn to read. Elias Perez Perez is an indigenous education specialist native to San Pedro Study your books well so that you can go off to find work as Chenalho, Chiapas. He currently conducts research with the Centro de Lenguas a driver or a doctor.' When I completed my studies, I didn't Artes y Literatura 1ndigena de Chiapas and trains bilingual teachers at the know much because what the teacher or the books had said Universidad Pedagogical Nacionars San CristObal campus. didn't stay in my head. All I learned in school was to write my name and read a bit, but I don't understand very well and I don't speak Spanish, so I stay here working in the fields. Acknowledgments What I learned in school was of little use since I couldn't find work. What the teacher told me was just a deceit." We would like to thank the University of Arts and Sciences of Chiapas and the Rigoberta Menchu Foundation for supporting our ongoing research. We would also With limited faith in teachers' commitment to local like express our great appreciation to the Highland teachers and parents who gen- interests, many indigenous communities in Chiapas have erously shared their time and opinions about indigenous education, and welcomed us into their communities and classrooms. expelled government teachers, bilingual or otherwise, and named 'community educators' from within to take charge of schools. This growing movement now involves more than References -)nnn nratnrc arrncc lip ctato an," ic ,gainingstrengt1-1 in tine Highlands. Barreda, A. et.al. Eds. 1996. "Acuerdos sobre derechos y cultura indigena." In Chiapas 2. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, UNAM. Conclusions Freedson, M. and Perez Perez, E. 1995. "EducaciOn bilingue-bicultural y modern- izaciOn en los Altos de Chiapas." America Indigena, 55 (1-2) , 383-424. Reform efforts aimed at improving Highland schools are Hamel, R.E. 1994. "Linguistic Rights for Amerindian Peoples in Latin America." In underway Indigenous teachers and community educators are T SkuttnabbKangas and R. Phillipson Eds. Linguistic Human Rights: being trained to make classroom instruction more dynamic, Overcoming Linguistic Discrimination. New York: Mouton de Gruyter more participatory, and better aligned with the linguistic and Hidalgo, M. 1994. "Bilingual Education, Nationalism, and Ethnicity in Mexico: cultural rights outlined in the San Andrés Accord. Ideally, From Theory to Practice." Language Problems and Language Planning. such reforms should be community or teacher driven. In 18(3), pp.I87-207. fact, most originate among indigenous professionals in Modiano, N. 1973. Indian Education in the Chiapas Highlands. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Mexico City and thus have tended to lack grassroots Pineda, L.O. 1993. Caciques Culturales: El caso de los maestros bilingues en support, especially from teachers. However, galvanized by los Altos de Chiapas. Puebla, Mexico: Altres Costa. the Zapatista movement, many Highland communities have Viqueira, J.P and Rus, M. Eds. 1995. Chiapas: Los rumbos de otra historia. begun to voice demands that coincide with both the major Mexico City: Centro de Estudios Mayas (UNAM), C1ESAS, Universidad de points of the Indigenous Rights Accord and with Mexico's Guadelajara.

Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 43 Chanob Vun ta Batz'i K'op of Sna Alibajom: An Alternative Education in Our Native Languages

by Antonio de la Torre Lopez, translated by Bret Gustafson

currently in Chiapas, issues of pluriculturalism and expansive corpus of oral literature and associations of Maya multilingualism have become more prominent than and Zoque writers. These writers have written and published ever. In reality, there are many ways of thinking, (in their own language and Spanish) compilations which expressing, and teaching in each,of our different native cul- describe these ancestral sciences, the history of their peoples, tures. In many cases, these differences contradict from those the establishment of their churches, and their mythic histo- of the dominant culture which pressure the marginal indige- ries. Many of these histories are rooted in ancient Maya nous cultures to homogenize and supposedly modernize traditions, similar to the Book of Council (Pop Wuj or Popol behavior, cosmovision, knowledge, language, and forms of Vuj) of the Maya K'iche and the patron saints and deities of teaching, abruptly replacing traditional ways. Nonetheless, each community. Today, asssociations of Maya and Zoque the accelerated changes of our era require an attitude of tol- writers and actors have drawn on the expansive corpus of erance which allows us to speak freely in the languages of oral literature to publish and illustrate their histories. each culture; quite similar to the situation of rnestizo Spanish Despite these advances which have conserved much speakers who must learn some variant of English. This ancient knowledge transmitted through oral tradition, there modern world, with new ideas, is still a strong need for educa- inventions, and discoveries, tion, especially in our native often leaves traditional lan- languages. The majority of guages behind and tends to municipalities within Maya and regard them as linguistically Zoque populations only have inferior with respect to the primary schools, many which standard language officialized function only to the third grade. by the realms of science, soci- These schools often call them- ety, culture, politics, and selves bilingual, but in reality economics. Linguists and they teach only in Spanish. anthropologists working for the There are practically no board- government have written ing schools for students from books on rules of grammar and isolated areas and there is only Students of Sna jtz'ibajom learn w read and write their native language. dictionaries in our languages one secondary school in the and have used them to impose new religions or to municipal seat, a long distance from many hamlets. There 'Hispanicize' us, to integrate us into the so-called 'national are no large accommodations for popular meetings, no culture.' Although we know all too well that 'national cul- libraries, open air theaters, or large shelters for cultural ture' is in fact pluricultural, multiethnic, and multilingual. events. In the cities and urban areas where libraries, theaters, Our language weaves the words of daily life with a and cultural centers exist, millions and millions of pesos are grammatical logic rooted in traditional ways and stemming spent to put on spectacles which have nothing to do with from ancient ancestral roots. However, we encounter serious our indigenous cultures, nor are they authentically Mexican. difficulties using our daily language when confronted with There is a serious lack of entertainment alternatives and new Spanish. cultural activities, and a great need for cultural and technical As Tseltal and Tzotzil peoples of the Chiapas Highlands, training, especially for young people as they are gradually we are the direct inheritants of the Maya culture which flour- losing their identity, traditional clothing, mother language, ished for thousands of years in what is now southeastern and cultures. Mexico and parts of Central America. All civil, military, and In the Highlands of Chiapas, 15 years ago we founded religious life of our culture is related to the stars, the passage Sna Jtz'ibajom, a group of Maya-Tseltal and Maya-Tzotzil of time, and the natural world, as well as the patron saints interested in preserving and promoting ancestral culture and deities of each present community. Today there is an through oral and written literature, puppet theater, live

44Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 theater based on histories, legends, and events of everyday life, radio programs in native languages, video, car- toons, native language soap operas, and audio cassettes

reflecting the knowledge and condition of our culture. ET. After publishing much literature, we realized that a crucial element was missing; Who would be able to read the books we were writing in our languages? Why should we publish in our mother language if there were no readers? Who could teach reading and writing and teach people to understand the narrations? In January, 1987, with the aid of our literary coordinator, Robert M. Laughlin, we founded the community school. This school offered a six month course and was

generally taught in the teachers' homes in Zinacantan, Adults as well as children learn at Sna ftzlbajorn. Chamula, and Tenejapa. As of December 1997, this school communities and regions. Many of them have found new has awarded diplomas to over 2,000 men, women, and jobs and opportunities." children now able to read and write in their mother tongue. The students commented "from the very first day that we Our writings and literature must be mirrors and torches, entered the classroom we were the means of opening new roads for our peoples. They FOR MORE INFO amazed to see that the Tzotzil should be the light of hope for a 'New Indian Life' or Nueva For more information on Sna Vida India. Through them we learn to open a new dialogue Jtz'ibajom, contact: Sna Jtz'ibajom, language is very extensive and A.P 4, San CristObal de las Casas, we felt good to be able to between our people and I believe we will continue to widen Chiapas, Mexico, this interchange, to unify our thoughts and our words, located at Calle Tonala write it and read it." 3-A, tel/fax: 52- 967 8 When the classes were always seeking the well-being and unity of all. Because our 3120. initially offered, the news that country is composed of many ethnic groups and different native language courses were languages, we are a society of many cultures. Thus, we available spread like wildfire among the communities. Some consider Spanish to be useful to us; it is necessary and were distrustful, thinking that once again it was some prose- important to learn it, to be able to share with, live among, lytizing religion, but when they realized there was no hidden and understand all of Mexican society agenda, they readily participated. One student commented: We seek, in conclusion, the establishment of the rights proposed in the Constitutional Reform outlined by the COCOPA, "We formed groups of one teacher and ten students among both youth and adults with whom we worked in the after- the Committee of Peace and Reconciliation (Comite de Concil- noons and weekends over a period of six months. The course iackin para la Paz), whose goal is to preserve and promote contained themes such as: the alphabet of our language, the our cultures. From sections VI and VII of Article Four of the relation between glottalized and non-glottalized words [the Constitutional Reform, we seek to "preserve and enrich their glottal stop serves to differentiate meanings and has a very languages, knowledge, and all of the elements which make important role in our languages]; also conjugations of transi- up their culture and identity; to acquire, operate, and tive and intransitive verbs which have very different forms; the formation of sentences and paragraphs, always respecting administer their own means of communication" and more the nature and form of expression in our language; and so on. specifically in education, which proposes "the federal, state, We all enjoyed ourselves during the courses. In this way, we and municipal educational authorities, in consultation with taught our people to read and write, until they were able to the indigenous peoples will define and develop educational write a story, legend, or describe a dream. In addition to programs with regional content, which recognize the cultural teaching reading and writing in our language, translating is taught because we have seen how necessary and important it patrimony [of the indigenous people]." is to facilitate the study of Spanish. Some of my students have won prizes in children's writing competitions with their own Antonio de la Torre Lopez is the President of Sna Jtz'ibajom, The House of creations in Tzotzil. Later, more children and adults asked the Writei; a cultural center of actors in Tzotzil, which groups actors and writers of when there will be another competition so they can partici- Zinacantan, Chamula, Tenejapa, and other municipalities of the Chiapas pate as well. I think our task is to help our people, because Highlands, all of them bilingual Maya speakers of Tseltal or Tzotzil. they want to learn to read and write their languages, to Bret Gustafson is Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at Harvard University. understand the writings of their fellow Maya and of other peoples, and why not? They could also be writers and teachers who share their knowledge and experience in their

Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 45 Who Can Make a Difference? Everybody Can! Sharing Information on Indigenous Educational Success- A Case Study from Australia

by Roberta Sykes

As recently as 15 years ago, combined politicaland was surprised when this activity became the means by which social conditions had ensured that not I eventually entered the academic world. one Australian Aboriginal gained a doctorate During my studies, I felt it was a shame that I would be C.) in any academic discipline. Until a referendum was passed the first and only black person to have this wonderful in 1967 that enabled a constitutional alteration erasing educational opportunity, that this opportunity was available their exclusion, Aborigines were not acknowledged as to me only outside my own country and that it would be a Australian citizens, had no access to mainstream social shame on me if I was the last. services, and had no enforceable right to vote or attend In the early 1970s, I had been one of the four founders public schools. For many decades, tens of of a Black Women's Action Group which had thousands of Aboriginal children were removed sprung from recognizing the need for a commu- from their parents and communities and I would be the first nity newspaper. During my absence, its kept isolated in institutions run by whites; the and only black activities lapsed, but since it already had some girls were groomed for domestic service, boys person to have this community recognition, it seemed a good for laborious work. The long silence about the wonderful vehicle to resurrect and tailor to meet new effects of this latter government policy has educational opportu- needs. The newspaper reached both Aboriginal only just been broken last year with the nity.. and that it and non-Aboriginal communities which was essential because through it, we would have .to publication of a report, Bringing Them Home, would be a shame on locate appropriate resources and match them to published by the Australian Human Rights me if I wasthe last. Commission. the needs of potential Aboriginal scholars. In this oppressive environment, it was diffi- As I alone had been so fortunate to have cult, indeed impossible, for Aborigines to imagine a future in had postgraduate experiences, I was morally obliged to fulfill which they would play a positive role. Since the early 1970s, a chain of Aboriginal successes and convey the possibility of Aborigines experienced some success with community-con- success to other Aborigines. Going 'one-out,' or without the trol of services such as Aboriginal medical and legal services support of an organization to back us as we seek the appro- however, these facilities were created to fend off immediate priate place to utilize our skills, we would be like sitting crises; they were not products of empirical research and pri- ducks and our effectiveness would be minimized. But a solid oritization. core of Aboriginal graduates providing support for each other could be a very different matter. Pinpointing a Need During summer breaks from school, I resumed work at In 1984, I returned home to Australia having gained my the New South Wales Health Department and sought out doctorate from Harvard University My presence at this uni- many of my old contacts. Educationally, we had major versity was a fluke; with little previous formal education, I problems. A very high proportion of the adult Aboriginal had been invited to apply to their Education School at post- population was illiterate and still burdened by the legacy of graduate level on the basis of my quite extensive publica- being excluded from schools in their youth. Although tions. Primarily a black community activist employed in the primary education was by this time compulsory, the area of health, over time I found that as a member of a negative attitudes of teachers, poverty-stricken living minority group numbering less than half a million, explain- conditions, and inherited trauma took a very high toll. By ing the interrelationship and complexities of our problems to the time Aboriginal students reached the secondary level the wider community of 18 million people was repetitious of their education, their attrition rate was the highest of any and tedious. Thus, I began to write and publish my insights group in the country. Only a handful of students made it and ideas so I would not have to continually repeat them. I into universities and there, few survived the vested interests 4 9 46Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 Mentoring and Reciprocity Although my doctoral studies are coming to an end, I can feel over- whelmed by the pride of having been accepted into Harvard Law School. There C") was one moment I can pinpoint when my life turned in this direction. It was a comment made to me by a woman I have admired for her work to our commu- Jake.- nity Roberta Sykes had said to me: "So, when are you going to apply to CI) Harvard?" She had encouraged me through all stages of the application and fund-raising processes and she has remained a valuable resource to me while I have been away from my family Roberta anticipated the tough emotional and intellectual struggles that I have faced while I have been here. My acceptance to Harvard, and the role Roberta played in that journey, is a lesson in the importance of mentoring in the education of Aboriginal children. Given the legacy of educational policies that denied Aboriginal children learning opportunities and directed them towards work as manual laborers, there are very few role models within the Aboriginal community (and still less of those success stories who actively support and encourage younger generations). I noticed how the lack of role models can impede the visions the Aboriginal children have about their future when I went to a careers day at a local high school. When asked what they wanted to do with their lives, I was surprised how many Aboriginal children replied that they wanted to be police- men. When I asked what the attraction to that profession was, a number replied: Larissa Behrendt with Roberta Sykes. "Because I'm interested in the law." When I asked why, then, not be a lawyer, I was met with the response "I never thought of that." With very few indigenous lawyers trained in Australia, there is little chance of meeting one. The improvement of indigenous education means ensuring that the aspirations of the indigenous communities remain highwhere they ought to be, not lowered by the oppression and discrimination of the past.

Larissa Behrendt is a SJD Student Harvard Law School

which maintained the assumed inferiority of Women's Action Group had renewed contacts Aboriginal intelligence. "That we had to with a few dozen potential supporters across the The federal government had instigated an encourage her to gocountry and when Norma received word of her Aboriginal Overseas Study Awards program with minimal acceptance into the Harvard Graduate School of which had funded several cultural students such resources was a Education, we prevailed upon all these members as dancers and numerous look-see-but do not measure of the for financial contributions to enable her to real- come back qualified' tours that lasted between six ize her aspirations. Aboriginal commu- weeks and six months. These tours enabled We were only partly successful in this Aborigines to look at projects such as alcohol nity's desperation fundraising venture and were forced to approach rehabilitation on Native American reservations and need for Australian Council of Churches-my major spon- and return to their communities with ideas, but qualified people." sor-to ask if they would underwrite Norma's without means to implement them. expenses to satisfy the school's requirements. This allowed Norma to travel to Boston with a Links in the Chain return ticket, a scant few thousand dollars, and a Norma Ingram, a founder of the immensely successful promise to send more as soon as we raised it. Murawina Pre-School, an inner-city project for disadvan- It is a tribute to the fortitude and determination of taged Aboriginal children, was at a crossroads in her life. Aboriginal people that Norma was prepared to undertake a Initially very apprehensive, Norma enrolled in a teacher's journey to the other side of the world with funds to cover training course in a determined effort to pick up study skills her expenses for only about six weeks and take on a course and practice academic writing. By this time, our Black of study which would last an academic year at a university

50 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 47 she had only recently potential students, all funds raised are for students' pursuit "Our ideas were 'overly Cil heard about. That we of their educational goals. Three years ago we instigated a ambitious' because 'where, had to encourage her fund-raising drive to establish a capital fund to finance stu- amongst the lazy to go with minimal dents on the interest earned, instead of having to undertake shiftless Aborigines, resources was a mea- fundraising frenzies whenever a student was lined up and would we find people sure of the Aboriginal ready to go. Although we have made steady progress towards who would persist and community's despera- this goal, we did not reach FOR MORE INFORMATION tion and need for qual- the halfway mark of be able to survive, For more information on the Black travel overseas, ified people. In 1985, AU$250,000 at the end Women's Action in Education Norma gained her of our last financial year. Foundation, contact BWAEF at PO. and knuckle down to Box 1784, Strawberry Hills, master's degree and In addition to students N.S.W 2012, Australia. work to form the links became our second the Foundation has spon- Phone/Fax 61-2-9699-1201. of our chain?" graduate. Following sored at Harvard, BWAEF hot on her heels, Mary has successfully assisted Ann Bin-Sallik, a others to develop ambitious educational aspirations, locate Coordinator, Counselor, and Lecturer at the Aboriginal Task funding sources, and prepare their applications and submis- Force at the South Australian Institute of Technology (SAlT) sion requirements. BWAEF has also facilitated or enabled in Adelaide, earned her master's degree in education in 1986 students to pursue their dreams through a variety of other and her doctorate in 1989. educational venues including Human Movement at the In 1990, we sought recognition of our charitable status University of Oregon; Media Communications studies at from the government to enable us to offer tax-deductions to Cambridge University in the UK; Arts at Alberta University; local sponsors for their financial contributions to projects, Music Presentation at the Berklee College of Music in and changed our name to Black Women's Action in Boston; as well as attendance at the 2nd International Education Foundation (BWAEF). Indigenous Youth Conference in Darwin; the 4th When we first considered the idea of funding Aboriginal International Indigenous Youth Conference in Sweden; and students to go to Harvard, we were met with strong opposi- the International Confederation of Midwives 23rd Triennial tion. 'Aborigines,' we were told, 'weren't ready' Supposedly, Congress in Canada. We try to organize major functions to our ideas were 'overly ambitious' because generate publicity about our successful 'where, amongst the lazy shiftless students upon their return to create simi- Aborigines, would we find people who BWAEF is considered lar desires within potential Aboriginal would persist and be able to survive, travel an educational foundation, scholars, as well as to raise public aware- overseas, and knuckle down to work to it also plays a larger role ness and funds. form the links of our chain?' We used the in the survival of Because BWAEF is flexible, we have been able to respond rapidly to cries of our critics to develop a policy We Aboriginal culture in continue to sponsor only what is considered various other crises and opportunities. Australia. 'over-ambitious' projects. Aspirants must For example, Aboriginal students abroad produce evidence to show that they have have learned of the death of an immediate applied for and been refused funding from all other possible family member requiring them to fly home for the burial sources and wherever possible, they must become involved ceremony Although these personal catastrophes are often in BWAEF's fundraising for their own project. On their covered by insurance, they require that the person first return, they are expected to act as a mentor and raise funds spend the money for the return trip before making a that enable others to have their chance. Initially, the strident claim on the company to recover the cost, which of course, criticism of our ideas helped generate fervor amongst our poor students are not in any position to do. In these supporters however, over time the Foundation's success has cases, BWAEF is able to advance compassionate loans in taken over that role. emergencies. Our Foundation has no office or staff, operates on a vol- Making a Difference untary capacity and without government funds. After costs are deducted for producing and mailing our newsletters, Although BWAEF is considered an educational (four or five each year) which keep members and sponsors foundation, it also plays a larger role in the survival of informed of the needs and progress of our students and Aboriginal culture in Australia. Eddie (Koiki) Mabo was

48Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 responsible for the land-mark Australian High Court the bottom of their purses and wallets and presto, like a decision negating the myth of terra nullius, thus enabling miracle, we share another major achievement! Aboriginal people across the nation to make file land claims A few years ago, the government abandoned its under residual Native Title. The name 'Mabo' has become Aboriginal Overseas Study Awards Program that enabled a C") synonymous with this particular court decision. When few (10) Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders per year to BWAEF learned that the welfare of Bonita Mabo, the widow study overseas. Currently, BWAEF finds itself virtually the of Eddie Mabo had been overlooked, the organization only funding source specifically for Aboriginal students, vast- stepped in and set up a national speaking tour for Mrs. ly increasing the number of Aboriginal people who approach Mabo, enabling the public to hear of the man behind the us for assistance. Also, because of more budget cuts for landmark case from the one person who had spent her Aboriginal students at domestic institutions, more students whole adult life walking beside him. Funds raised by the are turning to us in desperation. In response, BWAEF has tour were used to erect a tombstone over this hero's resting been forced to tighten its system of priorities, but continues place which was despicably defaced by racists the same to aim for the greatest degree of flexibility by maintaining a night-much to the nation's shame. needs-based process based on the criteria we most admire: It is however, through education that BWAEF has embracing the impossible aspiration and having the guts to the most influence. Recognition that BWAEF sent top pursue a dream. Aboriginal students overseas to study at prestigious universities galvanized some Australian institutions to Roberta Sykes is an author and educator In 1984 she was awarded the highest look at their own human rights award, the Australian Human Rights Medal, for her life's work. recruitment methods Further information about most Members of BWAEF Executive can be found in her Yet, when we send publication, Murawina: Australian Women of High Achievement (Smith & the word out that another and the inappropri- Taylor). Her latest work, Snake Cradle, thefirst part of her autobiographical trilo- gy, Snake Dreaming, won Best Non-fiction and Book of the Year 1997 from The potential Aboriginal ateness of some of their courses. Over Age (Melbourne, Victoria), an excerpt of which can be found on the Internet at success is waiting in www.theage.con.au. the next few years, the wings, devoid of this new interest funding that will give manifested itself in them the opportunity, the graduation of a

everyone scrapes handful of . the bottom of their purses and Aborigines at post- wallets and presto... graduate level, as we share another well as the belated major achievement! bestowal of honorary doctorates on a few Aborigines whose life work and major public contribution had long gone unacknowledged. Also, BWAEF's graduates spread into areas where they exert their personal influence, where they stand tall as models of excellence, and their ability to articulate com-munities' needs and wishes commands respect. The superb scholastic efforts undertaken by Aborigines through BWAEF programs are only half of the equation. Contributors and supporters that enable Aboriginal success constitute the other half. BWAEF has never had more than 500 members at any given time and many of its supporters are themselves pensioners and poor people whose contribution to projects never exceeds five dollars. Yet, when we send the word out that another potential Aboriginal success is waiting in the wings, devoid of funding that will give them the opportunity, everyone scrapes

2 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 49' Maya Education and Pan Maya Ideology in the Yucatan

by Allan Burns

Bilingual and indigenous education in Mexico is often The University of Yucatan's immediate response under described as it affects primary schools and children. In the direction of Dean, Silvia Peck Campo, was to initiate a 1995, indigenous teachers petitioned the University of strong curriculum in bilingual education with special the Yucatan to provide courses in bilingual pedagogy and in emphasis on continuing education training for teachers Maya culture. By doing this, they transformed their tradi- working in the state. I taught one of these courses to a group tional roles from apologists for the state and agents of assimi- of 24 primary and secondary teachers using Maya as the lan- lation to activists of Maya identity Newspapers and other guage of instruction. The teachers were all native Mayan media quickly moved to publicize these demands. Like the speakers and part of a group of oVer 450 bilingual-bicultural Zapatistas in Chiapas, the teachers found the press and teachers working in the state of Yucatan. According to the other media willing National Institute of to give ample State Geography space to discussing and Information indigenous (INEGI), 44% of the education. Political population in and cultural Yucatan speak confidence have Maya, whereas been strengthened 5 39.1% of the popu- as school teachers lation in Oaxaca are able to talk to speak indigenous children about languages, and other Maya 26.4% of the popu- people living in lation in Chiapas are Mexico and non-Spanish speak- Guatemala. ers. Outside of the The Maya city of Mdrida, Maya demanded a new is spoken by over 90% of the popula- curriculum with a Indigenous Maya school teachers at the Autonomous University of the Yucatan. series of courses on tion and is generally linguistics at the heart. In 1996, representatives of 13 munic- accepted in everyday discourse. ipalities in the Yucatec-speaking zone came together and The preservation of the Mayan language in the Yucatan demanded the legalization of the Maya language in all gov- to date owes much to the Caste War uprising from 1850 ernment institutions, obligatory Maya education, and the through the early 1900s, an uprising that successfully used .creation of a teacher education school completely Maya. Mayan as a political language for the independent Maya Bartolome Cime Dzib stated: nation for 50 years. On the 150th anniversary of the Caste "We are the descendants of a great culture and we have no War, descendants of the original combatants wrote to the reason to feel shame when they say we are indigenous. On scholarly community celebrating the event. the contrary, we propose the formation of universities where "The official history hides the true historic events of the the students can study the language and culture of the Caste War and has hidden the valiant nature of our people. Maya...We demand that secondary and higher education be In addition, a particular vision has been put into history bilingual so that there would be a continuation of bilingual books according to the interests of those who would talk of education through all levels. An indigenous school is urgent- the Caste War in romantic terms, writing, for example, that ly needed because bilingual education requires teachers with the Maya could not win the war because they had to plant a solid professional education." their milpas, that General Bravo captured the town of Santa

5 50 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Cruz when there actually was never a battle, and to minimize courses into books. That book, Ejercicios Fundamentales de the importance of the town by calling it 'little Santa Cruz' Gramatica Maya was discussed by one of the authors in an instead of 'The Great Town of Santa Cruz of the Jaguar House.- interview to the press: Centro de Cultural Maya Maakan Xook, "The Maya language, especially of the-present day Maya of C15 27 July 1997, (author's translation). Yucatan, exists as a form of resistance to colonialism that continues today The Maya language is a living cultural element Bilingual-bicultural education became official in 1955 in use. This is why it is difficult to talk of the extinction of the Cr) when the DirecciOn General de EducaciOn Indigena was cre- language as some linguists have falsely predicted." ated within the Public Education Secretariat (SEP). Because These books in Maya are an important feature of Pan this program was designed in Mexico City, far from villages Maya ideology in the Yucatan in the same way that local in the Maya zone, it failed indigenous children. Through the publishing of Mayan pedagogical and literary texts character- 1980s, only about 20% of Maya children in the bilingual ize Pan Maya ideology in Guatemala and Chiapas as well as schools finished elementary school whereas 50% of students Yucatan. Books and writing are visible symbols of modern in the non-bilingual schools finished their schooling accord- nations therefore, the teachers' interest in publishing is part ing to linguists Barbara Pfeiler and Anne Franks. Still, the of the development of Maya nationalism. critical mass of those who speak Mayan in different social One of the first linguistic features of Mayan that the class and cultural contexts has made Mayan an accepted part class remarked on was that the classes themselves were like of education in the Yucatan. Assimilation and a move `Maya assemblies' when members of the community gather towards learning Spanish has always been the official, as well to discuss and resolve conflicts. At these assemblies, every- as the popular goal of bilingual programs in Yucatan, but one talks at once and consensus is obtained through a this goal has come under attack because of ideological respect for giving everyone a chance to talk. The class meet- changes in education in Mexico, autonomous movements of ings were loud, multi-vocalic to an extreme, and quite differ- indigenous people throughout the Americas, the Zapatista ent from the ordered world of a Western classroom. The par- uprising, and Pan Maya ideology ticipants felt a linguistic ease that was important because it Three issues arose during the Mayan linguistics course, allowed for open discussions of Maya symbols, as well as issues that are central to understanding how indigenous edu- allowed for ideological conflicts to be voiced. cation interacts with Pan Maya identity One was the impor- One of the symbols the teachers wanted to use was the tance of locally developed Maya literature; the second was Maya 260 day calendar. This was ironic because that calen- the set of symbols teachers use to define Maya culture; and dar has been out of use in Yucatan for the past several cen- the third was a conflict over a Maya culture as a uniform or turies. One teacher brOught in a page from an anthropology plural system in the Yucatan. These issues were embedded book which listed the calendar names in Yucatec Maya. not just in the content of the course, but also in the way it Another brought in a hand-painted picture he made with was taught. The teachers wanted a course taught in the symbols of the Maya day names. The reincorporation of the Mayan language rather than in Spanish to promote Mayan as Maya calendar as an authentic artifact shows how Pan Maya a language of scholarship. perspectives are becoming part of indigenous education in dya pcupic have cllWayJ ttau a strong literary LiauLLtvii the Yvicatan. The c,alen,lar cnnt,-1-np,,rry lbr ppoplp and began writing in Spanish after the Maya glyph system with the civilizations of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica and was abandoned during the colonial era. Literature from the Guatemalan Maya who still use the calendar today colonial period is still available in the Yucatan and many The university class provoked a process of conscious small towns have official scribes or aj-ts'iibo who recopy reflection upon what makes up Maya culture. This conscious prayers, incantations, and other literature in Maya for local reflection was prone to either an orthodox position, that use. The Caste War of the last century was also a war of there is one Maya culture, or a heterodox position, that there words as the Maya Speaking Cross wrote strategies on paper, are many Maya cultures, in the Yucatan. Maya sociolinguistic as well as gave verbal pronouncements. strategies suggest that the heterodox model is most appropri- When the school teachers began their new classes at the ate since the sifting of competing voices seems to categorize University, the first thing they did was to develop written so much of Maya discourse. In the classroom, however, materials in Maya and Spanish. The class I taught created a teachers were quick to assume orthodox positions. One 60 page book written almost entirely in Maya: To Converse in example of this was seen in discussions about the writing Maya and How to Work With Conversations or Bix u tsihbal ich system. In 1984, Yucatan adopted a standardized Spanish Maya ecum yetel bix u meya yetel. An earlier course in this writing system for Maya. The system was created by linguists same series began the tradition of writing up the graduate and includes replacing the colonial 'h' with the modern

5 I Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 51 came away from the class with a new understanding of how strong the Maya language is and how its use creates enthusiasm in education. The classes on Maya linguistics and culture taught at the University of the Yucatan over the past several years offer a window into the process of indigenous education among the Maya of Yucatan, especially as it becomes part of a larger Pan Maya ideology in Mexico, Guatemala, and the United States.

