Tsianina Lomawaima is a professor at the University of Arizona who has published extensively on Native American education and sovereignty. She argues that Native American children are better served by Native American teachers who can incorporate their languages and cultures. The document discusses the history of Native American education from boarding schools to the rise of community-controlled schools in the 1970s. However, budget cuts and policy changes have undermined the stability and success of Native-run schools.

1. When Tribal Sovereignty
Challenges Democracy
Lomawaima and McCarty
By: Marya Tambawala
Spring 2013

2. Tsianina Lomawaima
 Earned her PhD at Stanford University
 Professor at University of Arizona
 Publications include:
 To Remain an Indian: Lessons in Democracy from a
Century of Native American Education
 Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and
Federal Law
 Away from Home: American Indian Boarding School
Experiences
 They called it prairie light : the story of Chilocco Indian
School

3. Check out Lomawaima’s interview
with PBS
Think About It:
Are Native American children better served by Native
American teachers? If so, is that the case for other
minority groups?
According to Lomawaima, most Native people would
prefer a segregated, rather than an integrated school.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

4. Read Me!
Make a list: What pops into your head when you
hear the term “American Indian”?
According Indian Country Today, 45% of American Indian
opinion leaders polled believe the media is the primary cause of
anti-Indian sentiment.

5. “Safe” Versus “Dangerous”
“Many episodes illustrate the federal dilemma that has endured to the
present day: how to judge what might be allowably safe, innocuous
expressions of Native beliefs and practices and how to manage or
eradicate beliefs and practices judges too dangerously different or
subversive or mainstream values,” (pp. 285).
Complete the Chart
Safe Dangerous
• •Paganism
• •Polygamy
• •Savage
customs

6. The Meriam Report (1928)
 Surveyed the economic and social conditions of
American Indians, including health, education, family
and community life, and more.
 See parts of the actual report here
 Proposed that “Indian people should have the power
to make choices and that the federal government
should support them in their choices,” (Lomawaima
and McCarty pp. 287)
 Led to the development of bilingual instruction in
some federal schools.

7. “Some Indians proud of their race and
devoted to their culture have no desire
to be as the white man is..” (Meriam
Report)
Questions:
1.How does this perception of American Indians
differ from Freire’s characteristics of the
oppressed?
2. Why might native-americans have different Goals
than other oppressed groups?

8. Keeping the quote from the Meriam Report in
mind: what do you think the “American
Dream” looks like to the Native-Americans
sitting at the table with President Obama?
What would it look like to Native American
youth?

9. The Rise of Indigenous Community-
Controlled Schools
 1970 marked a turning point in Native
American education
 Widely publicized critiques and reports forced
President Nixon to declare that “every Indian
community wishing to do so should be able to
control its own schools”
 Rough Rock was the first American-Indian
community controlled school

10. Rough Rock Community School still
exists today!
 Check out their website: Has its mission have
remained the same since its inception?
 See the campus and some kids in action here!

11. Short-Lived Success
 By 1978, there were 34 Indigenous
community-controlled schools with a
bilingual/bicultural curriculum
 Academic achievement was high, with
students at community-controlled schools
performing as well as, if not better than,
students from traditional schools
 Restored self-confidence and pride among
Native children

12. Until…
Budget consolidations, policy changes, and
financial instability, oh my!
“No other U.S. school system functions under
such a cloud of uncertainty…This constellation of
conditions can only be described as
institutionalized racism” (pp. 294)

13. Think about it…
Why has every tribal gain been met by
road blocks imposed by the federal
government?
What would Freire say about it? What is in the
best interest of the oppressors?

14. Listen to this NPR interview with
Native American professor and
author Anton Treuer
 How do you/would you approach the topic
of Thanksgiving in your classroom?
 Check out this current Native American
boarding school’s website and this student
profile. In what ways is Santa Fe Indian
School succeeding or failing to provide a
bicultural and bilingual education?

15. Read this Article
 Are off reservation boarding schools a better option
for Native- American students?
 How would Schlesinger feel about teaching Native-
American history and traditions to the current
generation of Navajo children? Is it as “irrelevant” as
the Afrocentric curriculum
 Are off reservation schools, with their focus on
preserving language and culture, preparing students
to succeed in society?

16. In Closing…
Most of the articles and interviews I found
around the subject of Native-American
education were from PBS and NPR.
What does that say about the significance given to
the Native-American achievement gap in
mainstream media and society?

17. References
 (2011). AS-IA Larry Echo Hawk Dedicates Rough Rock Community School. YouTube. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMldnOmcMH0.
 (2013). Face-To-Face with Santa Fe Indian School’s Bridget Lee. ABQJournal. Retrieved from
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/03/08/north/headline-256.html.
 Bear, C. (2008). American Indian school a far cry from the past. National Public Radio. Retrieved from
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17645287.
 Headlee, C. (2012). Behind the Native American acheivement gap. National Public Radio. Retrieved from
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/22/165662639/behind-the-native-american-achievement-gap.
 K. Tsianina Lomawaima. Retrieved from http://www.ais.arizona.edu/people/k-tsianina-lomawaima.
 Lomawaima, T.K. & McCarty, T.L.(2002). When tribal sovereignty challenges democracy: American Indian
education and the democratic ideal. American Education Research Journal, 39:2, 279-305.
 Miller, F.C. (1928/1971). Meriam report: The problem of indian administration. National Law Library. Retrieved
from http://www.narf.org/nill/resources/meriam.htm.

18. References (cont’d)
 PBS. Interview with Tsianina Lomawaima. Only a Teacher. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/today7.html.
 President Obama and the Native American community. Retrieved from
http://www.whitehouse.gov/nativeamericans.
 Rough Rock Community School. Retrieved from http://www.roughrock.k12.az.us/Welcome.htm.
 Santa Fe Inidan School. Retrieved from http://www.sfis.k12.nm.us/.
 Schmidt, R. (2007). The harm of Native stereotyping: Facts and evidence. Retrieved from
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/stharm.htm.
 Treuer, D. (2012). Kill the Indians, then copy them. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/opinion/sunday/kill-the-indians-then-copy-them.html?_r=2&.