Visiting Chutchui: The making of a colonial counterstory on an elementary school field trip

Abstract

ABSTRACT Children in the United States live in a land of many nations, with nearly 600 federally recognized Native American and Alaska Native sovereign tribal nations and hundreds more not recognized by the federal government. Although children often study U.S. colonial history in elementary school, many non-Indigenous children may grow up unaware of differences in how these coexisting nations understand colonial history. This study, presenting qualitative data from fourth grade field trips to a California Indian-led museum of colonial history, responds to the following research questions: What might the content and design of an Indigenous colonial counterstory look like in teaching young children about colonial history? What might an Indigenous counterstory offer to children’s historical learning in the U.S. context? Findings suggest that such a counterstory, presented concretely as a different way of looking at a place, may provide generative possibilities for authentic engagement with conflicting sources of historical knowledge.