Hello class!
We will not be having class on Monday Sept. 5th because of that you will have two pieces of homework due by next class on Wednesday. Do the homework on the syllabus and read the essay below. The first part of your homework is to reflect on the following essay: read the essay and compare it to the first page in our syllabus. How does this essay fit with the descriptions of place and community? What are your reactions to the essay? React to the topic and what it makes you think of. Are you interested in this topic and its writer? Why or why not? (this should be a small paragraph).
The second piece of homework is to comment on one of the other students posts. You may agree or disagree with them as long as you are respectful, explain what their post made you think of, or ask the author questions about their post (at least 4 sentencences).
I believe the essay fit the description of place and community very well. In the syllabus it says, "Interwoven in any given definition of place rests those cultural, political, and economic issues and policies that evolve and are changed by the people who inhabit the place." The essay went over a range of important political and cultural problems of Native Americans. This essay gave me a sense of place, especially when i read, "I can remember attending ceremonies and medicine lodges as a little girl and not fully understanding what was happening. It wasn’t that I didn’t know about the ceremony but that the language the elderly men and women spoke was foreign to me. Although there was a strong,invisible line between the fluent Blackfeet speakers and those who knew little of the language, I knew in my heart what they were saying." I enjoyed this quote because it is a place and culture that i will never be able to experience fully, and when i read it i had a sense of place.
ReplyDeleteI am more interested in Native American culture than some people, I have had the ongoing thought of what is going to happen to the Native American culture if they do lose their languages. I really enjoyed reading this essay because i am interested in sustaining Native American culture, and I am glad i was able to read this because it gave me a historical view and facts i hadn't known before. I feel more educated than before about this, and i am very happy about that.
I really enjoy this topic even though it is a true problem. If not just the Blackfeet but other Native American tribes don't get their priorities straight, there is going to be a major loss of a beautiful culture. I am very interested in the author as well, she is being real and acknowledging that her culture has a problem and they need to deal with it, and she is being proactive to try and make a difference for herself and future Native Americans.
Note: I am posting this for Noah Dubnow.
ReplyDeleteThis essay fits the description of place and cummunity by showing a strong culture and sense of community within the blackfeet tribe. The place and community defined on the first page on our syllabus is closely related to the sense of place and community defined in this essay by demostrating the strong interactions and identity that define the community and people of the blackfeet tribe. Affter reading this essay on the struggles and hardships of the blackfeet tribe and their struggle to keep thier language and culture alive I found myself grateful for having the opportunities and ability I've had to seek out a higher education and persue something I love without lossing my roots or the traditions of my family and their culture and belifes. The blackfeet tribe hade to decide if they wanted to lose their roots and let their language die and send their children off to gain a higher education in bording school. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School was one of many schools that made it a personal goal to civilize the blackfeet children in an attempt to destroy their roots and their tribal language. Eventually when the blackfeet way of life was on the verge of extinction Darrell Kipp and Dorothy Still Smoking founded the NizipuwhaswinImmersion School which helped restore the blackfeet culture and language. This was the start of the revitalization of thr blackfeet way of life. The struggles and choices of the blackfeet tribe to invest in their children's education or to try to keep their culture alive is a choice that I dont think anyone should be forced to make. Your roots, traditions, langage, and where you come from are some defining charicteristics that make you who you are; Those things should never be forgotten but embraced. I found this topic and its writer interesting because of how he depicted the struggles and downfall of a culture and how they overcame their hardships and the sacrafises they had to make to do so.
I believe the essay fits the description given well. Referring back to the syllabus it has the phrase "sense of place" quoted, if you ask me the author of this essay has a great "sense of place". This story is coming from first-hand experience. The author had to live through these challenges to get to where she is today.
ReplyDeleteMy reaction to this essay was mixed, as not only the daughter of a public schools teacher and also a former student of a school with more than half of the students who were Native American from the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, I was upset to read her say that her school only offered her the chose as an elective to take her own native tongue. In my school we had to take at least one year of Cheyenne language, also each we year would celebrate Native American week, even if we were not native. I was upset that she blamed the teacher because I know how much work they put into their jobs. But I did like the essay for the fact that she cared so much about her culture and that she wanted to further it for the future of her Blackfeet culture. I also liked how there was the Nizipuwashwin Immersion School for their children to go to it gave them the chance to learn more about their culture then in public schools. But her opinion on public schools is the complete opposite as my own.
Well I think my last paragraph described my reaction to the topic. I believe that no matter what background you are that you deserve the right to learn about your culture. This topic makes me think that since this is happening on one reservation in the state that soon it might be like how the Browning schools are having it as a one a day elective.