Allan Burns, an applied anthropologist from the University of Florida, is fluent in Spanish and Yucatec ,1P Maya. He has worked with the Autonomous University of the Yucatan for the past 15 years in their anthropology program, as well as international exchange office. His interest in Maya education includes working with Guatemalan refugees in the U.S. and with indigenous filmmakers and photographers in Chiapas. This article is based on work he does with Maya Children in the towns and villages of the Yucatan are fluent in both Maya and Spanish speaking elementary school teachers in Yucatan. Spanish and simplifying glottalized consonants to a more phonetic form. While these orthographic conventions lesson References

written ambiguity, they are at odds with the older colonial Alonzo Caamal, Bartolome. Algunas consideraciones teOricas para una edu- spelling of place names and surnames that pervade the caciOn indigena en Yucatan. Ponencia presentada en el V Encuentro de Yucatec cultural and geographic landscape, as almost all Cultural Maya. Izamal, Yucatan, 26 septiembre de 1986. towns in Yucatan retain their Maya names. Many of the Anderson, Benedict. 1991. The Imagined Community. London: Verso. teachers felt strongly that the standardized writing system Burns, Allan E 1996. Siempre Maya: Identidad Cultural en El Mundo was important for literacy and cultural stability, while others Yucateco de Ciudades y Turistas. Revista de la Universidad Autanoma de Yucatan. 11(197): 29-37. argued that the orthography adopted by the state put parents . 1995. Una Epoca de los Milagros: La Literatura Oral del Maya and their children at odds regarding how to spell their own Yucateco. Merida, Yucatan, Mexico: Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan. names and the names of their towns. Gfiemez Pineda, Migeul. 1994. Situacion Actual de la Lengua Maya en Yucatan. A second area where the difference between orthodox Un Enfoque Demografico. l'inaj 8: 3-14. and heterodox positions was clearly marked involved gender Gomez, Alba Guzman. 1992. Voces indigenous hablan de la educaciOn bilingue- roles in the Yucatan, especially as these roles related to well- bicultural de Mexico. Mexico, D.F.: ColecciOn Presencias, INI-CANACULTA. known identity rituals like the rain ceremony or ch'achah. INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografica e Informatica). 1994. When one of the women teachers mentioned that women do Estadisticas del Medio Ambiente. Mexico: INEGI. participate in the ch'achak ceremonies, she was told that that Ligorred Perramon, Francesc. "La literatura maya de Yucatan en el ultimo hatün del siglo XX: de la rnarginaciOn a la imaginaciOn". Societe suisse des was an aberration and the real Maya ch'achak ceremonies were Americanistes. Buletin 59-60. 1995-96, pp. 139-146. only performed by men. What was interesting in terms of indige- Padilla, Sotela, Lilia. Et al. 1986. Analisis de algunas caracteristicas educativas de nous education was the assumption that authority for ritual la poblaciOn hablante de lenguas indigenas en la peninsula de Yucatan. behavior was becoming more and more defined as a male Mexico, D.F.: Memorias del primer coloquio internacional de mayistas. sphere of activity, but not without strong argument from women. Pfeiler, Barbara and Anne Franks. 1992. Bilingual Education: Preserving the The introduction of conscious cultural models like Pan Mayan Language. Quebec: Proceedings of the XVth International Congress of Linguists. Maya ideology into indigenous education in the Yucatan occurs Quintal Johnny Oliver Por Est& 7 July 1996. p. 13. in very specific occasions such as these classes. By conducting Reed, Nelson. 1964. The Caste War of Yucatan. Chicago: University of Chicago the class in Maya, they were able to move the language from Press. an object of study to the language of educational discourse. Sam Colop, Enrique. 1996. "The Discourse of Concealment and 1992." In Fischer, This was especially important for some of the less outgoing Edward F and R. McKenna Brown. Maya Cultural Activism in Guatemala. teachers who were not as skilled in Spanish as others. Maya Austin: University of Texas Press. as the language of instruction meant that they often had the Sturm, Circe. 1996. "Old Writing and New Messages: The Role of Hieroglyphic upper hand over their more urban counterparts who were more Literacy in Maya Cultural Activism." In Fischer Edward F and R. McKenna Brown. Maya Cultural Activism in Guatemala. Austin: University of Texas used to carrying on pedagogical discussions in English. I, too, Press.

52Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Indigenous Legal Translators Challenges of a University Program for the Maya of Guatemala

by Guillermina Herrera Pena translated by Nicole Thornton

since 1995, Rafael Landivar University of Guatemala has ethnic being and allows students to appreciate, recognize, offered a program for the professional training of and grow from that which is different. Strengthening indigenous legal translators to work in the courts democratic process in these times of change in Guatemala, within a project for the qualitative improvement of the the importance of the indigenous Intelligentsia' will without justice system in Guatemala. The University program places a doubt, shape the future nature of the Guatemalan state and CI emphasis not only on the legal and linguistic aspects of the nation. curriculum, but on strengthening identity and students' In the same manner, indigenous languages in these Cin commitment to their community A vitally important compo- programs are not merely objects of study, but also vehicles nent of the program that transcends well beyond teaching is for transmitting knowledge and instruments of communica- the preparation of written judicial terminology and material tion that have renewed importance and timeliness. in Maya and Spanish, and bilingual clinics in civil, penal, Obviously, this focus is congruent with the growing indige- labor, and constitutional laws. Also of major relevance is the nous movement of post-war Guatemala that justifies the creation of public law offices where students come to strengthening of ethnicity, leaves ample space for the devel- understand legal practices within a cultural context serving opment of theories and policies of pluralism, and promotes the monolingual Maya-speaking population or those popula- and respects diversity and reconciliation. tions where Maya-Spanish bilingualism is limited. At present, the program operates on the two University Context campuses in areas populated mostly by Mayas. But in 1998, Not very long ago, it was believed that the development it will expand to the central campus, situated in Guatemala of the country and the strengthening of national unity would City Likewise, the number of Mayan languages served will expand from five to eight and the number of scholarship ganjob'al Poqomchi' Q'eqchi' Mopan students will increase from 300 to 370. Mexico Uspantenko Correcting Past Mistakes Belize It is important to remember that Indians attending university in Guatemala is not a novelty, nor is it a novel- Akateko Belmopan ty that they teach Mayan languages in university class- I Popti' Flores rooms. From the first periods in the colonial era, there Awakateko were indigenous people studying at the university level and during the 16th century, there were subjects and professorships in Mayan languages. Nevertheless, the Castellano Lago de focus was always to assimilate indigenous participants Coban Izabal G Puerto through university education. Indians that left univer- Mktiteko Barrios

ityclassrooms generally renounced their culture and 1 Hoe Sipakapense language, and became ladinized.' However, university Ch'orti' programs such as the one described here endeavor to Sakapulteko s1form indigenous leaders strengthened in their identi- Kiche' ty, and inform and train them to serve their commu- Teutujil Mazatenango nities. They are open to the outside world, prepared Poqomam to interact in a positive manner, and respectful and 1 Kaqchikel San Salvador creative with others both in and outside their own ' Pacific ci El culture. This university program emphasizes the Ocean Salvador reconciliation and revaluation with their own Map: Ministry of Education, Guatemala

Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 53 demand the cultural and linguistic uniformity of all Guatemalans. translating the K'ichee' word for `grandfather,' the plaintiff Further, it was believed that national unity would come to interpreted this ashen' due to subtle differences between pass with the promotion of a `national culture' in the Western the K'ichee' dialects. Therefore, when the plaintiff was asked tradition and the assimilation of indigenous languages into if the defendant had killed her 'grandfather; this was under- Spanish. With periods of greater or lesser following, this idea stood as her `hen' and obviously her response was negative. has been embodied in state actions of all types-from education- The results of this judgment were in favor of the defendant al and cultural to welfare and judicial services in Guatemala. and even though the case has been appealed, the plaintiffs' The situation of Guatemalan Indians greatly compounds experience was deplorable. In addition, many interpretation the suffering caused by these state actions, especially in the problems that occurred in this trial surpassed the linguistic judicial systems. The fact that 23 languages are spoken in a question and may have required a cultural expert to con- territory of 108,800 sq. kilometers, high rates of indigenous tribute information to the tribunal. monolingualism, insufficient knowledge of Spanish, extreme Rafael Landivar University is a Guatemalan institution of poverty almost across the board, and a lack of educational higher education and was founded in 1961. Almost from its serviceseven in rudimentary literacymaintain the indige- inception it has developed programs to promote the indigenous population in a state of extreme vulnerability This vul- nous population. It has also worked to approach justice from nerability is combined with a justice system that has ignored research on indigenous communities' customary laws, protect the multilingual and multicultural reality of the society to communities through the public law offices, and teach or instruct which it is due, is determined to make Spanish its exclusive through legal translators. In reality, this project emerged in vehicle of communication, uses the Hispanic and Western 1987, in el Programa del Desarrollo Integral de la PoblaciOn cultural tradition as its only parameter of judgment, and Maya or the Program for the Integral Development of the establishes that ignorance of the law is not an excuse for the Maya Population, (PRODIPMA), financed by USAID. Thanks lack of enforcement. With the promulgation of the new to this program, approximately 300 Maya have graduated penal code and.the Accord on the Rights and Identity of from the University In the initial stages, the career was offi- Indigenous Peoples (one of the Peace Accords signed cially labeled 'legal interpreter.' Unfortunately, it was not suc- between the Government of Guatemala and the Guatemalan cessful because the Guatemalan judicial system did not include National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) in 1995) in 1992, the legal translators in the judicial process. After the promulga- legal translator is seen as a necessary and an increasingly tion of the penal code which explicitly opens the door to the invaluable support for the administration of a justice system legal translator, the University reopened its academic program. more congruent with the indigenous reality The Program To guarantee the significance and contribution of the The curriculum is formed by content typical of the legal legal translator in the improvement of how justice is granted, career, content that permits students to familiarize them- it becomes indispensable to prepare him/her appropriately selves with the discipline; formative content with special Perhaps it is worthwhile to remember, in the manner of emphasis on ethical and cultural issues; and linguistic illustration and reinforcement, the well-known case of the content that concentrates on the knowledge of both oral and ex-military commissioner Candido Noriega. The people of written practices of the two languagesMaya and Spanish. Tuluché, a small village of the Department of Quiche were Furthermore, the translators' career demands that students dramatically hit by the recently ended armed conflict and do practical work in the public law offices like providing spent many months at the tribunals bringing serious accusa- translation services to Maya-speakers or those with limited tions against Setior Noriega. These accusations concerned Spanish, counseling and advising indigenous peoples to crimes that were constantly in violation of the community's resolve their legal issues, in short, services they require as human rights. Violations included murdering innocent peo- support for legal procedures. Outside the public law offices, ple, raping women, stealing, abusing his power, and carrying students also gain experience in the courts, municipalities, out innumerable other misdemeanors during the tragic years and offices of the State. The students' involvement in the of armed conflict. This case that was well-covered by the program is quite extensive as the University does not want national and international press shows the Indians' level of them to simply acquire knowledge, but rather strengthen vulnerability as they confront tribunals and clearly illustrates their leadership through an active learning experience. With the necessity of and their reliance on suitably prepared translators. this end, students also participate in the preparation and val- In the above-mentioned case, neither the judge nor the idation of educational materials. tribunal spoke Kichee,' the language spoken by the indige- The program is presently offered on two campuses of nous women plaintiffs. Although there was a translator, his the Rafael Landivar University: La Verapaz in the capitol city incompetence was such that he could not distinguish of Cobjn, and Quetzaltenango, two areas largely populated between dialects of K'ichee.' In one particular case, when 5 7 54 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Advanced Maya Studies at Rafael Landivar University by Jorge Manuel Raymundo translated by Nicole Thornton

