Matching Items (10)
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- All Subjects: Native American Studies
- Creators: Appleton, Nicholas
- Creators: Fixico, Donald L.
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
ABSTRACT Native American students from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community have attended Stapley Junior High, one of 13 junior high schools in the Mesa Unified School District, since its doors opened in the fall of 1994. Over the years a variety of instructional practices have been used in an effort to improve academic outcomes for these students, who have posed a challenge to traditional educational methods. Interviews were conducted with eight educational professionals, including teachers, administrators, and a tutor who worked with these students on a daily basis. They each responded to the same series of questions, providing their insights based on first-hand interactions and knowledge. The interviews revealed factors that influenced student academic success, including caring, trust, communication, tutoring, and administrative support. Factors posing challenges to student success were identified as attendance, parental support, and gangs and drugs. In-school influences were arts and sports, friendship, inclusion, and behavior. Out-of-school influences were home and family, the concept of time, and educational considerations. The conclusion is that this is a complex problem, fueled by the proximity of the reservation to a major metropolitan area, the gang culture that is prevalent in the Salt River community, poverty, attendance issues, and the impact of parental involvement and support. The things that made a difference at Stapley Jr. High included staff who demonstrated caring by establishing trust and getting to know students on a personal level, teachers who were consistent and held students to a high standard, and teachers who were flexible with regard to time.
ContributorsWilliams, Sidney (Author) / Appleton, Nicholas (Thesis advisor) / Duplissis, Mark (Committee member) / Spencer, Dee (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
There exists a significant overlap between American Indian history and American history, yet historians often treat the two separately. The intersection has grown over time, increasingly so in the 20th and 21st centuries. Over time a process of syncretism has taken place wherein American Indians have been able to take their tribal histories and heritage and merge them with the elements of the dominant culture as they see fit. Many American Indians have found that they are able to use their cultural heritage to educate others using mainstream methods. Brummett Echohawk, a Pawnee Indian from Pawnee, Oklahoma demonstrated the ways in which American Indian history merged with the larger American historical narrative through his knowledge of Pawnee history and heritage, American history, and his active participation in mainstream society throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. As a student in a government run Indian boarding school, a soldier of the famed 45th "Thunderbird" Infantry Division in World War II, and a successful artist, writer and public speaker, he offered a view of how one could employ syncretism to the advantage of all. Using an ethnohistorical approach to the subject allows a consideration of Brummett Echohawk as an individual, a representative of the Pawnee people, American Indians generally, and as an American. The ethnohistorical approach also helps elucidate the connection he made between success in life and truly fulfilling the Pawnee meaning behind their name Chaticks-si-chaticks, Men of men. Personal papers, published writings, as well as published and privately owned art (ranging from fine art in prestigious galleries to comic strips) provide insight as to how Echohawk made clear the connections between the Pawnee (and American Indian) past and American history. Interviews with family members, friends, and Pawnee veterans also demonstrate the significance of his life for the Pawnee people and the United States, particularly in terms of the martial tradition.
ContributorsYoungbull, Kristin M (Author) / Fixico, Donald L. (Thesis advisor) / Iverson, Peter (Thesis advisor) / Riding In, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Throughout the course of the Honors Thesis/Creative Project, the intent was to gain knowledge regarding national, state and community initiatives regarding Indigenous Language Revitalization and Maintenance (ILRA). For over a year, I had the opportunity to visit a total of five indigenous communities, including Pine Ridge, SD, Gila River Indian Community, AZ, White Mountain Apache, AZ, Cochiti Pueblo, NM and Santo Domingo Pueblo, NM. The goal was to learn about the status of their language, current ILRA initiatives as well as challenges and successes that face American Indian nations. During each visit, key elements to successful language revitalization initiatives were identified that could benefit those continuing their effort to reverse language loss as well as those looking to enter in the field of language revitalization.
