June 10 Readings

6/6/2014

For this set of readings you are looking at Phil DeLoria's _Playing Indian_ and an excerpt from _Rethinking Columbus_. You also should be reading around in Debbie Reese's blog, American Indians in Children's Literature. My post here serves to open the space for your comments, and I will post a longer comment before class. I'm hoping that you will take on more of the discussion in class :-)

10 Comments

Stephanie Vaz

6/6/2014 11:10:27 pm

“Rethinking Columbus” made me even more aware of how the usual teachings to children are not only accurate, but are unfair to the Natives. This reading was very eye-opening and questions the traditional Columbus myth. One of the goals of this piece is mentioned on page 11 when the author writes, “We hope to encourage a deeper understanding of the European invasion’s consequences, to honor the rich legacy of resistance to the injustices it created, to convey some appreciation for the diverse indigenous cultures of the hemisphere and to reflect on what this all means to us today.” Unfortunately many teachings neglect the Native’s side of the story, which I find even more unfair because they didn’t have a say during the 1600’s and suffered a lot because of the English and they don’t get any credit or justice to this day. This reading emphasizes how children should know the real story of how this land came to be. There is another quote that caught my eye when the author writes, “We can choose whether to reverse the legacy of injustice or continue it” (11). This is absolutely true because the world has the choice to alter teachings so they are told accurately, yet we stick to the same story because it was told so much. I liked the comparison to this situation with Thomas Jefferson because we hear a lot about how he was a great and educated man, but people leave out the fact that he was a slave-owner. What they found was no mentioning of the realistic harsh violence that occurred and a student mentions how they make the story “rosy.” It will be difficult to try to tell students that what is in their textbooks isn’t accurate, but I think it should be done because we need to change how America doesn’t want to recognize Indians from years ago or modern-day. The section on “finders, keepers” was really interesting because it takes the idea of taking someone’s belongings, in this case a purse and puts into perspective what the English did to the Natives. This piece ends with a simple thought-provoking question: “How can I make it better?”
“Playing Indian” is an informative reading that also incorporates how the Indians are left out of many stories and other aspects of literature. I completely agree with the statement: “From the colonial period to the present, the Indian has skulked in and out of the most important stories various Americans have told about themselves” (5). I liked the section on the dress of the Indian. People such as the Mohawks would disguise themselves and it mentions how people today experience “personal liberation” by activities such as cross-dressing and dressing up for Halloween. A great quote is “you can’t change your nature and mode of consciousness like changing your shoes” (9). People enjoy dressing up for such occasions like Halloween but don’t think before considering certain costumes such as a mistaken display of Indian dress. It is disrespectful to people who are Indian and the same goes for other costumes that mimic people’s culture and do it inappropriately.
It is interesting to think that our ancestors are still with us as we’re surrounded by the same hills, forests, streams, and everything around us still speaks of the ancient and departed. Sadly, after the Revolution, America’s art and literature failed to inspire and frequently drew harsh attacks. In literature there is a lot of emphasis on American writers and they also incorporated African American and female writers, but where are the Native American writers? There should be more art from Indians. “The Indians love nature with a boundless enthusiasm and the poetry which breathes through Indian eloquence is but an outbreak of the emotions which it creates” (79). Society hears less and less about the Indians and since the Indian removals; Americans denied the physical and social presence of real Indians and reimaging the past.
Debbie Reese’s blog was very stimulating to look through and I can tell by her blog that she is very passionate about this. I like how she analyzes children’s books and is trying to help get more multi-cultural children books noticed. I was looking into how she analyzed a section from “Where’s Waldo” when there are things such as teepees and characters wearing fringed clothing and feathers in effort to mimic the Indians. However she points out that their depiction of “Indian” people is stereotypical. Like the reading “Playing Indian,” this recognizes how dressing up this way for entertainment of incorporating it into non-informative books can also be disrespectful to people who are Native American. Overall she has a very interesting and thought-provoking blog.