Before studying for my bachelors in linguistics, I studied at Rafael Landivar Universityin Guatemala to design and write educational materials for rural areas. I was always supported with scholarships because economically I couldnot support myself and still attend University In 1991, I started linguistics and finished in 1993. I never thought I would be able to enter a linguistics career because thousands and thousands of indigenous students like myselfwanted to study at a university, but we did not have the opportunity. While not many disciplines offered by the University are directed toward the Maya population, Rafael Landivar University has more opportunities than all the other universities in Guatemala combined. It offers differentcareers and tends to sensitize students to the reality of the country-towardsan intercultural coexistence. This way, we come to understand the different cultures that exist in Guatemala. My first experience in the University as a professional was in 1977-78 as a member of the technicalteam for the Training Center for.Social Workers, but because of the violence during that time, I dedicated myselfto teaching middle-level indigenous students. I then attended the Universityas a graduate student of linguistics. Currently, I am a Professor of Linguistics in the undergraduate linguistics program, writer, coordinator of projects, thesis advisor,and (very recently) researcher in the Institute of Linguistics. From my experience, I believe that this university is the only one that truly respondsto the demands and desires of indigenous students. The content and curriculum in general has changed its focus in the last fewyears. Every year there are more courses and greater content within courses dealing with the diverse cultures of Guatemala,particularly the Maya culture. Mayan language courses that were optional or electives,now form part of the curriculum in some professions and are formal, required courses. This is the first step in the demands of indigenous peoplesin Guatemala and we place our hope and expectations in this University and not inany other. There continue to be more indigenous professors in different careerson the central campus as well as campuses in regional capitals. There are still few indigenous people who belongto the Board of Directors of the University, but the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and a member of the Finance Office are indigenous-astart. We will struggle to gain more representation in the future. I have participated in the legal translator program up until this year. I also involved myself in this field bypartici- pating as a consultant in a training program for translators and interpreters that MINAGUA (UN Missionto Ensure Guatemalan Human Rights) carried out in Quetzaltenango during 1996 and 1997. While I didnot have much exposure to human rights issues at the university level, my interest in Guatemalan human rights grew and I began researching and contacting people in this field. With lawyers and scholars, I designeda training plan for interpreters. International agencies and judicial institutions will continue the project and the staff's training. AlthoughI left the project to work at the University, I am always in contact with my colleagues and participate in other projects and training for specific trials. In general I believe that the Maya population is very interested in participating in theseprograms even though there is skepticism about judtcial systems and processes and fear that customary laws and elders' authority in eachcommu- nity will be undermined. I believe that we are starting to discuss and analyzeour judicial systems in order to design new paths and forms of complying with the state systems without abandoning our own. A new educationalprogram dedicated to indigenous professionals is being initiated through EDUMAYA,a program financed by USAID. This program has revealed a great interest in bilingual, intercultural education and will establish various teaching opportunities, careers, and faculty positions in this study at the undergraduate level. I believe that thesenew programs and careers should be evaluated, improved, and intensify in the study of Maya languages and culture in order to support the academic and judicial education that students receive. We need to avoid educating abogaditosor corrupt pseudo- lawyers that take advantage and exploit their fellow citizens through their experience and education.Sensitizing students to their own language and culture will help their people resolve their legal problems. Rafael Landivar University has contributed to the academics, research, and social planning of indigenouscommuni- ties in Guatemala. In conjunction with the Political Constitution of the Republic in 1985, Rafael Landivar University became a pioneer when it was the first to discuss and publish reports concerning the multicultural, plurilingual, and multiethnic nature of the state. As indigenous people, we would like tosee the University continue to be more involved with us. It has made progress in the equality and respect for the different cultures thatexist in Guatemala and we hope that it continues on this path and accompaniesus in constructing a multi- and intercultural Guatemala.

Jorge Manuel Raymundo is Q'antolfal Maya and a professor; writer, and researcher at the Institute of Linguistics, Rafael LandivarUniversity Guatemala

58 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 55 by Mayas. In La Verapaz, the program is offered in Spanish another difficulty cn and three Mayan languages: Achi,' Q'eqchi,' and Poqomchi.' Many Mayan lan- "The legal translator profes- In las Facultades de Quetzaltenango, the program is offered guages are still in the sion in our region is a very in Spanish and two Mayan languages: K'ichee' and Mam. initial phases of estab- esteemed profession, given that The methodology utilized by the University is character- lishing written stan- professionals that graduate ized as `semi-residential,' the students come together on dards to serve as a assume a very important role campus Friday afternoons and Saturdays in order to meet means of communica- in a society where people are with their professors. During the rest of the week, they study tion accepted and marginalized, exploited, and in their communities with materials specifically prepared for used by the entire lin- discriminated against due to that community Towards the end of the program, they work guistic community their ignorance of their own a certain number of cases in the public law offices and other This difficulty added rights. Our work as translators centers of legal practice. to the proliferation of will be to defend our dialects has seriously indigenous brothers and sisters Support of the Program: Scholarships and Materials complicated the that have suffered most." The students of the program are Maya Indians coming development of the -Alma Quib Cu, Q'eqchi' Maya student, from the above-mentioned communitiesK'ichee,' Mam, required written 5th semester of study, La Verapaz Achi,' Q'eqchi,' and Poqomchi. Their economic situation is materials for the extremely precarious. Many travel to the University campus translator's education. from remote communities, traveling terrible roads and The Future spending the night in the city because they cannot return The need to enlarge the program is obvious and the home until the following day This situation has obligated University is planning to open it soon in the Guatemala City the University to find financing to support them. Presently, camPus for at least three more Mayan languages: Kaqchikel, 300 students receive scholarships through MISEREOR, a Tz'utujil, and Poqomam, and also for Garifuna, a language Catholic German organization, that finances not only their spoken by the black caribs that inhabit the Atlantic coast of studies, but also supports the students with books, materials, Guatemala. The number of students who receive scholarships and per diem expenses. will increase with funds from USAID in the framework of The program has also had to prepare educational materials, EDUMAYA, an ambitious University program that proposes to legal terminologies, and university texts in those Mayan lan- graduate approximately 500 indigenous professionals by 2001. guages that it serviceslanguages in which such legal materials To extend the program to new languages also means to were almost non-existent. Today thanks to the program, bilin- extend the production of materials. Such materials, primordially gual legal terminologies have been prepared, an extremely com- used for the preparation of the students, can also extend their plex job in itself that has required multiple local consultants. scope and influence to the State courts and offices situated in Problems and Challenges those linguistic communities served, thus benefiting more The program has encountered a few problems that have indigenous communities of Guatemala. On the other hand, affected its development. There are few teachers fluent in Mayan the University knows that in order to support the qualitative languages and knowledgeable of the current Maya culture. It is improvement of the judicial system for the indigenous world important to point out that there is no tradition in University of Guatemala, it is not enough to prepare legal translators. institutions for training translators and even less in the develop- This presents the challenge of linguistically preparing the ment of university courses in Mayan languages, especially when judges and personnel of the community courts, preparing linked to legal issues. In Coban, where the Mayan languages and bilingual lawyers and notaries, and tackling cultural issues especially Q'eqchi', maintain a certain prestige, it has been less by training cultural experts. Also, we must continue to study difficult to find teachers prepared for the program, but the indigenous customary laws. The challenge is to make the pro- difficulty has grown when looking for teachers of other gram and University serve the society from which it comes. languages. Guillermina Herrera Pena is a Guatemalan linguist. Since 1976, she has been study- Secondly, their education base in many cases, is not ing Mayan languages, working in bilingual intercultural education for indigenous people, and in language planning. She is now a member of the Commission for Official Recognition strong enough to support rigorous university studies. The of Indigenous Languages recently set up for implementation of the Peace Accords. Guatemalan educational system has many qualitative deficiencies which are accentuated in the interior of the coun- Nicole Thornton is the Education Coordinator at Cultural Survival and is a try. The students in the program mainly come from state Guest Editor for this issue. schools whose academic level is markedly lower. Finally, the lack a standard Mayan language presents 59

56 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 What Exactly Is It That You Teach? Developing an Indigenous Education Program at the University Level

by Deirdre A. Almeida

CC hat exactly is it that you teach?" I have been education was the compelling and necessary area of study responding to this question for the past four and research of the future. years of my appointment as a faculty member in the School of Education at the University of Developing and Implementing a Massachusetts. The tone of this question implies that what Specialization in Indigenous Education I teach is odd and marginal. The question primarily comes In the spring of 1993, I was invited to join the faculty from my European American colleagues and is consistently of the School of Education at the University of accompanied by blank stares or doubting scowls. It has Massachusetts; the research I had been asked to develop was even been insinuated that indigenous education is some- Native American education. I set out to develop three major thing I have fabricated and is an invalid focus of study graduate courses for students wishing to specialize in and research. indigenous education: an introductory/theory course, a course examining the educational and social Why Indigenous Education? issues of indigenous communities, and a As a Native American educator from the "It is important curriculum development and reform course. Lenni Lenape and Shawnee nations, I have Pr students to move from I felt that these three courses would provide had various professional responsibilities: being passive inactive students with a sound foundation in indige- Social Studies teacher at a tribal controlled learners, to proactive; nous education. Through other courses alternative school, Director of Education for not only are they within the School of Education and other a Native American foster child care project, University departments, students could educators, but also Educational Program Specialist for the enhance their individual focus of study The United States Department of Education- activists." courses were designed keeping in mind the Office of Indian Education, Native American academic and professional needs of both Undergraduate Admissions Recruiter, and indigenous and non-indigenous educators. It currently Assistant Professor of Education. Prior to the is importantfor students to move from being passive inactive summer of 1987, my focus of study was limited to the learners, to proactive; not only are they educators, but also indigenous peoples of North America, primarily the United activists. The importance of critical thinking by both States. In June 1987, I had the honor of attending the first teachers and students is crucial. World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education at the Academia does not always encourage critical thinking as University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The work- students are expected to sit quietly while teachers instill shops, lectures, cultural presentations, and informal knowledge. Only questions which the teacher deems accept- conversations with delegates from around the world able may be asked; opposing perspectives are not always contributed to my own formulation of the role education has appreciated or allowed by teachers. This style of education played in the suppression of indigenous peoples. allows for only one point of view to be expressed and limits Attending the first World Indigenous Peoples' the student's knowledge and thinking. Critical thinking Conference on Education was a meaningful professional must be encouraged and allowed to take place within the experience; it was during this conference that I came to classroom. In addition, issues have to fully be presented realize the need to be even more global in my research and and discussed. This can only be accomplished if teachers teaching. Not only was it important to focus on the educa- are made to understand the importance of such teaching tion of Native Americans in the United States, but I also had methods. to be inclusive of indigenous nations from around the world. The introductory course, simply entitled 'Indigenous I realized our common educational needs were linked to our Education' establishes the fundamental holistic theory and common cultural traditions and political struggles for self- begins to encourage critical thinking skills. This course determination. I came to understand that indigenous focuses on how indigenous peoples must be allowed to

