Unsettling Urban Literacies: Indigenous Girls Write, Right?

• In Event: Reimagining Literacy and Language Education for Girls of Color

Abstract

This paper begins with the fundamental premise that Indigenous girls and young women are writers. Indigenous girls speak and write in multitudes of voices, yet their physical and literary presence is often unaccounted in educational research and writing. While studies have demonstrated that educational disparities for Indigenous youth results from historical and racial inequities in their schools (Brayboy, 2005), questions remain on how Indigenous youth generate responses to inequities, writing back to the institutions. Thus, this paper demonstrates how Indigenous Writing Pedagogies (IWP) were co-constructed between Indigenous high school girls and the author to acknowledge land and gendered relationships in urban schools. Guided by the theoretical insights of Chicana Feminist Epistemology (Delgado Bernal, 1998) and Tribal Critical Race Theory (Brayboy, 2005) this paper draws from a multicomponent study of Indigenous college preparation programs in urban settings conducted by the author. Specifically, this paper focuses ​Writing Circulos​ in which the author met with fifteen Indigenous high school girls to complete their college application essays and other creative writing projects. During their time in the writing circles, the author and the Indigenous high school girls explored the writings of Indigenous and WoC writers, activists, artists, poets, intellectuals as well as the writings of their family members and tribal nations.
Data and analysis for this paper arise from the stories written by the girls in the ​Writing Circulos. ​Brayboy (2005) reminds us that stories are not separate from theory; they make up theory and are, therefore, real, and legitimate sources of data and ways of being. Indigenous scholars (Archibald, 2008; Brayboy, 2005; Champagne & Stauss, 2002) share that stories serve a central purpose in orienting what it means to be a tribal member. I propose that writing also functions as stories that remind us of our origins and serve as lessons for the younger members of our communities; they have a place in our communities and in our lives. Stories also serve as guideposts for our elders and other policy makers throughout tribal communities. The perspectives and stories of students are legitimate sources of data. The form and content of these girls’ stories, however, may differ from the types of knowledge privileged by educational institutions. Theorizing IWP with Indigenous girls and young women, the author explores implications for Indigenous notions of literacies and relationships that can be elevated by future generations of educators working in and out of urban school spaces. The writings and current reflections above from Indigenous girls compel us to journey with them as they show us how to use writing as an affordance beyond the imperatives of accessing higher education. The girls demonstrate that writing can be a tool to develop a critical consciousness (Freire, 1970) and imagine projects of solidarity against the violence of white supremacy and settler colonialism in education.

Author

• Nora Cisneros, California State University - Los Angeles