7.3 Language and education
The cases I have addressed, the Akwesasne Freedom School and Kanatsiohareke are arenas where people come who consciously emphasize tradition and who want to make
sure of its continuous existence. When I asked people why this is so important, they emphasized that they wanted the young generations to know who they are.
The community-run educational system presents an arena where processes of revival take place, as with the language classes at Kanatsiohareke, and in the curriculum and structure of the Akwesasne Freedom School. A postcolonial education for indigenous peoples begins with exploring symbols, expressions, and philosophy of indigenous education, and creating the context they need to make sense of who they are, and to asset that sensibility in all aspects of their lives. “It begins with Indigenous peoples knowing their languages, their metaphors, their symbols, their characters, their stories, their
teachers, and their teachings” (Battiste 2000: xxviii). Native-run education is empowering in its contribution to furthering knowledge and cultural belonging, and thus represents an imporant step towards healing as a community and people.
Language is a very important part of the consciousness surrounding the survival and existence of the Mohawk culture. The language has both cultural and political importance in contemporary Native societies, and many brought it up to me as a very significant part of being Mohawk. It does not seem to be a determining criterion for people when
defining themselves, and when being defined, as Mohawk, but it is a part of the cultural heritage that is important for many people in their lives. Many people have had to teach themselves the language, if it was not spoken in their home when they grew up. Others speak the language in their home, but not in public. Many feel the shame that their parents or grandparents felt at school, when they were punished for speaking Mohawk.
Some people also feel ridiculed by fluent speakers if they speak with an accent, and so they choose not to speak Kanienkeha at all.
As it is at the Akwesasne Freedom School, Haudenosaunee people to a large extent focus on knowing the traditional language, although there are few fluent speakers. Many people have learned it on their own, and many who do not know it point it out as
something they would like to learn. Kanienkeha reflects a world view that is separate from the English-speaking majority’s, the words contain cultural information and traditional knowledge that many people who do not speak the language feel that they cannot fully understand. One of my informants told me that she knew she could not fully understand her neighbour because he was brought up in a Mohawk-speaking home, and is a fluent speaker, and she is not.
The challenge for not only the Freedom School, but for indigenous schools in general today, is to transform education from its imperialistic and assimilating roots, to a
decolonizing process that embraces and accepts diversity as normative, and that embraces cultural knowledge as valuable and empowering. Many of the students at the Freedom School do not answer in Mohawk or talk amongst themselves in Mohawk, only when asked to in class. Teachers and parents expressed to me that it is difficult to teach the students the language if they do not speak it at home or if their parents do not work with them and help them. This is a difficult matter, since many of the parents do not know the language or feels shame or embarrassed about speaking it. This is often a problem in indigenous language education in areas where the language is so small and not of essential practical use. It thus becomes hard work to keep the language alive. Some people in the field expressed that knowing the language is a “bonus”, while others emphasized it as a very important part of being Mohawk.
“They are going to need it wherever they go, because that’s who they are...”
(Faithkeeper about the Mohawk language and the AFS students)
The Mohawk experience with residential schools and the current existence of Native-run schools can easily be compared to the situation of the indigenous Sami people of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia; a people who was subject for an aggressive assimilation policy through centuries. In the 18th and 19th Century, children were sent to boarding schools and punished for speaking their own language. They were considered inferior to the majority population, who were influenced by a social darwinistic and nationalist mindset. A widespread belief was that if the Sami did not become Norwegian, they would not survive. This idea was also enhanced in relation to a belief about ‘purity of race’, that is would be dangerous if the different ethnic groups mixed with each other.
For a while the government planned to give the Sami a reservation in the northernmost parts of the country, though this did not happen. It was not until around 1970 that the politics went from assimilation to a politics of plurality, and the Sami culture went through revitalization, and ethnic symbols were again activated. The long period of assimilation had left many Sami without their native language and sense of belonging in the Sami culture. However, in the young generations today, a revitalization movement and sense of pride has grown. Today one can find Sami-run schools and kindergartens, as well as a Sami University College in Kautokeino (Guovdageaidnu) in the north of
Norway, where traditional Sami knowledge and language is emphasized and forms the basis for the research and teaching performed at the school.