Indigenous Identities in Process: Teaching and Learning Through Indigenous Arts

• In Event: 31.043 - Benefits of Arts-Based Pedagogy in Teacher Education

Abstract

In her chapter Multicultural and Antibias Education in the book Rethinking Schools: An Agenda for Change, Louise Derman-Sparks speaks to the misguided approaches many schools in the US take in educating underserved youth. Essentially, in an effort to help students to achieve more, schools expect assimilation and deny students’ cultures, languages and experiences. Derman-Sparks states, “There are serious dangers here. Under such a misguided approach, education is used to eliminate cultural difference by teaching children and parents new cultural habits and thereby curing their ‘cultural deficits.’ Further, this approach is in direct contrast to a multicultural curriculum that recognizes the positive things that all children bring to school and that encourages children to be proud of their cultural background and identity. (18)”

Hispanic students in San Marcos experience a severe lag in achievement in elementary school and have a high school dropout rate significantly higher than the state average (San Marcos, Texas City Data). Their poor academic attainment is further exacerbated by the fact that the majority of these students live in households that are well below the poverty line. The Texas public school system has not been able to address this downward spiral that inevitably leads to an undereducated workforce and a continued cycle of failure.

The Indigenous Cultures Institute (ICI), located in San Marcos, Texas, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the research and preservation of culture including arts, traditions, ceremonies, and languages of the Coahuiltecan people. More than 200 Native American groups were populating what is now central and southern Texas and northeastern Mexico when the Spanish conquistadores first arrived (Indigenous Cultures Institute). The majority of the research about these groups — collectively named Coahuiltecans — is scarce and little is known about their culture and history. The Institute presents historical and cultural information on the identity and ancestral legacy of these original Americans — Native Americans who have millions of descendants still living in Texas and the U.S.

This paper examines the impact on pre-service arts educators working at an indigenous arts-based week-long Native American Summer Camp of the ICI, articulating the objectives, challenges, and successes of the camp. The IRB-approved study includes pre- and post-surveys for youth participants, surveys for family members of participants, and surveys for staff members of the program. The broader study focuses on the impact on youth. For the purpose of this paper, I focus on how teaching in an indigenous camp impacts the trajectory of pre-service educators given their own diverse and complex identities. Ultimately, the qualitative and quantitative data collected for this study points to pre-service educators gleaning important experience through the camp that leads to a deeper understanding of the kind of multicultural curriculum of which Derman-Sparks speaks. Through experiencing and leading interactive, indigenous arts with these youth and seeing these students who have been labeled “at risk” in their schools blossom, the pre-service educators recognize the impact of the work, fully experiencing what they read about in their teaching methods classes.
 

Author

• Roxanne L. Schroeder-Arce, The University of Texas - Austin