Angela Skrabec

6/9/2014 07:42:37 am

“Playing Indian” discusses a recurring theme from the recent class readings; removal of Indians from society. Deloria specifically notes that “after Indian removals, Americans often denied the physical and social presence of real Indians” (90). Anglo-Americans knew full well that Indians still existed because they continued to have contact and discussion with them, but it was simpler to believe everything connected to the Native people was extinct. The reading discussed how “They [the Anglo-Americans] desired Indianness, not Indians” (90). In other words, behaviors, traditions, and rituals that make someone an Indian (according to the white Europeans) were attractive; however the physical being of Indians taking up space on the land was of no use. Anglo-Americans were and are more than happy to participate in the cultural aspects of Native American life, but they are not willing to view the people who are bound to the traditions to be seen as living authentic Natives. Just look at American pop culture with the acceptance of “Indian” Halloween costumes and Native headdresses as fashion statements. Americans want to “dress up” like Indians and take part in the “Indianness” without acknowledging or respecting the people and customs from which their so called costumes and fashion derive. What a truly American notion to only take the parts of a culture that we like while having a complete disregard for the feelings of the people on the other side?

Rethinking Columbus is an amazing teacher resource book. I was excited to see excerpts from it on the syllabus since I was already reading this text in its entirety for my summer research project. In the interview with Susan Shown Harjo, I especially enjoyed the section the “goal and perspective of teachers when telling their elementary and high school students about Columbus” (13). Her first step is for teachers to admit to their students that no one knows the entire true story of Columbus. All the information shared during a classroom lesson does not fully address every single aspect of Columbus’ tale. Harjo then recommends that teachers will be upfront and honest about the kind of person Columbus was. Making Columbus into a sugar-coated hero does not do the students any good. It is best to stick to the truth and openly share all the facts that are known. Bill Bigelow’s discussion in his article is very applicable to classroom teaching and learning. I love the illustration of “discovery” by claiming a student’s purse as personal property by simply taking it. This could easily be modified for students in fifth grade or middle school. I also like the idea of introducing students to other sides of the story that typical textbooks tend to omit. By including a letter from Columbus’ second voyage, students are able to gain a broader sense of the situation. Encouraging students to approach texts critically is another great idea. Often students do not critically engage with texts until high school or college, but elementary school students can and should participate in this skill as well. Children should learn from a young age that it is okay to question what they are being told is fact.

Debbie Reese’s blog abounds with valuable articles and resources for my future teaching career. After perusing the site, I came across an article by Jan LaBonty entitled, “A Demand for Excellence in Books for Children.” This probably caught my eye since anything related to teaching piques my interest. LaBonty held my attention when she stated, “School children are pretty much a captive audience and they tend to accept the words of their teachers and the apparent facts in books as truth. Of the thousands of books that are published for children each year, only a handful are chosen for classroom use. We must select carefully for our students; we must demand excellence.” High quality children’s books are especially important when discussing diverse nations and cultures. Children are consuming what teachers ‘serve up’ in their lessons. As a responsible and culturally aware teacher, I need to provide my students with the best books available.

Jackie Henry

6/9/2014 11:47:15 pm

Phillip Deloria’s “Playing Indian” opens by setting the scene of the Boston Tea Party. The Tea Party itself is most often recalled to have to famous acts: the dumping of the tea into Boston Harbor and the “attack” of white men dressed up as indigenous people. The act of impersonating Indians is something that would be considered a negative act in terms of cultural appropriation. I found it particularly interesting that one of the tea ships involved in the Boston Tea Party was named Dartmouth. Today, the town of Dartmouth has many Native American associations. Though the town was originally intended for Puritan settlement, it was eventually purchased by the Wampanoags in exchange for goods.
“Rethinking Columbus” instantly became of interest to me because of its potential to be used as a teaching tool. One of the articles opening statements spoke of how “Our goal is not to idealize native people, demonize Europeans, or present a depressing litany of victimization” (11). I’m very glad to have read such a strong statement. I feel that much of the material that we teach children today is noticeably swayed towards one side or the other. In return, the ‘opposing’ side is often left with a negative connotation, and that is not what we should want to teach future generations; instead, we should strive for all-around accuracy on both accounts. This article ultimately helped me to recognize that the criticism we have amongst our history textbooks is far to common. We are focusing on the wrong things, and we, as a society need to change that before we all become permanently blind to what happened in our nation’s past. I also thought the concept of the purse demonstration was creative. It’s such a simple action, but it can really get students thinking and raise awareness in regards to what they are being taught- hopefully such an action helps them to think outside of the box (or in this case, their textbook), and recognize all of the other crucial events and discoveries that took place ASIDE from the ones that textbooks seem to focus on.
Debbie Reese’s blog was also of great interest to me. I enjoyed her blog mainly because of the blatant passion she has for what she does. I appreciate how willing she is to raise awareness by conducting different forms of education such as workshops, for example. I was also very appreciative of the fact that she provided such an abundant amount of resources for schoolteachers. From book recommendations to entire lesson plans, she really puts forth an effort to help ensure proper Native American teachings throughout our schools.

