Family, Love, Schooling, and Assimilation: A Self-Examination of Native American Identity From K–12 to Academia

• In Event: Pursuing Our Mothers' Dreams: Experiencing Disillusionment and Empowerment on the Journey to Academia

Abstract

Who am I?
I am from moccasins, from Dr. Pepper, and Mercurochrome.
I am from the forgotten Rez, harsh, loving, and sweet.
I am from the tumbleweeds, sagebrush, and red clay.
From beat up pickup trucks, scabbed knees and broken bones.
From mantas, coral, and abalone shells,
Sunrises over the Sandias,
Indian bread straight from the horno,
Turquoise and silver ‘round my neck and arms-
Fashioned by my uncles, grandfather, and ancestors.

Last year, I lost my grandmother at the young age of 91 years-old. Miguelita “Maggie” Histia was an instrumental figure in my life. Her dream was for a better future for her family, free of the dehumanizing experiences that she endured due to her race, class, and gender. The 1940’s and 50’s, and U.S. society was just not ready for the fiercely independent, unorthodox, intelligent, and larger-than-life woman that was Maggie. Maggie, a survivor of boarding schools, ensured usually with the help of a large wooden spoon, that we graduated from college. Growing up, I had strong ties to my Native identity, but I also knew that I was different. My family enrolled me in private schools and elite programs. I was the tokenized Native at the schools that I attended. These experiences increased my ability to be “academically” successful over my more “rez-ed” peers, but I felt a sense of loss and inadequacy because I was not considered “traditional”, nor did I speak my native language.
As an adult, I began to problematize my own experiences with my family, their ideologies of success, my own torn feelings about being tokenized which were juxtaposed with feelings of pride, the isolation I felt on the reservation, even though I lived there my entire life, and my own positionality as an emerging Native scholar. The purpose of this theoretical paper is to critically examine my experiences through a variety of concepts and frameworks including: intersectionality (Collins, 2009; Crenshaw, 1991), critical race theory (Bell, 2005; Crenshaw, 1995), TribalCrit (Brayboy, 2005a), historic trauma due to the boarding school experiences (Adam, 1995; Evans-Campbell, 2008), microaggressions (Minikel-Lacocque, 2012; Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000), whiteness (Daniels, 1997; Leonardo, 2009) and finally other native experiences at elite institutions (Brayboy, 2005b; 2012; Makomenaw, 2012).
This research is scholarly significant because it adds to a gap in the literature on Native identity formation through the experiences of educational socialization practices from childhood to adulthood; from teaching K-12 to entering academia. As the K-12 experience is formative, this research also urges policymakers to reconsider the strengths and contributions that diverse populations have made in the development of this nation. As stakeholders, we can demand that inclusive curriculum be created that is informed by a socially just agenda. How different would my experience have been if I saw my people reflected in the textbooks that I read or in the curriculum I was taught? Finally, I urge families to be reflective on how their socialization practices can affect the identity formation of their children in regards to racial identity, language, and culture.

Author

• Andrea Abeita, The University of New Mexico