Replacing the U.S.-Dakota War Hanging Monument: A Study in the Power of Red Pedagogy

• In Event: Perceiving Affordances in Activity Systems

Abstract

Following Engeström’s theory of activity systems in expansive social cycles (1999), this paper analyzes two activity systems that produced dichotomous public monuments to the largest mass execution in U.S. history on December 26th, 1862. The first system, born of the white vengeance that reigned during the U.S. Dakota War, created a controversial monument that failed to survive the expansive cycle of the Civil Rights Era. The second system, driven by a Red Pedagogy (Grande, 2006) articulated in the early 1970’s, produced a multivoiced marker that inspired subsequent expansive activity. This paper contributes research on the production of cultural artifacts and novel social patterns called for by Engeström, emphasizing cooperation between Native and non-native educators in effecting expansive social transformation.

Author

• Rick J. Lybeck, University of Minnesota