Linguicide in North America: School Newspapers and Indigenous Language Denigration in American Indian Boarding Schools (U.S.) and Indian Residential Schools (Canada)

• In Event: 26.031 - Oppression and Resistance in Radicalized Educational Settings

Abstract

Testimony from former students of American Indian Boarding Schools (US) and Indian Residential Schools (Canada) identifies how such schools prohibited Indigenous languages. My research uses the newspapers of these schools, from 10 archives across North America, to investigate how English was taught and how Indigenous languages were aggressively attacked throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, on both sides of the border. Though we are beginning to know the effects of such practices, there remains a question of how English learning took place. Such newspapers afford a rare glimpse into this attack in situ, featuring writing by both teachers and students, with varied audiences. This research reveals how these schools participated in linguicide—the attempt to kill a language.

Author

• Jane Griffith, York University