Rebekka Eiben

6/10/2014 12:46:12 am

“Rethinking Columbus” was a great read and I really enjoyed the new perspective on teaching. This reading not only identifies the problem with teaching about our early American history but also with teaching in general. Too often teachers obsess with trying to find things that teach the truth. “Rethinking Columbus” shows us that it is okay to use a resource in order to promote critical reading. It is important for teachers to realize that you can use a source that is not necessarily the best in order to teach critical reading, a skill that is lacking in most academics today. A lot of children are not taught how to critically read and think and so when they are asked to do so at high grade levels they do not know how. Many kids take everything they read literally, especially in a world where everything you could want to know is at your fingertips in the form of a phone, tablet, or computer. We should not only “rethink Columbus” but we should also rethink all of our lessons. By incorporating more critical reading and analyses into everyday lessons, in every subject, we can potentially prepare our students for a better future and education. I really enjoyed this reading and hope to incorporate it into my teaching.
Debbie Reese’s blog “American Indians in Children’s Literature” is a great resource for teachers who want to be able to be more diverse in the sources they use. I found that her analyses of certain “classic” texts were very helpful in many ways. They helped by pointing out certain things to look for when reading a text that you may potentially want to use in your class. Some of the red flags to look for are things like no names, vague details, and incorporation of ceremonies. Native people do not share their sacred ceremonies to just everyone and so if one is mentioned in a text it is likely to be an untrustworthy source. Also, any text that does not mention names of specific people and details is probably not a good one because there is no credibility. I found myself reading about the Twilight Series because I read those books when I was younger and also watched the movies. She talked about how the native people were represented in the story and how accurate it was. She even called the reservation to ask if any of the information was accurate and they were helpful and used to dealing with these questions since the fame of the film. It was interesting to read her perspective of how the novel portrayed Native Americans. I also found it interesting that the town the book setting was located in (Forks, Washington) and the reservation has many problems with tourists. The native people take their traditions very seriously and sacredly and they do not appreciate the tourists coming in and assuming that they will find something associated with the film and book series.
Both of these readings deal with the how Indians are portrayed in popular culture, literature, and education. By reading more critically into texts and having students read critically the stereotypes can be avoided. Resources like Debbie’s blog are invaluable to teachers because it is a free source to find books that can be used in the classroom. “Rethinking Columbus” helps teachers understand that there is a way to teach in a way that promotes critical thinking and actively involves the students in what they are learning. It is good for students to question what they are learning and more of this needs to be done in education. Everything in this class so far has made me rethink teaching and how as teachers we can be more diverse.

Katie Kirkpatrick

6/10/2014 01:18:04 am

I really liked all of the different ways that teachers can present the truthful story of Columbus to their classrooms that were presented in “Rethinking Columbus”. Unfortunately, teachers have to first address the fact that almost everything they’ve been taught in previous years is a lie, and then move forward as to how Columbus actually treated the Indians. When Jan Elliott recounted her experience at the movie theater after seeing Dances with Wolves, it made me angry at the man’s ignorance to Indians. The fact that people think that there are no longer Indians in the United States just because no one walks around dressing like a stereotypical Indian, is mind boggling to me. Also, the fact that people (even me) could be so unaware of all of the racism and poverty that the Native Americans have to deal with on a daily basis. It makes me wonder this information is not more common knowledge, or why it took until my junior year of college to hear about it. I really liked the quote by Suzan Shown Harjo, “It’s difficult to take seriously an apology that is not coupled with atonement. It’s as if they’re saying, ‘I’m sorry, oops, and we’ll do better in the next hemishpere’” (12). This helps to outline Harjo’s point that the U.S. government is not helping the Natives like they promised to over 400 times. Every treaty and agreement has been broken. This also shows how the mistreatment has never gone away, and that it has lasted all this time.
Playing Indian by Philip J. Deloria was an interesting reading that discussed more attitudes toward the Native American culture. It is interesting to think about the ideas presented in this reading; however, it makes a lot of sense. Euro-Americans wanted all of the qualities of Indians that made them seem more powerful and independent, but it was easier to just pretend like they never existed. “Americans wanted to feel a natural affinity with the continent, and it was the Indians who could teach them such aboriginal closeness. Yet, in order to control the landscape they had to destroy the original inhabitants” (5). Deloria also talks about how everyone has a sense of liberation when it comes to dressing like something you’re not. A few of his examples were cross-dressing, Halloween costumes, and even different ethnicities or cultures. This played a role in America when its people were trying to create their own national identity. That is why Euro-Americans looked to the Indian culture as a way to identify themselves.
Debbie Reese seems like an extremely interesting and educated person from her blog. She gives very in-depth reviews about books and breaks them down into sections by grade and year. I also like that she gives workshops to teachers and librarians on how to choose or discredit a Native American book for the classroom. She also has a few information or discussion pages that offer a lot of information on why she makes certain decisions and other topics of controversy.