As of right now I know a great deal about Native American cultures as it is. I guess I would like to know a little more but not a lot, as I was raised 20 minutes from the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, celebrated Native American Heritage week since the age of 5 and also have read countless books and articles on the education and history of the Native Americans in Montana.
It was a great essay but for me it just had a lot of conflict from what I believe and what I was raised to believe.
I think this essay is a great example of place and community. Adriane Tailfeathers writes about what she feels is important to finding out who she is as well as the struggles the Blackfeet Indians had to go through over the years. It says in the syllabus, “we will complicate these descriptions to suggest that the place is a site where meaningful interaction occurs between individuals and the spaces they inhabit and are sustained by” Adriane is writing about something that holds a very high place in her heart, it is about who she is and wanting other Blackfeet Indians to know where they came from and not to lose the knowledge of their people through poor translation. Having your culture striped from you is not something that should happen to anyone, and if having the younger generations learn their own language then it should be done. I understand it’s not as easy as that, in Adraine’s essay she explained there were negative feelings towards teaching the Blackfeet language in school. Some members of the tribe felt like it might hurt their children’s chance of higher education. In my opinion no one should have to choose between going to school and learning about your heritage. Before reading this I was never aware it was a choice for some Blackfeet, I don’t feel that is right, they have the right to both.
ReplyDeleteAdriane makes me want to know about my own family history, I’m what I like to call a “mutt”. I don’t know much about my family on either side, neither do my parents they are always like, oh your part German, Swedish, English, Danish… just a mix of stuff, they don’t really have any idea. Over the generations it was just pasted over like it didn’t matter. Maybe someone in my family does know about our heritage perhaps they would love to share what they know maybe no one has thought to ask. Adriane makes me realize how lucky some people are in the sense that they have the opportunity to know where they are from, the history of their family and so many people just shrug it off likes it’s no big deal, until it’s too late and the knowledge is lost.
The essay written by Adriane Tailfeathers does a really good job at fitting the description of place and community. In our syllabus it says that place is a home, a community, it is also the resting place of culture, and policies that are changed by people. The people of the Blackfeet nation have increased the decline of their language that started with assimilation. The people have become connected to their nation and community or their place. When I read the essay I was interested in how she was going to help stop the decline of their language. I think it is a great thing to be doing to help her community. Her essay makes me think of all the things that people are tying to save like the earth, the government, and the many animal species that are endangered. I am interested in the topic because there are some languages that are dying and I would like to see them saved.
ReplyDeleteThe essay poses some interesting points about revitalizing the blackfeet language in order to save ones identity. I also like how she connects her native background to assimilation and how in the tribe everyone made decisions as a whole or they were not made at all. This theme if applied to other areas of life could be very useful for people to work together and make decisions as a whole population. In the first place of our syllabus it talks about how place is interwoven with a place of rest for culture,political and economical issues as well as policies that evolve through the people who inhabit that place.Whether its a revived language to save identity, or a group of people standing up for conservationism in a community, its sacred.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the essay by Adriane Tailfeathers I really felt it was a great example of place and community that was described in our syllibus. She is reflecting about who she is and the place that she came from and a subject that you can really tell meams a lot to her. She is not just talking about saving a tribes language from becoming extinct she is bring her Native American back ground into this essay.To me Adriane was saying what place and community meant to her and how strong she felt about it. She is finding out about the place that she came from and sharing her emotions. I really did like the essay and saw where Adriane was coming from in how something that was so important to her was not as important to other people. I must admit going to public schools I did learn some about Native American tribes but not a lot, and the things that I did learn are not stuck in my mind anymore and do no longer remember them. This essay really made me want to do research on my background so that some day I will be able to tell my children about their backgrounds. I have never thought so deeply about my background and it really makes me want to do some research on it. This exact topic I would not really like to write a paper about, but i would like to write one on my place and community. I really like learning new things through writing and reading and especially something that could mean so much to me. It was really cool to see her stand people stand up for what they believe in and that is awesome.
