Editors' Introduction Unveiling the Masks We Live By — And Engaging the "Imperative of Hope"

Abstract

Editors' Introduction Unveiling the Masks We Live By - And Engaging the "Imperative of Hope" This "camouflage in issue which begins she reality" with examines a to tour serve deforce the dominant racialized byMuskogee race, masks class, scholar and discursive K. gender Tsisanina interests strategies Lomawaima, that that in whichshe examines theracialized masks- discursive strategies that "camouflage reality" toserve dominant race, class, andgender interests - that enshroud the increasingly divisive politics ofour times. Themasking hasbeen particularly virulent inthe State ofArizona - Lomawaima' splace ofresidence and our own - where recent bansonimmigration (from theSouth), Ethnic (Mexican American) Studies, languages other than English (Spanish), and "accented" English leadustoask, along with Lomawaima, "What's going on?What canwedo?" Drawing onsafety zonetheory, which shedeveloped toanalyze historic shifts in federal Indian education policy (Lomawaima, 2002;Lomawaima & McCarty, 2006), Lomawaima interrogates the politics behind the masks designed toexclude andcontrol cultural andlinguistic practices deemed tobeso"frighteningly different" astothreaten dominant power hierarchies. Unveiling the masks isanimportant - and necessary - part ofourwork, but equally necessary, Lomawaima argues, iswhat PauloFreire called a pedagogy ofhope: "Toattempt todowithout hope, which isbased onthe need for truth as anethical quality ofthestruggle, istantamount todenying that struggle oneofits mainstays" (Freire, 1995[2004], p. 8). Andso,as westrip off themasks wemust simultaneously "unveil opportunities for hope, regardless oftheobstacles" (Freire, 1995 [2004]) - animperative, Lomawaima says, weoweto"untold generations" who have struggled courageously before us,andto"those who come after." Theremainder oftheissuespeaks toboth themasking atwork inIndigenous education and tothe "opportunities for hope." Webegin with Jeffrey C.Stotts and Myrna R.Olson, who take readers toa predominately White high school inthe Midwestern U.S. attended byNative students. Through aninterview-based qualitative study, Stotts and Olson show the multitudinous racist stereotypes faced byNative youth inthis setting, the identity tugs and pulls related tolife (inthe youth's words) "onthe rez," and the resilience they muster through the support offamily, friends, teachers, and pedagogies that embrace their culture and the "here and now" oftheir lives. Hope K.Gerde and her associates then examine the presence (andabsence) ofcultural content inAmerican Indian/Alaska Native HeadStart programs inoneMidwestern state. While "nosystematic cultural orlanguage curriculum" wasapparent inthese programs, Gerde etal.nonetheless find opportunities for hope in collaborative partnerships between the programs and Native families and communities. The issue concludes with a very hopeful Report from the FieldbyBrant G.Miller, Aaron Doering, Gillian Roehrig, andRobert Shimek that illustrates the ways inwhich science, technology, engineering, andmathematics (STEM)education canbeculturally infused. Coupling ahybrid educational approach known asadventure learning with the Indigenous placeand culture-based game ofsnow snakes, Miller etal.illuminate the many possibilities for connecting Indigenous and Western science content andways ofknowing. Finally, wenote with deepsadness the recent passing ofa heroine inthe field of Indigenous education, Ruth Wheeler Roessel. ADiñéweaver, teacher, school and college administrator, andthe "founding mother" ofthe first American Indian K-12communityJournal ofAmerican Indian Education -51,Issue2,2012 1 controlled school (Rough RockDemonstration School, nowRough Rock Community School) and the first tribal college (Navajo Community College, now Diñé College), Ruth Roessel wasamong a handful ofNative women who ledthe Indian self-determination movement ofthe1960s and1970s, blazing a newpath ofopportunities inthe field of American Indian education. Atribute toRuth Roessel byher son, Dr.C.Monty Roessel, follows this introduction. Weclosebyreturning toK.Tsianina Lomawaima's reminder, inthe first line of her essay, that "sadevents cangenerate moments ofoptimism." Likethe far-reaching legacy ofA.Oscar Kawagley towhich Lomawaima refers, sotoo will webeever uplifted bythe pedagogy ofhope left tousallbyRuth Wheeler Roessel. Respectfully, - Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy andTeresa L.McCarty, Editors Larisa Warhol, Associate Editor References Freire, P.(1995 [2004)]. Pedagogy ofhope: Reliving Pedagogy ofthe Oppressed. New York: • Continuum. Lomawaima, K.T.(2002). American Indian education: By Indians vs. for Indians. InP.J. Deloria &N.Salisbury (eds.), Acompanion to American Indian history (pp. 422-440). Maiden, MA: Blackwell. Lomawaima, K.T., &McCarty, T.L.(2006). "To remain anIndian" :Lessons indemocracy from a century of Native American education. New York: Teachers College Press. RuthRoesselaccepting an awardfrom Navajo Nationofficials forherleadershipinDine education, ca. 2010 (photograph from ASU Center for Indian Education archives) 2 Journal of American Indian Education -Volume 51,Issue2,2012 ...