A Place to Be Navajo: unhewn Rock a...

A Place to Be Navajo: unhewn Rock and the Struggle for Self-Determination in Indigenous Schooling, by means of Teresa L. McCarty. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002229 pp $4995

In an according to agreement and compelling qualitative account, Teresa McCarty moves a glimpse into the aim of the first American Indian community-controlled denomination with critical discussions of the past, not past nor future and future education of the Navajos. The carefully intertwined cites from several Navajo people interviewed for this part provide the reader access to the Navajo the bulk of mankind and their identity, especially those who have experienced schooling at scabrous Rock. To allow the reader to full appreciate the current situation at unfashioned Rock, McCarty gives a detailed account of the history of the Navajo clan and their education, including the factors that l up to the progression in a continuously ascending gradation of the Rough Rock Demonstration gymnasium

Historically, the Navajo have lived self-same different lives from the dominant Western agriculture that now occupies much of the United States. In contrast to the dominant Western agriculture the traditional Ding [people] dwelt together in end communal tribes, sharing what they admited and produced. McCarty states that cheer from the herd was "shared among everyone in the residence group" (p 30) Learning the Navajo way involved participation in the social world. However, in Navajo civilization teaching was implied instead of explicit: "Traditional education involved observation and involvement in family activities related to the domicile the herd, and the fields, and the gradual assumption of adult responsibilities" (p 35) Children were taught to "walk the right path and to live a profitable life," according to Mae Hatathli, an somewhat old Navajo woman (p. 32). Children learned by the agency of watching others and then trying forward their own. This style of learning contemplates some generalizations made by Swisher and Deyhle (2000) onward common American Indian learning casts They suggest these children "approach tasks visually, appear to be to prefer to learn from careful observation preceding performance, and pretend to learn in their natural settings experientially" (p 225)

Traditional ways of learning were set asideed as obsolete when a fresh society encroached upon the Navajo way of life. McCarty details the oppression many Navajo learners experienced in boarding schools and drills that shunned their traditions, values, and language. Many ancients recall being taught to forget their native language, to learn English, and to adopt Western ways to have succes Adding insult to injury, they were frequently punished by other Navajos who enforced insidious directions in order to control the American Indian learners They learned that school was not the place for Navajos to be Navajo. Although these times were excessively difficult, the elders remember that they became flat more determined to keep their heritage language and refinement in order to oppose the hegemonic forces seeking to assimilate them into the dominant, mainstream refinement McCarty rightly denigrates the aims of the U colonial image of schooling: "By the late 19th hundred schooling had replaced the military as the hammer of Federal hegemony-the means at which Indigenous languages, cultures, and identities were to be levigateed out and reshaped" (p. 52)

The more newly come past of the 1930s and 1940 prov to be an era of change for the whole land as well as for the Navajo nation. The U management found that too much soil erosion had occurr because of sheep overgrazing the land. Therefore, the guidance mandated a limit to the number of grazing animals in each land district. This was devastating to many Navajo. Raising sheep was an integral part of Navajo society, and was used as a means to educate children in the Navajo ways. race recall these times with bitterness and sadness. Agnes Begay said that when she was a young girl, "When they took the sheep, we used to cry" (p 58) With the intrusion of outside forces, the Navajo way of raising children all however disappeared, thereby leading many Navajos to accept Western schooling. World War II involvement at thousands of Navajos created opportunities for them to pay attention to the tangible benefits of schooling. still with the increased desire for education, the regulation could not provide enough educational opportunities for all of the American Indians who desired to attend.

Because of dedicated and assertive Navajo educational leaders, uncut Rock got its school with community input, approval, and support, and render free of accessed in 1966. Leaders in the community were anxious to cultivate "the talents and resources of the entire community, fostering a perception of shared purpose and possibility of good and creating a community around the school" (p 84) Community members taught traditional Navajo weaving and adobe building, and stayed at the dormitories to share their stories with learners at night. All community members were valued for their contributions. They transmitted important cultural values of kinship and communal sharing. The staff demonstrated a high flush of dedication as they "participated in periodic live-ins, residing with local families for 2 or 3 days as a way of learning about their students' lives and domestic circle experiences" (p. 93). Everyone from the community was involved in creating a place where it was safe to be Navajo.