ReplyDeleteThis essay fits the descriptions on place and community very well. Like in our syllabus place is told to be a term that can mean many different things to different people. And with Adriane’s story she speaks of a place and a community as the place she grew up. Although Adriane believes in restoring the dying language of the Blackfeet it seems that other community members disagree which makes it difficult for the community as a whole. My reactions to her essay were that she is a young lady that didn’t understand her roots growing up and never really cared to until she became older and realized how important a sense of community and place mean so much to people in her culture and instead of letting in die she should really go behind it full force to live and become a part of her heritage especially by learning the language. As for the topic it’s definitely not something I think about everyday. Or really at all for that matter, even though I spent all my schooling years in Montana we were never taught much about Native Americans we would just do an hour lesson once a year and that was it. But this topic really made me think about all the cultures that die here in America not only the native ones, but the immigrant culture’s as well. And as for being interested in this topic I think I am. Its quite incredible that we do have native people in this country and they are so looked over and have been for so many years, its sad to see a culture that was the first here and foundation here in North America slowly fade away.
ReplyDeleteAdriane Tailfeathers' essay matches the description of place and community in our syllabus well. Although place can mean many things, she chose to describe the place and community she grew up in not as a thorough explanation of the physical details, but rather the specific topic of the language and complications of her place and community.
ReplyDeleteThis essay is powerful and has many complexities. The Native Americans had done things their own way for many generations, that is until the Europeans intervened. Native Americans would work together to solve difficult situations and if anyone in the tribe had a concern, they wouldn't push the persons ideas away but would instead hear that individual out and solve the problem together. But once the Europeans took charge by forcing Native American students into boarding schools and forbidding them to use their language, the culture slowly began to diminish. Since the children could no longer speak the language they were raised to speak, their children never learned the language, forcing them to miss out on a big part of their culture. Never knowing seems much worse than knowing but having to forget.
Something Adriane's grandmother said was rather shocking: "...it was better to excel in American society as long as we did not have to endure what she and my grandfather did." She is talking about her grandparents that had to endure the hurt and abuse that occurred at the boarding schools that the Native Americans were forced in to. Parents and grandparents were willing to forget the past just to fit in to the "American society" just to protect their children and grandchildren.
The passion Adriane has for wanting to know about her culture is admirable. Most people don't care about their pasts, they're only concerned about the future. This essay is inspiring in a way that if everyone cared about their past, we could be much more knowledgeable about cultures and maybe more willing to pass it on to our children so that the world can remember past generations, not push them aside and ultimately forget about them completely.
For this assignment I read the essay first. I wasn't particularly impressed with it like I was expecting to but after reading the syllabus I was surprised to see that the author did such a good job following the requirements. I felt that the essay was fairly concise and stayed on topic well.
ReplyDeleteThe topic was interesting to me. I could clearly tell that the authors culture was very important for her and I think that because it invoked so much importance she was able to write about it well. Some points I felt were on a sliding slope and therefore not as credible but overall she did a nice job supporting her claims. I think culture is a very important part of life and should be fully embraced. Unfortunately part of being born in the United States means that your culture is most likely going to be Americanized. There is no way around it. But why is that such a bad thing? Everything changes and evolves including culture so I believe that embracing your specific culture in the now is better than living in the past.
Response to Rachael Kilroy's comment:
ReplyDeleteRachael, I found myself agreeing with much of your post. I too think that it is slightly inappropriate for Adriane to blame her current public school and teacher for the slow loss of her culture. While schools in the past, like the boarding schools for Native Americans mentioned in her essay, were surely responsible for the current language crisis in the Blackfeet community, schools today cannot be responsible for bringing back a dying language. It is up to intelligent and inspired people like Adriane to seek out teachers to help them learn the language, and then in turn pass it down to their children in the future.
Chani Nava's Response to Adriane's Essay(Moved from front page)
ReplyDeleteIn Adriane's essay, she addresses place by writing about her community and culture. Adriane does not write about place as being a simple physical space, but rather as more intimately defined in the syllabus, being "about our sensory reactions to a place. . . as much as the physical space itself." Adriane includes brilliant examples of this way of thinking about place when she often refers to the thoughts and emotions of herself, as well as other blackfeet students in the United States toward the slow loss of their culture.
In writing about her place (her culture), using the much more intimate definition of place found in the syllabus, Adriane makes her topic much more relatable. I found it very easy to sympathize with Adriane when she talked about "[feeling] a part of [her] identity was missing," much easier than if she were to simply talk about the slow shrinkage of her culture (1). Although I have never been in her situation, I can certainly relate to feeling as though a part of myself is missing. By including descriptions of her own feelings toward her place in her essay, or in this case loss of place, Adriane evokes emotion in her reader that would likely otherwise remain tamed.
Adriane's essay contains a point of view from just one of many groups of people in the United States who feel ostracized because they are a minority, and whose culture and communities are often under scrutiny or attack. For me, her essay brings light to the feelings of many of those people, and allows me to sympathize at a new level. Adriane makes me want to stand up for people of cultural minorities whose rights are being threatened by the very country who was supposed to have given them those rights in the first place.
