Missed Opportunities: What the Curriculum Teaches About Colonialism and Race

• In Event: Decolonizing the Curriculum: Challenging the Constraints of Colonized Knowledge

Abstract

Due to the disparity between the academic performance of American Indian students and their non-American Indian peers, scholars advocate for culturally responsive schooling for American Indian students attending mainstream schools (Castagno & Brayboy, 2008; Klump & McNeir, 2005; Little Solider, 1989; Sanders, 1987). For American Indian students, it is essential that culturally responsive schooling practices address racism, colonialism, and indigenous epistemologies (Castagno & Brayboy). If educators want to improve the academic experience for American Indian students by adhering to culturally responsive schooling techniques, a necessary step is evaluating the curriculum. This paper engages this conversation by looking at the curricular experience of American Indian middle school students in an 8th grade social studies classroom in a mainstream school.

Author

• Stephanie Masta Zywicki, Purdue University