Tabitha Monteiro

6/10/2014 01:58:26 am

In “Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years” edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson and “Playing Indian” by Philip J. Deloria, it brings me back to the days when I was learning about United States history through the public school system. It wasn’t until I was older, some in high school and college, where I learned of a different perspective on what really happened in the past.

For the article, “Rethinking Columbus,” I loved the creative lesson plan. It was visual, interactive, and they got their point across to those watching. It was their way of showing what the Native Americans went through and felt when the English settlers first came to this land. They proclaimed it as their own even though it belonged to someone else. I know I wouldn’t like it if someone just came up to me, stole my purse, emptied it out and claimed all of its contents as their own. This was a great way to get a strong point across. I also think that it was good that some of the students still questioned everything instead of just believing blindly. With that there needs to be a way to combine the two histories together because everyone has their own story

In “Playing Indian,” it recounted the events that took place many years ago at what is known as The Boston Tea Party. It has been a while since I’ve read about it and had completely forgotten the detail that the people had dressed up as natives. Instead of taking responsibility for their actions these men dressed up as Indians to disguise their true identities so that they wouldn’t get into trouble.

The “American Indians in Children’s Literature” blog was fantastic! Not only did you get a brief overview of the book, but then you got the review. I loved that the first book I saw portrayed a powerful native woman for the book Killer of Enemies by Joseph Bruchac. I also like how the blog has a variety of books ranging from children’s books to young adult novels and I even came across a comic book! This would be a great source for a teacher to incorporate more native characters into their lesson plans when putting together a diverse variety of books for their class.

For future generations, I think there needs to be some kind of merge between the two histories. While I don’t think that it would be appropriate to teach young children the gruesome details, but Columbus shouldn’t exactly be painted as this great hero e

Kate Pallis

6/10/2014 02:03:14 am

The provided reading from “Rethinking Columbus” provided insight on the mythological aspect of Christopher Columbus ‘discovering’ America and redefines the myth as a foundational lie in the discourse of winner’s history taught in the public education system. The objective of the book (from which the excerpt is derived) is to question the myth that has dismissed the humanity of an entire population of people. The Columbus narrative appropriates the acceptance of one group of people to claim and control the land of a distant, non-white other in the name of “civility.” Ultimately winner’s history neglects those of abjection in society, the solution seems inarguably to cut the skewed misrepresentation of Native American people and glorification of the invasion of a slave trader off at the beginning of the educational process; that which parallels the beginning of colonization of America.

“Rethinking Columbus” includes an interview with Suzan Shown Harjo the president and director of an indigenous peoples’ rights organization known as the Morning Star Institute in Washington, DC. The interview is titled “We Have No Reason to Celebrate an Invasion,” in reference to her first response to the question of motives behind criticizing the Columbus legacy and why neglect any source of positivity within it. She answers that Native Americans are in a constant state of survival mode that does not allow recognitions of positivity at the expense of death and destruction that has continued from the moment Columbus landed in America up to the present. She delineates that Native American people are the poorest in America, with the highest teen suicide rate and that due to unacceptable living and health standards they don’t live as long as the rest of the American Population. Harjo accredits the destruction of her people on the “Arrogance of Christian religions” (13) because of its missionary stasis that would not allow ‘no’ for an answer. Christianity is notoriously associated as the derivative of not only the colonizing forces of the Church of England but also the God’s providence mentality that resulted in movements such as manifest destiny. This tactic can be considered a form of mind-control, the king (or ruler) not only can discipline/ exploit the physical well being of their subjects but also hold divine right to the spiritual control. Harjo’s solution to moving forward from not only the misconstrued past but also the recollection of that past is for teachers to respect the truth in American history.