6 Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 57 provides the opportunity to reflect on their own educational educate themselves. "...but through Further, this course allows experiences, what they learned, and how they were taught students to select specific weekly assignments about indigenous peoples. Many openly discuss how within indigenous peoples on and class discussions, their own country's school curriculums, the inclusion of which to center their the relationship their indigenous culture and history does not exist. For research over the entire between indigenous example, as a student from South Africa shared, "I have semester. Indigenous issues and come to realize that in order to learn about my own history students often take this educational reform and cultural oppression I had to leave my homeland, where opportunity to conduct it [Zulu culture] was not valued and excluded from our is established." research relevant to their schools." Native American students informed University own communities. Others, administrators and faculty that offering courses and research particularly non-indige- in indigenous education influenced their decisions to attend nous students, use the course to learn about an indigenous and stay at the University of Massachusetts. It is extremely group of individual interest. Because the entire class does not important for indigenous students to have academic research the same group of indigenous peoples, there is a programs which are relevant to their individual professional variety of groups being researched and discussed. growth and responsive to their cultural priorities available to The research topics may not seem to be relevant to them. It must be recognized that for many indigenous education at first, but through weekly assignments and class students, the completion of their graduate studies is strongly discussions, the relationship between indigenous issues and linked to the survival of their own communities. educational reform is established. Topics range from examin- Closing ing the role of oral traditions in the education of indigenous students, education as a tool of colonization, and the Indigenous education is a vital area of study and exploitation and appropriation of indigenous intellectual research within education. Indigenous educators must be property rights, to indigenous control and development of provided course selections their own educational system and networking between and research training to ...for many indigenous and non-indigenous educators. The course specialize in educational indigenous students, assignments which have the most impact on the students reform and leadership during their graduate careers in order the completion and contribute to making their learning experience more of their graduate studies effective, are the weekly critiques of the progress and to understand the problems problems they are experiencing in their research. faced by indigenous people. is strongly linked A short comparison critique related to the topic for the Schools of Education must be to the survival of their week is independently researched and written by each supportive of indigenous own communities." student pertaining to the indigenous group they have colleagues if quality education selected. This allows students to examine their own is to become a reality for educational experience and teaching style. Two articles on indigenous populations. The study of indigenous education the weekly topic are required to develop the critique, one must not only be limited to indigenous educators; it is from the indigenous and one from a non-indigenous point of necessary that it be incorporated into the academic view. The purp6se behind this approach is for students to conscience of non-indigenous educators as well. Only then look at various sides of the issue. They begin to understand will education become a powerful and effective means for the importance of looking at something from as many angles equality in contemporary society. as possible before determining their own position. Students also realize the difficulty in finding reliable resources; Deirdre A. AInteida is Lenni Lenape and Shawnee. Currently a member of the School of Education faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, she especially those representing the indigenous perspective and offers graduate level courses in curriculum and learning with a specialization in in particular, articles written by indigenous scholars. Native American education and curriculum reform. Ultimately, these assignments lead to discussions of who controls media and academic scholarship. Student& Reaction to Indigenous Education Over the past four years, indigenous and non- indigenous students have expressed that the study of indigenous education is very empowering for them as it 61

58 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Historical and Contemporary Policies of Indigenous Education in Mexico

by SalomOn Nahmad, translated by Nicole Thornton

In the national education plan of modern nations like The central philosophy of the positivists was oriented to Mexico, the construction of a national identity for the eliminate indigenous cultures. Rafael Ramirez, founder of the entire population has been confused as contrary to the Rural Mexican School, implored rural teachers to contribute preservation of ethnic and cultural diversity of indigenous to linguistic and cultural ethnocide. peoples. In a long historical process of more than 5,000 years The education system between 1923 to 1950 operated formal and informal systems of education have developed. under the thesis of incorporation and assimilation that Pre-colonial Mesoamerica was distinguished by a com- denies the development of indigenous cultures. In 1936, the C/) plex system of education and human resource training Independent Department of Indian Affairs was created whose through 'endoculturation' from the family, village, communi- philosophy expounded the necessity of `Mexicanizing' the ty, and ethnic regions. At the start of the European invasion Indian and not Indianizing' Mexico. In order to support this in the central valleys of Mexico, the Spanish found that the position, the National School of Anthropology and the Aztecs had developed an educational organization directed School of Rural Medicine were created to incorporate indige- through two schools, one for the macehuales or common folk nous peoples into mainstream Mexico. and one for the pipi/tzin or aristocrats who were trained to be In 1939, the First Assembly of Philologists and Linguists priests, architects, painters, doctors, poets, singers, soldiers, convened and recommended the immediate use of indigenous etc. Pre-Columbian education engendered loyalty and ethics teachers and native languages when teaching indigenous adults towards the self-preservation of the community and in the initial schooling of indigenous children. Two pilot During the colonial era, a system of forced education projects were instigated; one in the Purepecha region of was introduced in order to convert the Indian population to Michoacan and the other in the Raramuri (Tarahumara) region Catholicism and to unify the Spanish language in New Spain. where the Literacy Institute for Monolingual Indians was born. The national education and language policies contradicted This new trend opposed the incorporationist and assim- the respect and maintenance of indigenous peoples educa- liationist thesis. Upon holding the First Interamerican tion systems. (Indigenous people maintained the informal sys- Indigenous Congress, participants from American countries tems of education under the family and community's care concluded that the Indians' educational process should take even though the formal systems of education were eliminated). into account the language, culture, and personality of the After independence, education was fundamentally focused students. This new trend resurfaced in 1948 through the towards Furopean life and although lndianc ennctitrapri thp Instituto Nacional Indigenista. They demonstrated the majority of the population, the racist and discriminatory ele- importance of aneducation system which should include ments of the governing elites ignored the multilingual and teachers from the communities, teaching in both Spanish multicultural populations of Mexico. The knowledge held by and the indigenous language, as well as respecting the ail- indigenous peoples was stigmatized and considered primi- tures of indigenous peoples. Nevertheless, the basic educa- tive. Since independence, laws did not modify conditions of tion of indigenous children that had been extended by the education for indigenous peoples; teaching was directed rural monolingual schools, resisted this new policy and still towards achieving fluency of the Spanish language and dis- maintains control of thousands of schools in indigenous avowing the multiple local indigenous languages. regions where assimilationist theses persist. The two currents of Indian education methods and tech- Revolutionary Era niques contradict each other. In some Mexican states like The armed indigenous movements of the past century Chiapas and Oaxaca, special programs for indigenous people represent resistance to the economic, political, and cultural were designed to educate children in Spanish. In 1978, the subjugation that greatly limited their participation in the General Directorate of Indigenous Education was created as education systems. The education congresses, teachers' part of the National Formal System of Basic Education. schools, and pedagogical models never included the indige- Although the Mexican Constitution does not mention indigenous population and the special systems that they require. nous education, the 1993 General Law of Education states

62 Cultural Surv val QuarterlySpring 1998 59 that education's aim is to promote, through Spanish language teachers actively participated in changing the state law of instruction, a common language for all Mexicans without education and because of their efforts the law is crossed with reducing the development of indigenous languages. These edicts and ordinances that protect and stimulate the develop- educational requirements should also adapt to the linguistic ment of an education for the indigenous peoples. and cultural characteristics of each indigenous group in Mexico. The execution of Oaxaca's law is recent, but surely it can Before the reality of national multilingualism and the diverse be an example for other states in Mexico. There are some demands of indigenous peoples like those of the Ejercito examples of indigenous designed models for education, Zapatista de LiberaciOn Nacional, congresses and assemblies notably in the case of the Totontepec Mixes. The Indians' of bilingual teachers, indigenous organizations, and commu- demands in Chiapas are also oriented to place greater nities demanded recognition of their right to practice their emphasis on an education that includes characteristics typi- languages and cultures, and to have control over their gov- cal of the Maya civilization. ernmental and social institutions within a context of autonomy. Some Conclusions The two programs that have been directed to satisfy these demands include the training of ethnolinguists and linguists The profound contradictions between both the to learn and analyze the languages in their diverse contexts, Mesoamerican and European civilizations are reflected in the and the training of higher level, indigenous, bilingual educa- relationship between indigenous peoples and Mexico's edu- tors. For this purpose, el Centro de Investigaciones y cational policies in the past 175 years. Although a favorable Estudios Superiores de Antropolgia Social and la Universidad legal framework for indigenous peoples has started to devel- Pedagogica have implemented programs in these fields. op in the last decade and indigenous social actors have artic- Mexico's linguistic policy has experienced certain changes ulated innovative proposals for their education, the national in recent years, particularly the change to the Constitution in and state education systems in their diverse modalities, do Article 4 that recognizes "the Mexican nation has a pluri-cul- not respond to the complexity and diversity of the socio-cultural composition sustained originally in its indigenous peo- tural and linguistic phenomenon. ples. The law will protect and promote the development of Across Mexico, there exists a combination of educational their languages, cultures, practices and customs, resources, approaches that reinforce linguistic ethnocide, assimilation, and specific forms of social organization, it will guarantee to reincorporation, integration and manifest in schools that are their members effective access to the jurisdiction of the State," inefficient and of low educational quality For that very reason, Unfortunately, antagonistic and contradictory systems strong tensions exist between these diverse systems and edu- and methodologies operate and coexist. Even if they do not cational services provided to indigenous children. Such ten- define themselves explicitly, the theses of education in sions generate inter-ethnic, political, and economic conflicts. Spanish are implicit in the programs that solely use Spanish In general, Mexican society exalts the pre-colonial as a method in bilingual and monolingual indigenous indigenous past and excludes indigenous peoples from the communities. The alternative of bilingual and intercultural present. Nevertheless, indigenous armed uprisings, and atti- education for indigenous peoples has not reached all the tudes of guardianship and paternalism towards the indige- indigenous regions of Mexico. The 'ethnocidal' tendency per- nous peoples are still the norm at the end of the 20th centu- sists with regard to the original languages and cultures of ry. Indigenous peoples today demand greater autonomy in Mexico. The use of multiple indigenous languages tends to the execution and evaluation of their education that can limit itself to being used as a tool to facilitate the castel- strengthen the Mesoamerican heritage of cultural and lin- lanizaciOn or 'Hispanicization' of indigenous peoples and are guistic diversity a heritage that more than 10 million not taught for their intrinsic value. Indigenous languages are indigenous inhabitants of today's Mexico still maintain in a rarely used after the third grade of primary school and are country that numerically has the largest population of the infrequently promoted as a means of communication or in American continent. literature, film, and theater. The constitutional changes at the national level have Salmi On Nahmad is a social anthropologist, researcher with the Center for Research and Advanced Study in Social Anthropology of Oaxaca and an been very minimal in their impact on bilingual and intercul- Educational Consultant at the World Bank. tural education for the indigenous peoples. The state of Nicole Thornton is the Education Coordinator at Cultural Survival and is the Oaxaca, on the other hand, has produced reforms that can Guest Editor for this issue. mobilize indigenous energy in order to construct a model in

indigenous education. Article 7 of Oaxaca's 1996 State Law Reference of Education states explicitly that it is the obligation of the Ramirez, Rafael. 1928. "La educacion bilingue y bicultural para las regiones inter- state to provide bilingual and intercultural education to all culturales de Mexico." lndigenismo y Lingaistica:Documentos del Foro. indigenous peoples corresponding to their cultures. Bilingual UNAM-Serie Antropologica. no 35.

