21st Annual Convention of American
Indian Psychologists & Psychology
Graduate Students
Historical Factors of
Cultural Disenfranchisement:
Reversing the Trend
Joseph B. Stone, Ph.D., SAC Level
III, ICADC, CADC Level III
Chief: Gallup Indian Medical
Center Behavioral Health Service
Navajo Area Indian Health Service
2
BLACK ELK SPEAKS
•
You have noticed that everything that an Indian
does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of
the World always works in circles, and everything
tries to be round. In the “Old Days” when we were
a strong and happy people, all of our power came
to us from the “Sacred-Hoop-of-the-Nation”. As
long as Hoop was unbroken, the people flourished.
The Flowering Tree was the living center of the
Hoop and the circles of the four quarters nourished
it. The East gave Peace and Light, the South gave
warmth, the West gave rain, and the North with its’
cold and mighty wing gave us strength and
endurance. This knowledge came to us from the
outer world , with our Religion. Everything that
the power of the world does, is done in a circle.
3
BLACK ELK SPEAKS
•
The sky is round, and I have heard that the Earth is
round like a ball and so are all the stars. The wind,
in its’ greatest power - WHIRLS. Birds make their
nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as
ours. The Sun comes forward and goes down again
in the form of a circle. The Moon does the same,
and both are round. Even the seasons form a great
circle in their changing, and always come back
again to where they were. The life of a man is a
circle from childhood to childhood and so it is - in
everything where POWER moves. Our tipis were
round like the nests of birds, and these were always
set in a circle: the Nations Hoop - a nest of many
nests - where the GREAT SPIRIT meant for us to
hatch our children.
4
Presentation
Overview
• Introduction
• Definitions of Terms
• Overview of Historical
Factors of Cultural
Disenfranchisement
• Cultural, Social, Tribal, and
Individual Changes to
Reverse Cultural
Disenfranchisement
• Summary and Discussion
5
Introduction
• Harjo, J. & Bird, G. (1997). Selected
comments from Joy Harjo, Gloria Bird,
Patrica Blanco, Beth Cuthand, & Valerie
Martinez (Eds..) Reinventing the Enemy’s
Language: Contemporary Native Women’s
Writings of North America. (pp. as needed).
New York: W.W. Norton and Company.
• Sacred Hoop (Native World) has been
broken by many forms of cultural
disenfranchisement:
– Asymmetrical Relationship between
Dominant Culture and the various Native
or Tribal Cultures
6
Introduction
• U.S. Federal Policies (Assimilation &
Acculturation)
– Involuntary Theft of / Removal
from Homeland
– Imposition of an “Unnatural
Social Order
– Suppression of Language,
Ceremonies, Culture, and
Spirituality
– Destruction of Indigenous
Family Systems
– Residential Schools
– Denial of Historical
Importance
7
Definitions
• Cultural Disenfranchisement: To
detach or loosen the civilization of
a given race or nation (at a given
time or over all time); its’ customs,
its arts; its’ conveniences, etc.
• Cultural Asymmetry: The greater
power of the dominant Euro-
American culture to affect,
control, or oppress tribal cultures
or individuals of tribal cultures.
8
Definitions
• Bi-Cultural Competence: Properly
qualified, able or fit, with capacity
to fully discharge one’s individual
or social role within more than one
culture within a larger society.
• Liminal: Of or having to do with a
limen or threshold, especially of
perception. The marginal position
or role in society assumed through
the achievement of bi-cultural
competence (Douglas, 1984).
9
Cultural Asymmetry
• I live on a reservation now...my
people do not know when they are
citizens or when they are not. They
send word to the Department, “We
wish this and so.” The department
sends word back, “you are citizens of
the United States. We can’t do that
for you.” They send in for something
else. The word comes back, “why,
you are wards of the government. We
cannot grant you that.” Where are we
now? “Miss Johnson - at the first convention of the
Society of American Indians, 1911[Marks, 1998].
10
Cultural Asymmetry
• SENATE MEASURES WOULD DEAL
BLOW TO INDIAN RIGHTS: With little
debate and no public hearings, a Senate
subcommittee last approved two measures
that would knock out some of the oldest
principles in how the country’s 554
American Indian tribes are governed and
deprive them of basic operating money if
they do not agree to the changes (The New
York Times, August 27, 1997).
• Continued attempts to modify public
policy through legislation disadvantageous
to native communities and individuals.
11
U.S. Federal Policies
• Assimilation and Acculturation
– Dawes Allotment Act of 1887
• Designed to alleviate dependency through
division of reservation lands into
family/individual holdings. Designed to
correlate with education (Anglicization) of
tribal children
– Four essential problems:
• Tribal culture and customs judged to have no
value and Anglo values were though superior
• It was thought that native people would desire
to abandon their ways for those of the
“advanced civilization”.
• Any “left over” acreage would be deemed
surplus.