ContributorsHutchinson, Jenna Michelle (Author) / Romero-Little, Mary Eunice (Thesis director) / Begay, Jolyana (Committee member) / Sims, Christine P. (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / American Indian Studies Program (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
Although racial minorities are heavily represented in student bodies throughout the United States, school administrators who work with minority children have been overwhelmingly White. Previous research by race scholars has demonstrated that systems of racial dominance in the larger society are often replicated in schools. However, the role of White school administrators in perpetuating or disrupting racism has not been documented. This study examined the racial attitudes and resulting professional practices of White school administrators who worked in a unique environment. These administrators lived and practiced their profession in towns that lay just outside the borders of the Navajo Nation, a large Indian reservation in the Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Termed border towns, these communities were populated by a large majority of Native Americans, with a heavy representation of Hispanics. This placed White school administrators in the uncommon position of living and working in a place where they were a numeric minority, while simultaneously representing the majority culture in the United States. Twelve White border town administrators in four different communities agreed to participate in the interview study, conducted over a two-month period in 2010 and 2011. Using a semi-structured interview format, the researcher gathered data on participants' racial attitudes and analyzed responses to find common themes. Common responses among the interviewees indicated that there were clear racial hierarchies within border town schools and that these hierarchies were sometimes atypical of those found in mainstream American society. These racial hierarchies were characterized by a dichotomy of Native American students based on residence in town or on the reservation, as well as deferential treatment of White administrators by Native American constituents. The intersectionality of race and socioeconomic class was a key finding of the study, with implications for school administrators' professional actions. Racial attitudes also impacted White border town administrators' actions and sometimes reinforced institutionally racist practices. Finally, results of the study supported several established models of race relations and White identity formation.
ContributorsOrr, Kimberly (Author) / Spencer, Dee Ann (Thesis advisor) / Appleton, Nicholas (Committee member) / Hotchkiss, Margaret (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
During the 1850s, Indian policy objectives pursued by the civil and military branches of government in New Mexico would have a lasting impact on future relations between the two cultures. Many later policies originated in this antebellum period, but often receive only a summary analysis by scholars who focus on the more popular post-Civil War period. Debates over proper policies and enforcement would proliferate in the 1850s as military and civil officials vied with one another over their own perceived authority. Many officials pursued viable policies, but did not remain in office long enough to ensure their implementation. Additionally, personal egos and stubbornness often undermined interagency cooperation. An overall cultural misunderstanding regarding Apache tribal structure and the inability to distinguish between subgroups exacerbated the conflict. Anti-Indian sentiments prevailed in the military, which often contradicted the more humanitarian approach advocated by the Indian Department. As a result, a contention for power and prestige emerged on three separate fronts: civil government leaders, military leaders, and within the Apache tribe. This thesis offers a contextualization of events that transpired during the 1870s and 1880s by demonstrating how these three entities contended amongst each other for power, undermining policy objectives in the antebellum era. Americans sought to conquer and control--to exert authority and power--over all components of the western landscape in order that they might realize its full economic potential. The Apaches formed a part of this landscape much the same as lofty mountain ranges, raging rivers, and parched deserts. All of these required conquering before that nineteenth century American dream could be fully imbued in the Southwest, and over the several decades following Kearny's arrival countless individuals streamed westward in torrents intent on accomplishing just that. The Apaches, like all western tribes, thus fell into an unstoppable cycle of conquest driven by an insatiable Anglo-American obsession with exerting control. Just as swarthy lawyers challenged claims to gain legal dominion over western tracts of land; just as engineers constructed dams and sought ways to manipulate streams and rivers; just as the plow tilled millions of acres of raw lands; just as the miner's pick slowly chipped away at formidable peaks; so too did the United States Army subdue the Apaches, all of these being a means towards a common end for the American West.
