Overview

Public school classrooms around the world have the power to shape and transform youth culture and identity. In this book, Mneesha Gellman examines how Indigenous high school students resist assimilation and assert their identities through access to Indigenous language classes in public schools. Drawing on ethnographic accounts, qualitative interviews, focus groups, and surveys, Gellman's fieldwork examines and compares the experiences of students in Yurok language courses in Northern California and Zapotec courses in Oaxaca, Mexico. She contends that this access to Indigenous language instruction in secondary schooling serves as an arena for Indigenous students to develop their sense of identity and agency, and provides them tools and strategies for civic, social, and political participation, sometimes in unexpected ways. Showcasing young people's voices, and those of their teachers and community members, in the fight for culturally relevant curricula and educational success, Gellman demonstrates how the Indigenous language classroom enables students to understand, articulate, and resist the systemic erasure and destruction of their culture embedded in state agendas and educational curricula. Access to Indigenous language education, she shows, has positive effects not only for Indigenous students, but for their non-Indigenous peers as well, enabling them to become allies in the struggle for Indigenous cultural survival. Through collaborative methodology that engages in research with, not on, Indigenous communities, Indigenous Language Politics in the Schoolroom explores what it means to be young, Indigenous, and working for social change in the twenty-first century.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mneesha Gellman
Publisher:   University of Pennsylvania Press
Imprint:   University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN:  

9780812225280

ISBN 10:   0812225287
Pages:   277
Publication Date:   01 November 2022
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Contemporary Culturecide: Why Language Politics Matters for Youth Participation Chapter 2. Collaborative Methodology: Research With, Not On, Indigenous Communities Chapter 3. Language Regimes, Education, and Culturecide in Mexico and the United States Chapter 4. Weaving Resistance: Zapotec Language Survival in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico Chapter 5. “My Art Is My Participation”: Language and Rights in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico Chapter 6. Like Water Slipping Through Cracks in a Basket: Teaching and Learning Yurok at Hoopa Valley High School, California Chapter 7. “We Are Still Here”: Navigating Cultural Rights and Discrimination at Eureka High School, California Conclusion. Advocating for Multilingual, Pluricultural Democracy Appendix 1. Informational Letter for Students, Parents, Guardians, and Community Members Appendix 2. Permission Form Appendix 3. Examples of Qualitative Interview Questions for Research Appendix 4. Examples of Focus Group Questions Appendix 5. Survey, English Version for Use in Language Classes (V1) Appendix 6. Discussion of Survey Data in Relation to Language and Identity Notes References Index

Reviews

"""Mneesha Gellman shows how Indigenous language programs in high schools operate as collaborative platforms for Indigenous identity reclamation, multicultural empowerment, and decolonization, and demonstrates how Indigenous languages and cultures are relevant issues to anyone interested in forging a fairer society."" * Américo Mendoza Mori, Harvard University * ""This book shows why language matters so much for Indigenous identity, and how communities like mine are keeping our language alive. Mneesha Gellman demonstrates how important it is for young people to learn about themselves and their cultures, and for schools to make a place for everyone in the schoolroom."" * Victoria Carlson, Yurok Language Program Manager for the Yurok Tribe *"

Mneesha Gellman shows how Indigenous language programs in high schools operate as collaborative platforms for Indigenous identity reclamation, multicultural empowerment, and decolonization, and demonstrates how Indigenous languages and cultures are relevant issues to anyone interested in forging a fairer society. * Américo Mendoza Mori, Harvard University * This book shows why language matters so much for Indigenous identity, and how communities like mine are keeping our language alive. Mneesha Gellman demonstrates how important it is for young people to learn about themselves and their cultures, and for schools to make a place for everyone in the schoolroom. * Victoria Carlson, Yurok Language Program Manager for the Yurok Tribe *

Mneesha Gellman shows how Indigenous language programs in high schools operate as collaborative platforms for Indigenous identity reclamation, multicultural empowerment, and decolonization, and demonstrates how Indigenous languages and cultures are relevant issues to anyone interested in forging a fairer society. * Americo Mendoza Mori, Harvard University * This book shows why language matters so much for Indigenous identity, and how communities like mine are keeping our language alive. Mneesha Gellman demonstrates how important it is for young people to learn about themselves and their cultures, and for schools to make a place for everyone in the schoolroom. * Victoria Carlson, Yurok Language Program Manager for the Yurok Tribe *

Author Information

Mneesha Gellman is Associate Professor of Political Science at Emerson College.

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