Art of Attachment: Community Influence on Pueblo Indian Students' Experiences With School
Enos, Anya Dozier
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/80248
Description
Title
Art of Attachment: Community Influence on Pueblo Indian Students' Experiences With School
Author(s)
Enos, Anya Dozier
Issue Date
1998
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Peshkin, Alan
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
American Studies
Language
eng
Abstract
The power of Pueblo Indian communities to call people home, and the effect this attachment has on how Pueblo Indian students approach learning in mainstream schools is the focus of this dissertation. Mainstream assessment of minority achievement creates a dismal picture of American Indian academic achievement. In this qualitative study of Pueblo students and their families, failure is not so clear-cut. On the one hand, learning in school is important for the maintenance of Pueblo rights (because the U.S. Government has trust responsibilities to the Pueblos, maintaining these rights means the Pueblos must understand how to communicate with the mainstream government); on the other hand, school is an institution of the mainstream culture--a culture very different from traditional Pueblo culture. School is necessary but problematic. This conflict is dealt with by Pueblo students in a variety of ways that reflect their varying experiences with mainstream and Pueblo cultures. Pueblo communities have been in contact with people of European descent for 400 years and in response to this contact, Pueblo people have made some modifications to their cultures. However, Pueblo culture remains distinct from mainstream American culture and maintaining that distinction is important. Pueblo communities address this by assuring Pueblo students are attached to their Pueblos. Students' attachment to their Pueblos and knowledge of mainstream culture influences their school experiences, which in turn influences the Pueblo community. Within the Pueblo community, Pueblo students also deal with friction centering around how to belong to this community to which they are attached. All of this--attachment, culture, identity--are threads in the design of mainstream education in the lives of Pueblo students and their communities. Necessary for this design are students who embody differing levels of understanding mainstream and Pueblo culture. The Pueblos need a variety of strengths in order to protect and maintain their tribes both traditionally and in their interactions with the mainstream. Although mainstream assessment tools do not show it, Pueblo students may indeed be developing the strengths needed by their Pueblos.
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