I believe the purpose of this video being chosen to be used for this class is because Wilma Mankiller discusses many of the issues that native people still face today. Her discussion topic was “Context is Everything”. Too few Americans know about the history,
culture, or issues of indigenous people. Native people are expected to live an
American lifestyle and know everything about us but we are not challenged or
encouraged to learn about native people. She discusses how when they lost an
elder, they lose thousands of years of unique knowledge that was passed down
from generation to generation. Native identity is obtained through their
stories. Some tribes have developed programs to regain parts of their culture
that was lost, such as, language and history. “There are over 550 very distinct
tribal governments in the United States. Each one with their own history,
culture, and language.” Each tribal nation select their leaders differently. The
size of the tribe does not determine their sovereignty.
The treaty agreements often involved the United States
government taking tribal land. Land has always been critical to the cultural
survival of tribal people and their governments. Tribal governments now only
control only a tiny fraction of their original land. Tribal governments have
given up land and sacrificed lives to retain their rights to self-governance.
She also discussed the way that media has portrayed women
and children. Women actually played significant roles in tribal society which
the media failed to show. “Navajo women once controlled the economy of the
Navajo nation by owning and managing the livestock”.
When most people hear the issues of tribal nations today
they fail to understand the history and issues that Native people have faced in
the past. It is discussed in this video how in American school, the children
are taught that Europeans discovered American and they are not taught that
Native people were on this land for thousands of years before Europeans
arrived. This issue has bothered me since the beginning of this class. Most
people would think as a history teacher, you should know this isn’t true…..why
would they teach this to their students? I don’t understand why they would
intentionally misinform the students!
Great post.
ReplyDeleteI remember as a child learning how Colombus "discovered" America; yet, we were informed that Native Americans were living there for thousands of years. I guess we were misinformed about the fact that Colombus "discovered" America when it was in existence for a long time.
I am truly happy to have taken this course. I have a deeper appreciation and respect for the Native Americans values, history, and culture.
I agree Fraidy. I was a little disappointed to find this out. I too really enjoyed taking this class and I have a much deeper appreciation for all history and culture now. Makes me wonder what else is true or false that we have learned throughout school.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I like that you bring up her mentioning that when a tribal elder dies hundreds of years of information is lost. It is hard for me to think that so much information is lost because I am used to digital society in which no information is lost really. Also, I agree with the points you make about history teachers and I have asked them why they do not go in to much detail about certain topics. Typically, their answer is that they do not have enough time and feel it is not going to be on a test. This is sort of sad that school systems are teaching children to pass a test rather than thoroughly learn a topic.
ReplyDeleteThe hard part for K-12 teachers has to do with standardized testing and what is expected of students to learn at each grade level. Since this testing process is controlled by the Federal Government (Board of Education)...they have the ability to shape students into what they want them to be, good citizens of the US. If you told people the whole truth or multiple truths about society, would they still be willing to follow your rules?
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