In the essay “America to Indians: Stay in the 19th Century!” Jan Elliot approaches the stagnation of Native American ideals that have been trapped in the past. Elliot argues that it is too painful for non-Indians to accept the process of decolonization, instead a majority of the non-Indian population chooses to ignore modern day Indians in lure of the romanticized images of the past. In truth the early Native American culture from that time was eradicated by colonization. So the binary opposition is posed that Native Americans who have been stripped of their basic human rights must assimilate to Euro-American culture, though at the same time the contradiction of the inability that those of Euro-American descent possess in allowing authenticity to be found in Native Americans of post-colonial society denies Native people forward mobility. This is an after affect of the colonial process still working to eliminate the Native American Population by denying them modernity. “Rethinking Columbus” challenges students to maintain an open mind and a critical distance with written word, more specifically outdated/biased textbooks. This level of skepticism can be applicable on a larger scale to question about the legitimacy of propagated society.

Jordan Berry

6/10/2014 02:16:03 am

Looking through Debbie Reese’s blog, I stumbled upon a post about the American Girl Doll Kaya. I was really interested in reading this, because I was in love with the American Girl Doll company as a child, though I had Samantha and not Kaya. My parents always praised the company because of the historical details in the back section of the book and I had almost every accessory my Samantha Doll could have. I was saddened to see that my experience with an American Girl Doll did not translate well to other dolls. Reese writes about how false the “historical” information is, “The Kaya series exactly illustrates the problem with which we are constantly contending: It’s almost impossible to tell another people’s story in a believable way, no matter how good one’s intentions may be and no matter how many cultural advisors there are.” Simple elements of the Kaya stories are wrong, from Kaya’s name origin and her relationship to her father, all the way to the position in which she was sitting. Even in a Native American doll gets discriminated against. Reese recalls looking for Kaya in the main room of the building where all the other historical dolls are featured but is unable to find her. When she approaches a sales person about the situation, the sales person says they moved Kaya to a different room because she has less accessories than the other dolls. A reader of the post comments and says “Even Kit, the doll that depicts the Great Depression period has more accessories than Kaya. It's this inability to see American Indian culture as equally complex and sophisticated as White culture that just burns me up.” Looking towards the future I had always planned on buying my daughter an American Girl Doll but it seems I may have to rethink that.

I thought the opening to “Why Rethink Columbus” by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson was brilliant. It portrayed what happed in America perfectly: Columbus was no hero, simply a man who stumbled on a continent in which he thought was Asia and massacred races due to his “white-privilege” thinking. A huge problem with books portraying Columbus is that it “encourages [children] to disregard the perspectives, the lives, of people of color” and tells “children that it is acceptable for one group of heavily-armed, white people from a ‘civilized’ country to claim and control the lands of distant non-white others” (10).

A very simple example of this control was the need for conversion of religion. In an interview with Suzan Shown Harjo, she critiques the Catholic Church when they called for a time of healing. She states, “how can you be graceful and healing about the tens of thousands of Native people who were killed because they would not convert to a religion they didn’t understand, or because they didn’t understand the language of those making the request?” (12-13). However, many Native Americans did give up their religion, Praying Towns display this, but many of them did it to survive. The religions they took up made them cut their hair, give up their traditional clothing, and turn their back on all of their tribe’s customs. However, this part of the Columbus discovery is never mentioned in children’s books or even high school leveled history books. Before this class I had never even heard of a praying town let alone known there was originally one in Natick. This also goes for boarding schools. The first time I heard of a boarding school was in this class and I could never have imagined that a school which changed you native name to a “more appropriate white-man’s name” could run though the 1930’s. Harjo is right when she says “teachers need to accept the truth” about Columbus and that “We need to inject more truth in the classroom” (13). I know that I will in no way depict him as a great hero in my own classroom but instead follow a lesson plan that mimics Bill Bigelow’s on pages 17-21 (however more age appropriate because I will teaching either first or second grade). Columbus will simply be the first European man who set foot on American soil because the Native Americans were the first people who discovered America, not him, and why should America take that away from them?