ContributorsKiser, William S., 1986- (Author) / Fixico, Donald L. (Thesis advisor) / Warren-Findley, Jannelle (Committee member) / Szuter, Christine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the lives of highly educated Navajo women who, with their children, left the comfort of their homeland to pursue their careers. Using qualitative research methods, five Navajo women were asked to reflect on their lives while on the reservation and in their new location off the Navajo reservation. Among the topics explored were the principal factors as to their leaving the reservation, barriers and supports they faced in their careers, what cultural transitions they experienced, and the effects on their careers, their families and to their personal sense of self.
ContributorsMiller, Sherri S (Author) / Spencer, Dee (Thesis advisor) / Appleton, Nicholas (Committee member) / Yazzie, Lamont (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to describe a new school model for Dine (Navajo) learners where Dine students will experience how to apply knowledge and skills personally, meaningfully, and socially relevant to life situations through the medium of Dine language and culture maintenance. This study explored a new way to perpetuate Dine (Navajo) culture and language through a model referred to as M.A.T.S. (Mathematics, Arts, Technology, Science, the renaming of STEM and STEAM). Oohoo’aah, Na’nitin Yee nooseel Xploria, which translates to a Center for Learning, acquiring knowledge and growing through a Navajo approach to exploration) is a public charter school serving students in grades K-3. As a public charter school ONYX is to serve all of Jeddito Community, with 98% ratio of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch. ONYX will employ dedicated educators and community members with excellent work ethics who are committed to closing the achievement gap, while promoting a creative outlook on the world around them. Students will leave ONYX School with skills in Navajo Language and Culture with a foundation in M.A.T.S. ONYX School’s educational program will be driven by a belief that all learning will be academically rigorous with a well-designed curriculum to students in becoming lifelong explorers of learning and productive members of society. This will allow ONYX to stay true to the mission to promote K’e (relationship in Navajo Culture), respect for self, others, and environment, most importantly to use natural/traditional scientific skills passed on through Navajo culture. In the learning environment, there will be constant and continuous communication among administrators, teachers, parents, and community leaders. This form of instruction is also transferable to learning how to read and write in Navajo. The program will allow for students to use hands on approach with inquiry based learning with a foundation in Navajo traditional/scientific approach to learning.
The purpose of this study was to describe a new school model for Dine (Navajo) learners where Dine students will experience how to apply knowledge and skills personally, meaningfully, and socially relevant to life situations through the medium of Dine language and culture maintenance. This study explored a new way to perpetuate Dine (Navajo) culture and language through a model referred to as M.A.T.S. (Mathematics, Arts, Technology, Science, the renaming of STEM and STEAM). Oohoo’aah, Na’nitin Yee nooseel Xploria, which translates to a Center for Learning, acquiring knowledge and growing through a Navajo approach to exploration) is a public charter school serving students in grades K-3. As a public charter school ONYX is to serve all of Jeddito Community, with 98% ratio of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch. ONYX will employ dedicated educators and community members with excellent work ethics who are committed to closing the achievement gap, while promoting a creative outlook on the world around them. Students will leave ONYX School with skills in Navajo Language and Culture with a foundation in M.A.T.S. ONYX School’s educational program will be driven by a belief that all learning will be academically rigorous with a well-designed curriculum to students in becoming lifelong explorers of learning and productive members of society. This will allow ONYX to stay true to the mission to promote K’e (relationship in Navajo Culture), respect for self, others, and environment, most importantly to use natural/traditional scientific skills passed on through Navajo culture. In the learning environment, there will be constant and continuous communication among administrators, teachers, parents, and community leaders. This form of instruction is also transferable to learning how to read and write in Navajo. The program will allow for students to use hands on approach with inquiry based learning with a foundation in Navajo traditional/scientific approach to learning.