• Allotments adequate for self-sufficiency.
12
U.S. Federal Policies
• Assimilation and Acculturation
– Don C. Talayesva (or Sun Chief), a Hopi
born in 1890: “Water is as precious as
food…we had strict rules about the use of
water…sometimes the water gave out…men
went to distant springs & women stayed up
all night to catch a trickle from the Oraibi
spring… the dances and ceremonies were for
rain, not pleasure…there is health-giving
power in water and it is a good practice to
bath in cold water, to wash our hands and
face in snow…we filled one hundred cisterns
hewn from the rocks by our ancestors when
we could(Simmons, 1942).
13
U.S. Federal Policies
• Assimilation and Acculturation
– The Federal Indian Boarding
School System developed and
implemented by Richard Pratt.
• Designed for the Anglicization of tribal
students, through Richard Pratt’s belief:
“killing the Indian to save the man.”
• Impacted native families through forced
removal of the children and subsequent
transportation and placement at “schools”,
such as Carlisle in Pennsylvania.
14
U.S. Federal Policies
• Federal Indian Boarding School
System’s Impact on Families and
Individuals:
– Loss or Disruption of Language
– Suppression of Spiritual Practices
and Beliefs
– Suppression of Culture through
Enforced Changes in Grooming
and Clothing Practices
– Disruption of Families through
placement in Distant “Schools”
and no Home Visits Allowed
15
U.S. Federal & Local
Policies
• Denial of Historical Importance
– In the teaching of biased history in
the Public School system
– Public policy development &
implementation done in absence of
an accurate historical view
– Difficulty in having language
requirements in public schools
– Media misrepresentation and the
use of non-Natives for Native roles
or lack of use of Native performers
outside the stereotype in movies/
TV, etc.
16
Cultural Disenfranchisement:
Reversing the Trend
• Social Justice and Public
Policy: Between Dominant
and Tribal Cultures
• Individual Responsibilities
Roles & Behaviors
• Tribal Policies and Actions
17
Cultural Disenfranchisement:
Reversing the Trend
• TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY
– Tribal Councils and Business
Committees Must Act.
• Establish an Endowed Non-Profit
Agency in Washington to Impact
Public Policy and Legislation
• Native People Should Expose the
Agendas of Candidates for Public
Office and Vote this Issue in a
Block.
– Progressively orientated members of
the dominant culture must “Reach-
Out” to Tribal Governments
18
Cultural Disenfranchisement:
Reversing the Trend
• REACQUISITION OF A
STABLE LAND BASE
– Social and Public Support for
Development& Implementation
of Progressive Policies Designed
to Help Tribes Acquire or Re-
Acquire Historical Properties
– Sheep are the Highlights of
Creation, Comments by Buck
Austin, Traditional Dine
Medicine Man (Austin, 1954).
19
Cultural Disenfranchisement:
Reversing the Trend
• STRENGTHEN
TRADITIONAL TRIBAL
FAMILY
– Examine through research the strengths
of indigenous family functioning.
– Teach these strengths in native
education programs and other social
services
– Begin to re-learn and use the traditional
methods within the tribal family
– Without the Family We are Nothing
Comments by Tom Johnson, Pomo,
1941
20
Cultural Disenfranchisement:
Reversing the Trend
• BECOME A LIMINAL
HUMAN BEING
– That is, within the process of working
toward bi-cultural competence as an
individual, let yourself be transformed
into what Mary Douglas (1984)
describes as liminal beings, that is; an
individual living comfortably in the
margin between cultures, equally
adapt at functioning in either culture.
The most “dangerous” type of human
being to the status quo.
– BE DANGEROUS BE LIMINAL
21
Cultural Disenfranchisement:
Reversing the Trend
• BE DANGEROUS
• BE LIMINAL
• BE TRIBAL
• BE ADEPT WITHIN THE
DOMINANT CULTURE
22
Cultural Disenfranchisement:
Reversing the Trend
• HOW TO BE LIMINAL
– Find an elder/spiritual leader in the Native
culture and find a mentor/ instructor in the
dominant culture, spend time with and learn
from both of them.
– Step into history: participate in tribal
ceremonies, beliefs, & practices
– Learn as much as possible about both of the
languages (Tribal and Dominant).
– Learn as much as you can about great
thinking and thoughts - read source material
if possible - look for great themes and myths
embedded in literature EVERYTHING
works by these principles
– Be as good as you can be at what you do in
the larger society
23
Summary & Discussion
• INTRODUCTION & TERMS
– Use of a ceremony to contain and
empower the discussion
• Cultural Disenfranchisement (CD)
• Cultural Asymmetry
• Bi-Cultural Competence
• Liminal
• PRESENTED OVERVIEW OF
HISTORICAL FACTORS OF CD
• RECOMMENDED VARIOUS
METHODS TO REVERSE CD
• A New Dream (Wuski A-Baw-Tan).
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0