ED348201 RC018909
Title: Using Literature by American Indians and Alaska Natives in
Secondary Schools. ERIC Digest.
Author(s): Grant, Agnes; Gillespie, LaVina
Author Affiliation: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small
Schools, Charleston, WV.(BBB26671)
Pages: 3
Publication Date: September 1992
Sponsoring Agency: Office of Educational Research and Improvement
(ED), Washington, DC. (EDD00036)
Contract No: RI88062016
Report No: EDO-RC-92-6
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
Availability: ERIC/CRESS, Appalachia Educational Laboratory, P.O.
Box 1348, Charleston, WV 25325 (free).
Language: English
Document Type: ERIC product (071); ERIC digests in full text (073)
Geographic Source: U.S.; West Virginia
Journal Announcement: RIEDEC1992
Literature
is a powerful vehicle for the transmission and interpretation of
culture. Reading a variety of literature helps students to understand
the principles underpinning values and traditions of their own culture
and the cultures of others. Studying the myths, legends, and songs
of traditional Native literature helps readers understand contemporary
Native literature and appreciate its differences from the mainstream.
However, the accepted canons of literature exclude works by American
Indians and Alaska Natives. Furthermore, the few literary works
about Native Americans that have secured a place in the secondary
school curriculum were written by non-Natives, are unauthentic,
portray cultural information inaccurately, and perpetuate negative
stereotypes. Over the centuries, the stereotypical Native American
in literature has shifted from simple, superstitious child of God
to blood-thirsty savage to noble savage to victimized dispossessed
nomad. Non-Native writers today continue to portray Native people
as the "other" when they acknowledge their existence at
all. It is only by creating and widely circulating their own literature
that Native peoples can become a part of the American "ourness"
and take their rightful place in the American literary canon. It
is time for secondary schools to introduce their students to the
growing body of Native literature. This digest contains 17 references
and suggested readings for secondary students. (SV)
Descriptors: *Alaska Natives; American Indian Culture; American
Indian History; *American Indian Literature; American Indians; *Cultural
Education; *Ethnic Stereotypes; *Multicultural Education; Racial
Bias; Secondary Education; Social Attitudes; Social Integration
Identifiers: ERIC Digests; Literary Canon