60 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Curriculum Resources on Multicultural and Global Education, Environment and Diversity

TEACHING RESOURCES Educators for Social Responsibility supports Contact: PEN America Center educators with professional development, 568 Broadway, Room 401, New York, NY 10012-3225 Global Education Office of the World networks, and instructional materials. ESR Tel: 212-334-1600 Affairs Council assists educators in preparing fax: 212-334-2181 offers curricula and instructional materials and e-mail: [email protected] young people to understand and appreciate workshops, consultation, and training for www.pen.org cultural diversity and global interdependence educators, parents, and communities. in both their local and global communities. Curricula include Conflict Resolution, Their resources include the Curriculum Peacemaking, Making History Roots and Wings Smithsonian Publications for Teachers pub- Resource Center, Global Classroom Program, and much more. lishes resource guides and curriculum Professional Development Seminars and Contact: ESR, 23 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 materials for a range of grade levels. United Nations Field Trips. Tel: 617 492-1764 Contact: Smithsonian Institute/Office of http://www.benjerry.com/esr Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) Contact: 22 Batterymarch St., Boston, MA 02109 A & I 1163/MRC 402, Washington DC 20560 fax: 202-357-2116 http://educate.si.edu Primary Source is a non-profit center for Educational Resources from the United multicultural and global studies promoting Nations provides a range of educational resources for all school levels, including Tibet Education Network endeavors to raise education in the humanities that is historically awareness of Tibetan civilization, Tibetan accurate, culturally inclusive, and explic* videos, charts and books. The Global Teach-1n packages are specially prepared for three Buddhism, and the current Tibetan situation. concerned with racism and other forms oF Services and programs include designing and discrimination. 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The Resource Catalogue CURRICULUM RESOURCES Cooperative Artists Institute produced includes books, curriculum packages, Human Rights Education: The Fourth R "Tribal Rhythms® Creating the Village," a occasional 'Papers, videos and magazines for research andd community programming. Amnesty International USA Curriculum Guide for Building Community Human Itights Educators' Network with Children and uses arts-based techniques Contact: Four Directions International 53 West Jackson Blvd., Suite 1162 and activities as a base for a multicultural 1224 Lakemount Blvd., Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3K1 Chicago, IL 60604-3606 curriculum. Canada Contact: 311 Forest Hills Street, Boston, MA Tel: 403-320-7144fax: 403-329-8383 02130-3605 Teaching Tolerance Southern Poverty Law Center Tel: 617-524-6378fax: 617-522-7122 Intercultural Center for Research in Education e-mail: [email protected] 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36104 is dedicated to projects that promote quality Order Dept. fax: 334 264-7310 and equity of education for socially disadvan- www.splcenter.org The American Forum for Global Education is taged and language minority groups in the a private non-profit organization whose mission United States, Latin America, and the is to promote education for responsible citizenship Caribbean. WorldViews: A Quarterly Review of Resources for in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly Contact: INCRE Education and Action changing world. The Publications Catalogincludes 366 Massachusetts Ave., Arlington, MA 02174 WorldViews Resource Center resources on global issues as well as regional studies. Tel: 617-643-2142fax: 617-643-1315 464 19th St., Oakland, CA 94612-2297 Contact: 120 Wall Street, Suite 2600, New York, e-mail: [email protected] Tel: 510-451-1742fax: 510-835-3017 NY 10005 e-mail: [email protected] Tel: 212-742-8232 fax: 212-742-8752 PEN America Center works to advance http://www.igc.org.worldviews e-mail: [email protected] literature and reading in the United States and http://www.globaled.org to defend free expression everywhere.

Cultural Survival Quarterly Spring 1998 6 1 61 A Traveler to the Other World In Memory of Anselmo Perez

by Francisco Alvarez Q., Robert M. Laughlin, Diego Mendez Guzman

Anselmo Perez (baptized Mariano Audelino), Tzotzil also invited to the Science Museum of Man in St. Paul, Maya, was born in the hamlet of Pat Osil, Zinacantan, Minnesota to bless a Zinacantec house. He was a co- Chiapas, Mexico. Together with Domingo de la Torre, they founder and president of the Centro Cultural de collaborated with Robert M. Laughlin in the compilation of Zinacantan, A.C., whose Museo Ikal Ojov displayed with The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantan, con- great artistry the traditional life of the community In addi- taining 30,000 entries. He and Domingo, traveling as lexi- tion to documenting Mayan culture, Anselmo was active in cographers to the United States in 1963 and 1967, were the spiritual life of Zinacantan, first as a sacristan and then the first Mayans to record, with extraordinary detail in as an official of the relgious hierarchy At the ageof 12 he their own language, the bizarre, ridiculous, and fearful ele- became a shaman, eventually reaching the highest posi- ments of our modern world. Their narratives were tion. During the Persian Gulf War and at the Zapatista published in Xanbal ta nom: Visies al Otro Mundo in 1989 uprising, he, with the other chief shamans, prayed for and in Of Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax in 1980. peace in the churches and mountain shrines of Zinacantan. Anselmo also recorded for Of Wonders Wild and New a One of the pioneer members of The House of number of his dreams, showing that his own traditional the Writer, Diego Mendez Guzman, recalls culture was no less fearful. During 1977-1978 he and Anselmo's counsel: his Chamula colleague, Mariano Lopez Mendez, worked in San CristObal, writing "When the imagination puts your feet on the five volumes of folktales, descriptions of ground, you have to prepare the soil first. With great care your hands deposit the seeds. When customs, and oral history the plants germinate, grow, flower, and die Following this, Anselmo, Mariano, and back, they provide more seeds to plant for the whole Mayan nation. For many cen- Domingo's son Juan, were aided by the poet, turies our history was unknown. Not one Jaime Sabines and his brother Juan of us could write the name of the seeds. Sabines, governor of Chiapas, in Only anthropologists existed who cultivat- forming the Sociedad Cultural Maya ed the seeds, studying, writing, and spread- ing abroad our culture, the daily life of our de Chiapas that published two people." bilingual booklets. When their But with the creation of Sna funds were exhausted, Anselmo Jtz'ibajom, and under Anselmo's wise plead their cause at a conference, and courtly guidance, many Tzotzil Forty Years of Anthropological and Tzeltal writers and actors will be Research in Chiapas. In 1982, with remembered for planting their own funding from Cultural Survival, Sna seeds for the Mayan people of Chiapas. Jtz'ibajom (The House of the Writer),Cultura de los Indios Mayas, AC. was born. Anselmo Perez Perez, aged 57, died on Guadalupe Day, December 12,1997. His neighbors believe an evil As a founding member of Sna Jtz'ibajom, Anselmo spirit released Anselmo's nagual from its corral in the other wrote many of the association's booklets on customs and world. Why else would he die so young? folklore. As an actor, he took the role of his patron saint San Lorenzo, disguised under the name of Lencho, in the association's play and video, A poco hay cimarrones? As a puppeteer, he made two more trips to the U.S. and was 65

62 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 Now Available NEW .JOURNAL! The Online Journal of CS 1998 LIBRARY OF Active 'Voices AFRICAN CINEMA This new online journal of Cultural Survival features analyses of issues that Free 48 Page Video Catalog threaten indigenous groups, along with specific suggestions about direct action that readers can take. Please check this site out on the web at CALIFORNIA NEWSREEL http://www.cs.org and 149Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 (415)621-6196 encourage others to http://www.newsreel.org utilize this excellent, free resource.

CALL FOR STANDING WITH SMALL ARTICLES We are actively solicit- LiCOFFEE FARMERS IN CHIAPAS ing short manuscripts for "Active Voices." The December massacre of 45 unarmed indigenous Publishing in "Active 'EQUALcivilians in the town of Acteal in Chiapas, Mexico has been devastating both in terms of Voices" gives you a chance to reach a lives and livelihoods.In wide audience (we already receive over !!!PI 1,200 hits per day), to encourage GOURMET' 'C:FFElAN![: the wake of the violence, crops have been stolen, activism, and to make positive changes. farmers are afraid to work in their fields Please see the submission guidelines on for fear of further attacks, and families the AV site and send questions or man- trying to recover are left with no income. uscripts to Peter Wogan at Cultural Survival. (617) 441-5400. As a worker-owned fair trade organization, Equal Exchange is dedicated to fair trade with small coffee farmers. In Chiapas, we trade with La Union Majomut, a cooperative of 1,200 members in 17 SouthAmerican Tzotzil and Tzeltal indigenous communities in ChenalhO. Because of the violence, and the Mexican army's occupation E xplorers Club of their processing plant in PolhO, the farmers will haveno tqual Thp best wurce of information and coffee to sell this year, leaving them with little to liveon. I- %chan,le advice for travel in Latin America. 0,1/111111/11c'Ili Equal Exchange is committed to helping these farmers 1 pax cijair Clubhouaes in Rau and Ecuador. rebuild. pri,c lo Ihe We will continue to purchase coffee when it is former, Inlay Members receive expert kelp in trip available, and have set aside a fund to help the farmers dirt,IIIII lib planning, as well as discounts on get through thic diffirnit t;n1."r- --tributc to this fund, or to find out more, please contact us at Equal Exchange, guidebooks, maps, and other items. 251 Revere St., Canton, MA 02021, Tel 781 830 0303or visit Discounts are also availaMe to our website at . members on lodging, tourguidee, and schooh in South America. FOR A FREE CATALOG, «cud .at 126 Indian Clear Road, Ithaca, NY 1050 The Guatemala Accompaniment Project invitesyou to be part of the Peace Process in the el (607) 277-0666 %-...,. , returniqg refugee and displaced communities in Guatemala. ; Fax (607) 277-6122 :97.0 1.11'' Gap seeks: re" ''t - 7 htip://.110.0911 -one year commitment as human rights ovservers, partkipating in community life skills/training I / Title SABC ill a -must have Spanish proficiency, or be able to become proficient within 4-6 weeks of immersion study. ,.. non-profit organization. U.S. Sponsoring Communities to provide: , -ongoing relationship with Guatemala community ., -Emergency Response Network; financial support for accompaniers; and support for constructive ..._,..\ economic and social policies. 4,-- NCOORD-Guatemala Accompaniment Project, 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington,DC 20009 telt (202) 265-8713 ek,ncooedwapeigc.apc.org 66 Massacre of Tzotzil Indians inChiapas in the Wake of Low Intensity War