ContributorsCharlie, Fonda Rae (Author) / Spencer, Dee (Thesis advisor) / Appleton, Nicholas (Committee member) / Yazzie, Lamont L (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Relationships are the heart of Anishinaabeg culture and language. This research proposes understanding Anishinaabemowin, the language of Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi peoples, as a living, historical, and spiritual member of the cultural community. As a community member, the language is the Oldest Elder. This understanding provides a relational lens through which one can understand language history from an Indigenous perspective. Recent scholarship on Indigenous languages often focuses on the boarding school experiences or shapes the narrative in terms of language loss. A relational understanding explores the language in terms of connections. This dissertation argues that the strength of language programs is dependent on the strength of reciprocal relationships between the individuals and institutions involved. This research examines the history of Anishinaabemowin classes and programs at three higher educational institutions: Bemidji State University, University of Michigan, and Central Michigan University. At each institution, the advocates and allies of Oldest Elder fought and struggled to carve space for American Indian people and the language. Key relationships between advocates and allies in the American Indian and academic communities found ways to bring Oldest Elder into the classroom. When the relationships were healthy, Oldest Elder thrived, but when the relationships shifted or weakened, so did Oldest Elder's presence. This dissertation offers a construct for understanding Indigenous language efforts that can be utilized by others engaged in language revitalization. The narrative of Oldest Elder shifts the conversation from one of loss to one of possibilities and responsibilities.
ContributorsMead, Chelsea M (Author) / Fixico, Donald L. (Thesis advisor) / Mccarty, Teresa L. (Committee member) / Osburn, Katherine M. B. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The growing population of American Indian students who attend off-reservation school has been under researched. This absence in American Indian education research, their unique needs, and their growing numbers warrant more attention. To address this absence in education research literature, this study captures the experiences of American Indian students in an off-reservation high school. Through Social Reproduction Theory and Cultural Capital Theory this qualitative study makes known the varying ways that American Indian students in off-reservation high schools comply and resist formal schooling. Through interviews and observations of these students, in addition their teachers and administrators, I document and interpret their experiences. The data suggest that American Indian students strongly connect to and use their tribal identities to negotiate school. By recognizing the rules of the school, these students employ different forms of cultural and social capital, specifically the importance of space and forms of communication. Even though their high school has a high population of American Indian students, they continue to experience challenges in academic success through stereotypical assumptions, expected roles, and structural barriers. Illustrating student identity as effects of the social reproduction process clearly demonstrates resistance, compliance, and agency of these students in their high school.
ContributorsBegay, Victor H (Author) / Margolis, Eric (Thesis advisor) / Mccarty, Teresa L. (Committee member) / Appleton, Nicholas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This study investigated the limitations of Navajo language teaching in Navajo Head Start immersion centers. The research questions asked what did Head Start teachers perceive as barriers to Navajo children successfully learning the Navajo language, what skills and knowledge did Head Start teachers have that were relevant to teach Head Start children the Navajo language, what Head Start teachers perceived as their strengths and weaknesses of the language immersion program, and what program and instructional qualities promoted and restricted the success of the language program? Two males and six females who resided in the western part of the Navajo Nation wee interviewed as to their teaching experiences. All of the interviewees were between the ages of late 40's to mid-60's and all spoke Navajo fluently. They had been employed with Head Start for more than 10 years. They came from families who had strong beliefs in the Navajo culture and language, and believed all teachers should take Navajo language and culture classes to teach in Head Start. The interviews revealed the participants use their traditional language and culture skills to teach Navajo, but they had limited knowledge as how to use the curriculum provided by Division of Dine Education. The English curriculum was accessible and easy to follow, but did not adhered to President Hale's Executive Order to perpetuate the language. It was recommended that Head Start administrators and support staff review the Navajo language policies and regulations, train teachers how to write a lesson plan that was simple and teacher friendly, revamp the curriculums, and train teachers how to critique, analyze and develop lessons from the Navajo Curriculum. In addition, administrators, should monitor and provide technical assistance to ensure teachers are implementing Navajo language instruction according to Navajo Standards and monitoring each child's progress according to developmental domains and assessment.
ContributorsClauschee, Jefferson (Author) / Appleton, Nicholas (Thesis advisor) / Spencer, Dee (Committee member) / Duplissis, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015