Listening to Lives Lessons Learned from American Indian Youth 1

• Main Author: Donna Deyhle
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Indian; Indigenous and tribal or Nation terms; such as Navajo or Ute; to; Breaker; San Juan; Tuck; aleut
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.411.7303; http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/HOC/HOC-1.pdf

Almost 30 years ago I put on a pair of black nylon break-dancing pants with ten sets of zippers and joined a group of young Navajo and Ute students in solidarity at San Juan High School, as my friend Diane said, “To show those Whites. ” I was nervous then—a new Assistant Professor from the University of Utah (untenured) showing up at the high school she was studying in breaker pants—but I felt compelled to support my new friends. No one seemed to notice me, or the Navajo and Ute break-dancers I was with. Years later, I showed pictures of these break-dancers to the principal who exclaimed, “In my school? I don’t even recognize this as my school. ” I would come to learn that most American Indian students were invisible or “unseen ” by teachers and school personnel. Academic courses opening a path to college were also invisible in most schools. Many teachers were indifferent to the lives of their students. Teachers ’ knowledge of the Navajo community was framed by negative and limited expectations constrained by racism (Deyhle, 1995). Over the years I watched and listened to the educational encounters Navajo youth were experiencing and talking about. In this chapter I would like to share some visions and desires—framed as lessons—I learned from the remarkable Navajos who graciously shared their knowledge and lives. 2 Beyond damage-centered research Before I move into talking about these lessons, I’d like to say a little about the research path of many researcher ’ studying Native communities, with suggestions for future research studies. My earlier work, starting in 1984, focused on high school dropouts and racial warfare (Deyhle, 1986, 1991, 1992). The picture I painted was not a pretty one. This is what Aleut scholar Dr. Eve Tuck called “damage-centered research, ” which looks to historical exploitation, domination, and colonization to explain contemporary brokenness, such as poverty, poor health, and low literacy.