"To Remain an Indian": Lessons in Democracy from a Century of Native American Education

by K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Teresa L. McCarty

What might we learn from Native American experiences with schools to help us forge a new vision of the democratic ideal—one that respects, protects, and promotes diversity and human rights? In this fascinating portrait of American Indian education over the past century, the authors critically evaluate U.S. education policies and practices, from early 20th-century federal incarnations of colonial education through the contemporary standards movement. In the process, they refute the notion of “dangerous cultural difference” and point to the promise of diversity as a source of national strength.

Featuring the voices and experiences of Native individuals that official history has silenced and pushed aside, this book:

Proposes the theoretical framework of the “safety zone” to explain shifts in federal educational policies and practices over the past century. Offers lessons learned from Indigenous America’s fight to protect and assert educational self-determination. Rebuts stereotypes of American Indians as one-dimensional learners. Argues that the maintenance of Indigenous languages is a fundamental human right. Examines the standards movement as the most recent attempt to control the “dangerous difference” allegedly posed by students of color, poor and working-class students, and English language learners in U.S. schools.

“To Remain an Indian chronicles the resistance, resilience, and imagination of generations of Native American educators. It is a profoundly moving book that highlights the opportunities, and ethical responsibility, that educators have to expand student identities and challenge coercive relations of power in the wider society.”
—Jim Cummins, University of Toronto

“A must read for both seasoned and young scholars, practitioners, and others interested in culturally based education, including the importance of Indigenous languages.”
—John Tippeconnic III, Director, American Indian Leadership Program, Pennsylvania State University

“The development of young children’s logico-mathematical knowledge is at the heart of this text. Similar to the first edition, this revision provides a rich theoretical foundation as well as child-centered activities and principles of teaching that support problem solving, communicating, reasoning, making connections, and representing mathematical ideas. In this great resource for preservice and in-service elementary teachers, Professor Kamii continues to help us understand the implications of Piagetian theory.”
—Frances R. Curcio, New York University

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, History, Social Justice, Native American

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2006

About the author

K. Tsianina Lomawaima is Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona. She is the author of They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of the Chilocco Indian School, coauthor of To Remain an Indian: Lessons in Democracy from a Century of Native American Education, and coeditor of Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School Experiences, 1879–2000.

Reviews

[Petter Nordal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who has read anything about the boarding schools knows that they were brutal. Poor nutrition and housing, combined with brutal, obsessive punishment lead to constant deaths at the schools. Indeed at the Carlisle School, the first student died within six weeks of the school's opening.

Looking at a variety of schools and experiences, Lomowaima shows that students in the boarding schools were more than just victims. Students looked for every opportunity to maintain their culturally familiar social and psychological practices, in the schools. These acceptable practices changed over time.

A deep and nuanced look at American Indian educational history.

[Elliedakota · Rating 3 out of 5]

Class assignment EFR500. Basically a long research article - with the narrative flow broken by extensive citations and attributions. Good information, but distracting to try to read with so many interruptions to the story.

[Sarah Steinbrenner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strictly from a curriculum viewpoint, this was a solid read of how Native Americans have been, and continue to be, disgustingly oppressed by the American educational system.

[Cailinn Chavez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.

[Josie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will be one of the central sources for a lit review I'm writing on American Indian educational policy. I may fill out the rest of this review with portions of that lit review at a later date. For now, suffice to say that it presents an interesting perspective on the swinging pendulum of policy. :)