by Lynn Stephen

International attention returned to the ongoing low-intensity Ruiz Ferro. A state police commander and dozens of local indige- war in Chiapas, Mexico, when 45 Tzotzilindigenous people (pri- nous men were arrested for participating in the massacre.A report marily women and children) were gunned down in a five-hour from the Mexican government's National Human Rights killing spree. The attack began by storming the village church in Commission includes testimony from an eye witness who Acteal where people were kneeling in prayer. The Acteal massacre describes how officials and police in Chiapas either helped plan has been established in Mexico as the single worst act of political the massacre or turned a blind eye. State police were informed violence this century since the 1968 massacre of hundreds of stu- several times of shooting in the vicinity of the massacre while it dent protesters in Mexico City was going on, but reported finding no disturbances. Reasons behind the Acteal massacre are far to complex to In early January, a local police unit open-fired on a crowd of completely unravel here, but events in the past four years are of Tzeltal protesters gathered to demand peace in Ocosingo and killed central importance to understanding the tensions, divisions, and one woman and injured her small daughter. Inlate Janruary, two ongoing violence throughout Chiapas. After the Zapatista rebellion indigenous peasant leaders were murdered within 72 hours of one of 1994, many communities in Chiapas became increasingly divided another and three bodies of presumed Zapatista sympathizers were between those people supporting the ruling party in the Mexico, found hanged in the municipality of Ocosingo. the PRI (Party of the Institutional Revolution), and those either The ongoing violence and local divisions have also resulted in aligned with, or supportive of the demands of the Zapatista Army the more than 6,000 displaced men, women, and children. of National Liberation (EZLN), that focused on indigenous autonomy Paramilitary groups acting before the December massacre drove When the Zapatista supported candidate for the governor of people out of their homes, burned their houses and possessions, Chiapas lost in the 1995 elections, communities sympathetic to and made it impossible for them to return to their communities the Zapatista agenda in Chiapas declared autonomy and organized and fields. Since the massacre, more people have fled. A commu- parallel forms of government throughout the state. As more nique from the representatives of displaced communities and the regions of the state declared autonomy, communities became autonomous municipal authority of San Pedro Chenalho, written divided between those loyal to the PRI and those loyal to the on January 20, 1998 addressed to theInternational Committee of autonomous local governments. In practice, many communities the Red Cross gives a stark overview of their current situation. have two sets of governing officials. "Thousands of people are living under small plastic roofs that As the Zapatista agenda gained support after 1994, the Mexican do not provide protection from the rain and cold, and many and Chiapas governments used a variety of strategies to control others live out in the open, for which reason we need con- the Zapatista civilian movement. They established a large network struction materials such as tin roofing, wood and nails. We are of military bases and encainpments in and around indigenous suffering from a severe shortage of food and survive only on a cbmmunities. The army has taken over the state police forces and few tortillas and some food that civil society has brought us, is augmented by thousands of state 'public security' police. but which is not enough for so many people. The products that we most need are: corn, beans, salt, sugar, soap,and other While international pressure, civil resistance, and the unrelenting basic items, since all of our things, corn, beans, coffee and all work of human rights organizations prevented the army from car- of our animals were stolen by the paramilitary groups and gov- rying out direct attacks on Zapatista sympathizers, the promotion ernment security forces. Since we were displaced andmade of local paramilitary groups emerged as a more successful strategy refugees outside of our communities, 15 children, 8 women In January, 1998, Processo magazine published a report on the and 10 men have died from illnesses including; diarrhea, fever, Mexican Defense Ministry's 1994 plans to crush the Zapatistas by respiratory infections,tuberculosis, parasites,ulcers, skin arming local paramilitary groups. Military intelligence was put in infections, malnutrition, etc., These are the diseases that are charge of "secretly organizing certain segments of the population." attacking and killing the thousands of refugees; right now we At least seven paramilitary groups are currently operating in have over 200 sick persons, both children and adults, in need Chiapas. It was such a paramilitary group, armed, and trained by of immediate medical attention, yet there is a shortage of doc- well) who carried state police (and probably ex-military personnel as tors and of medicines. They also need clothing andblankets to out the Acteal massacre. One of the well-knownparamilitary groups protect them from the cold, especially for the childrenand in northern Chiapas, Paz y Justicia (Peace and Justice), received women." $575,000 dollars to carry out an 'agricultural program' in 1998. Organizations listed on the next page are collecting funds and Following the Acteal massacre, protests in Mexico and supplies for refugees in Chiapas, throughout the world resulted in the replacement of the Interior Minister and the resignation of the PRI-governor of Chiapas, Cesar Lynn Stephen is a Professor of Anthropology at Northeastern University.

64 Cultural Survival QuarterlySpring 1998 6 7 f \ N

./Iembers of a Tzotzil women's weaving cooperative in Chenalho, Chiapas.

Those interested in providing aid can make and other supplies Grassroots International is Natioilally, Pastors jfor Peace, is organizing an donations to the following organizations: collaborating in this effort. To make a tax- aid caravan to Chiapas for delivery at the end deductible contribution make checks out to of April. For more information contact: Enlace Civil Grassroots International and send to: Pastors for Peace Calle Ignacio Allende 4, 29200 San CristObal Tonantzin Midwest Office (Chicago): 773-2714817 fax de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico do C1SPES 773-271-5269 Tel/fax: 011-52-967-82104 42 Seaverns Ave., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] website: National Office (New York): 212-926-5757 http://www.laneta.apc.orWenlacecivil Equal Exchange, the fair trade coffee compa- fax: 212-926-5842 Sister Lourdes Toussaint ny, is raising funds to rebuild their trading e-mail: ifcoOigc.apc.org Caritas de San CristObal de las Casas, A.C., partner, La Union Majomut, in Chenalho, website: http ://www.ifconews.org Apartado Postal 311 Chiapas. La Union Majomut's processing plant 29200 San CristObal de las Casas, Chiapas, is occupied by the army and farmers are In addition you can write to the President of Mexico afraid to work their fields. For more informa- Mexico. tion, contact: telfiax: 311-52-967-86479 Sr. Ernesto Zedillo Rodney North Presidente In Boston, Tonantrin (Boston Committee in Equal Exchange Palacio Nacional, 06067 Mexico, D.E Support of the Native Peoples of Mexico) is 251 Revere St., Canton, MA 02021 FAX: 011-525-271-1764, 011-525-515-4783 raising money to buy food, medicine, blankets, e-mail: [email protected] website: http://www. equalexchange. com ISS aio 00.th consCnce Anthr -NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE

BACK ISSUES of the award-winning CULTURAL SURVIVAL QUARTERLY provide the most comprehensive information on indigenous peoples around the world and the issues that affect them most. Bring your collection up to date with a few issues or order a complete set for your library today!

2114The Internet and Indigenous 16/2At the Threshold An Action Guide 11/3Militarizationand Indigenous Groups for Cultural Survival.1992. Peoples,Part I: The Americas and the Pacific.1987. 21/3 25Years of the Indigenous 16/1After the Breakup Roots of Soviet Movement Africa and Asia Dis-Union.1992. 11/2FishingCommunities1987. 21/2 25Years of the Indigenous 15/3Intellectual Property Rights 11/1 GrassrootsEconomic Movement The Americas and Australia The Politics of Ownership.1991. Development.1987. 2111 Museums and Indigenous 15/2Western Oceania Caring for the 10/4ChildrenThe BattlegroundofChange.1986. Cultures The Power of Local Knowledge Ancestral Domain.1991. 10/3MountainPeoples1986. 20/4Traditional Music in Community 15/1Romanticizing the Stone Age 10/1MultilateralBanks and Life Aspects of Petformance, Recordings, Special Report on the Tasaday.1991. IndigenousPeoples and Preservation.1997. 14/3Cambodia1990. Developmentor Destruction?1986. 20/3 "Who's Local Here?" The Politics of 14/2Breaking Out of the Tourist 9/4Drugsand Tribal Peoples Participation in Development.1996. Trap Part2. 1990. Production,Use, and Trafficking.1985. 20/2 Genes, People and Property Furor 13/4Burma In Search of 9/2Identity and Education Erupts over Genetic Research and Prai8ed Peace.1989. (Includes directory of indigenous/ Indigenous Groups.1996. profegors indigenist organizations.) 1985. 1313Central America 2011 Voices from the Commons. and the %den% 8/4Organizing to Survive1984. Evolving Relations of Property and Caribbean1989. Management 1996. invaluable resourn 8/3Hunters and Gatherers .13/2 India Cultures in indigenous The Search for Survival.1984. 19/3 Culture, Resources and Crisis.1989. Conflict Challenging Assumptions. peoples 8/1Nomads Stopped in Their Tracks?1984. 1996. 1311Brazil Who Pdys for 7/4The Search for Work1983. Development?1989. 19/2Nationalism in Eastern Europe 7/3Keepingthe Faith?1983. Nations, States and Minorities.1995. 12/4Resettlement and Relocation Part2. 1988. 7/2TheElectronic Era1983. 19/1Women and War.1995. 12/2Hydioelectric Dams and 7/1Deathand Disorder in 18/4Geomatics Who Needs It?1995. Indigenous Peoples1988. Guatemala1983. 1812,3 Ethnic Conflict The New World inHealth and Healing(Includes a 6/4EthnicArt Works in Progress?1982. Order?1994. special section on Tibet) 1988. 6/3TheTourist Trap Who's Getting 17/2 Behind the Headlines 11/4Militarization and Indigenous Caught?1982. Violence, Land, and People in a Peoples, Part 2: Africa, Asia, and the 6/1Poisonsand Peripheral People Changing Southern Africa.1993. Middle East.1987. Industrialand Mining Hazards.82.

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