Devon DiMartino

6/10/2014 02:16:45 pm

The beginning of “Rethinking Columbus” did an impressive job of catching the reader’s attention. While reading about Jefferson High School’s 500th anniversary celebration of Columbus I couldn’t help but laugh. The students not only affectively made their audience re-evaluate the social and ecological consequences the Europeans made, but it also squashed the myth of “discovery”. Most history books fail to address that Native Americans faced racism, economic exploitation and struggled to resist the colonist’s idea of “civilizing” them. The main goal of teaching a more accurate history is not to “demonize Europeans”, but to allow students to have a better understanding for diversity and the injustices that racism creates. By telling both the Native and European side to history, it allows students to make their own opinions and makes for better class discussion.
From the same “Rethinking Columbus” link, there was an interview with Suzan Shown Harjo entitled “We Have No Reason to Celebrate an Invasion”. The title alone caught my attention immediately. Many students are excited to have a day off from school to celebrate Columbus Day, but I can’t imagine how irritating this holiday is for a Native. Suzan makes great points when she talks about how “civilization” leads to “murder, pillage, rape, destruction of major waterways, destruction of land, the destruction and pollution of the air”. By including the destruction of nature and not only the fact that many of her ancestors were killed, it really shines light on the fact that Native people saw this European conquest as arrogance. As a Native person who values the respect of all religions, it was not surprising to hear her call Christians “zealots” based off the way colonists centrism and greedy need for power. It was difficult to read that Natives still do not feel equal because of issues with land and treaties. I found her concluding line the most powerful when she said, “If we don’t resolve these issues, then all people in this country are going to be complicit in the continuing effort to wipe out our Indian people” (13).
Debbie Reese’s blog on the other hand, was a little less intense, but definitely still got to the point. She touched upon many children’s books and passionately wrote about the positive and negatives about the information within them. It is very obvious that she feels very strongly about being able to distinguish good literature from the bad. I found it really interesting that she actually encouraged the readers of her blog to read, “Mama, Do You Love Me?” because of the errors within it. She wrote how it was a good way to point out that authors make mistakes too and to educate the students on why it is so culturally incorrect.
“Playing Indian” was a very interesting read. In the introduction, Deloria discussed the “American character” and how history defines moments such as the Boston Tea Party as patriotic moments where we redefined ourselves as Americans. While history textbooks often narrate Americans as simply wanting to be separate from the British, they omit the fact that European colonists felt that “white Americans needed either to destroy Indians or to assimilate them into a white American world” (4) in order for them to gain power over the land. Doesn’t it seem ironic that colonists were leaving tyranny only to create it in a new location? This seems to be the key to why it is so conveniently omitted from texts.
The text continues with a story of Lewis Henry Morgan, who ultimately transforms his beliefs about Indians. He begins meeting with his New Confederacy monthly, dressing “Indian” and discussing literature by a campfire. With aiming to revive poetry, Morgan originally attempted to vanish the Indian. The reader is then exposed to “Inindianation” which was a ceremony where they stripped Indians of their identities. While, as the reader, I knew this was a fact of history, it was still difficult to read how colonists had this warped ideas about “civilizing” Indians. I was curious to find out more about Morgan’s journey and as I read on it became increasingly more interesting. He went from being narrow minded, to studying ethnography and attending powwows. I was intrigued by the fact that he initially studied Indian’s in secrecy, and then eventually was offering powerful ways of seeing, conceptualizing and interacting with Indian people on a deeper level. This change from social Darwinism to cultural relativism and racial equivalence was fascinating to me. However, while I can imagine that this “hobby” of playing Indian was enlightening and interesting, I was somewhat irritated that white men were using it as an escape from the industrial world in

Devon DiMartino

6/10/2014 02:17:59 pm

which they created. Maybe that makes me narrow-minded in the sense to think that these people could have changed their views as time past, but my biggest frustration with reading about US history is all the racial divide and need for control. The Native people could have connected the Europeans to the land and exposed them to their culture, but the need to control was more important.
At the end of chapter four of “Playing Indian”, there is a lot of discussion about a multicultural ideal in the sense of it being a “blending of sameness and difference within a range of cultural activities” (150) with both Indians and whites. Being exposed to differences in cultures is what makes individuals think about themselves and the world around them in a different way. While hobbyists, similar to many other Americans, played Indian to address a longing for meaning, identity and freedom from their own culture, as a reader, I am so inspired by the Native’s forgiving nature to accept non-Indians. While the acceptance may cause for “middle ground”, if others accepted Indians these experiences could be expanded beyond powwows so that the outside world would be a little brighter for the Native people

(Sorry mine was a little too long this time)

June 10 Readings

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