Deculturalization
Deculturalization and the Claim of Racial and Cultural Superiority by Anglo-Americans
By: Joel Spring
&
The Indian Boarding Schools
By: Michelle Bollinger
These two articles discuss how one culture with power can form a belief that other cultures are inferior to them. They come up with ways to justify their beliefs and execute plans to eliminate and assimilate cultures. Schools often become a large part of this process. The following are quotes that stood out to me while reading each article.
"Under the direction of white, Christian leaders, savage Indians could shed their barbaric ways and assimilate into white society and become civilized."
The mindset of this quote is true racism. Believing that one way of doing things is better, or the right way to do something and forcing others to lose their identify. Throughout the article you see how a group of people become powerless to people who have means, which in turn gives them power. Even though the Native American people rebelled, there was not much they could do. They were denied food, forced to relocate, and many became sick due to their conditions.
"For the US military, violence alone deemed insufficient."
Although millions had died during the westward expansion, this was not enough. When the violence and killings were not enough the idea to "wage a war against children" became the next option. The forced assimilation in schools become the way to ideologically and psychotically eliminate an entire culture. The fact that two men that were part of this way of thinking went on to become US presidents and are still honored today with statues and being on our countries money shows we have not come far enough yet. Before reading this article, I was ignorant to the fact that Andrew Jackson was known for killing Indians and is still featured on the $20 bill.
How has this not been changed by now?
"The goal of these schools was to aggressively strip Indian youth of their cultural traditions, languages, and religious beliefs."
This quote struck me as an educator. Although I don't believe schools are this extreme today, we have to take a look at our teaching and thinking and be sure that we are celebrating diversity rather than stripping people of their culture to be more like our personal ways of thinking. Acceptance and teaching acceptance are important roles for a teacher to have no matter what kind of classroom you teach in.
"Deculturalization is the educational process of destroying a people's culture and replacing it with a new culture."
This part of the article discusses language being an important part of culture. While most other countries teach multiple languages ours focuses on learning English. If you come to this country and you do not know English, you are at an immediate disadvantage. Whether it be an adult in the working world or a child in school. A custodian at my school does not speak English and therefore is unable to find another job. He has many skills and is talented, yet is unable to find a job because he does not speak English. Many children in schools fall behind or can't show what they truly know and are capable of because they don't know English. It is a concept of cultural superiority that exists here today.
Thanks for your insights. It's shocking to me how so much evil can happen in the name of a good deed. The very idea that these 19th-century "leaders" could believe that they were doing the best thing for the native children is hard to fathom. It reminds me of a father in an old movie saying, "This is going to hurt me more than it will you." right before he beats his child. What I'm wondering now is what sort of evil our generation might be committing in the name of good?
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good question. I suppose if you are in favor of privatizing education for whatever reasons...I think it's a bad idea, but I understand why some might want their children to go to private schools where teachers have more freedom to teach what needs to be taught rather than teaching to a test, where standardized tests are limited if given at all.
DeleteAs a private school teacher I agree. There are definitely some positives and negatives to private schools. Teachers are absolutely given more freedom to teach as they please which is great from an educators stand point.
DeleteNote: private schools and "privatization" are different. Private schools have usually always been privately owned and operated and are not intended for the general public. Privatization is when a public good/service (intended for and owned by the public) is sold off or handed over to a private entity to run -- like Providence's Mayor Elorza is proposing to do with our water (which proved to have disastrous consequences in Flint).
DeleteGood example of what my friend Leigh Patel calls "erasing to replace" which is at the heart of colonialism.
ReplyDeleteRemember, however, that the erasure of Indigenous culture wasn't solely motivated by white supremacy -- it was also very much about getting their land. Something like this:
Construct Native as savage --> assimilate and deculturalize via education --> incorporate Indigenous people into emerging U.S. nation and the white/Euro norms and values around property ownership that it embodies and protects --> find ways to appropriate Indigenous land without having the expense of war (e.g. purchasing it for next to nothing, sketchy treaties, etc.)