I think that the writer does a good job of connecting the culture of the Blackfeet tribe and the meaning of place. The Blackfeet tribe had lost there place and culture due to the white settlers, but with the help of the immersion school, Blackfeet can gain the feeling of community that they had previously lost. My reaction is that I am somewhat inspired. After a long period of oppression, it's good to see that the Native American culture is trying to rebuild what it once had.
ReplyDeleteThe topic makes me think of my home town. Each year, a German teacher in a local high school would bring together German street vendors, artist, and musicians, and Sioux Falls would have a German Festival. I am not too interested in the writer, but more the topic. I feel like anyone could write a research paper about this. But the topic of bring back a culture is very interesting to me.
Both the syllabus and essay are good examples of place and community; furthermore, they both address how the people are the ones who change cultural. This essay fits with place an community because it deals a certain culture, the Blackfeet, whose identity is greatly effected by others, white europeans. The essay shows how important ones culture and identity can be to a person. I agree with the writer that the Blackfeet culture’s identity is important and should be preserved. Having a mix of different cultures adds different view points which can help make our Nation stronger. Throughout the entire essay, the writer held my attention and wrote an interesting paper.
ReplyDeleteThe Adriane Tailfeathers essay fits in with the descriptions of place and community perfectly. I think what people like Darrell Kipp and Dorothy Still Smoking are making a difference in our society, and are an example of what we should be doing today. I feel like it is important to figure out who you really are, and Michelle faced a lot of struggles to figure out who she really is. I liked the point Michelle made in her paper about how a tribe would come to a decision together and work with one another to come to a compromise, thats not something you see often today. It upset me reading "speaking the native language was the devil's work," because I feel being educated in foreign languages is a sign intelligence. I also thought it wasn't right forbidding Native Americans from speaking their native languages, as well as changing their clothes, hair and even names. I thought this essay really opened my eyes to how special different cultures really are, and how we should try to find ourselves like Michelle. This topic really makes me think about myself and my background, and how interested I am into finding who I really am. I am interested in this topic and I'm taking a Native American studies class and hope to learn more about the Native American culture.
ReplyDeletethis essay fits in the topic of place and community because the Blackfeet community and place was taken and destroyed by the white man, the Blackfeet people were forcefully taken from their home and their place as well. my reaction to this essay is that it is a well written paper with very solid and strong topics about Blackfeet culture and how it has been diminished. This is an interesting topic because Native American culture interests me, their spirituality, their respect for nature, and their culture in general.
ReplyDeleteThe essay by Adrian Tailfeathers exemplifies place and community by describing the importance of sustaining culture. Place and community are driven by culture, which defines one's environment. I fully agree with the writer of this essay in that place and community, or one's culture, should be sustained. However, I disagree that a dying language should be implemented into the standard curriculum of Blackfoot elementary schools. I feel it would be unnecessary information being fed to the kids when they could be learning more useful skills such as math or writing. My stance on this issue may make it seem that I believe it's okay for a culture to die, but these children would more than likely forget most of what they learned because they would never have to speak it in today's society. Learning Blackfoot is not a useful tool for the future, but a way for one to keep in touch with their culture.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested in this topic. Although I disagree with her view, culture is still very important. I wish certain languages and culture did not have to die, but as humanity advances we have to make a changes in languages. If there is one thing that is for certain, it is that language and ways of communicating are constantly changing.
Adriane Tailfeathers describes place and community by sharing her thoughts on the lack and effort put into preservation and "sustainability" by others. I have to admire Tailfeathers for her staunch support for saving her culture, her sense of place, and for encouraging others to learn of it as well. I remember getting annoyed in grade school with the constant Native American studies since there was (and is) no diversity whatsoever in my town. Now I wish I had paid more attention to have more respect. As a linguistics major, I am pleased to know that the University of Montana is highly supportive for keeping the dead languages alive, particularly the Native American ones spoken here in Montana.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, Tailfeathers did a good job focusing in on the problems she has in her place and how she wants to fix them. We all must continually strive to improve our place.
Comment to Katie Coven's response:
ReplyDeleteKatie, I agree with your response. It's cruel the way they treated Native Americans. They shouldn't have to stop speaking their language or change how they look, feel, or act. Like you Katie, I'm am now more curious about my culture and want to find out more about my ancestors and my family's past. I also agree with your comment about Darrell Kipp and Dorothy Still Smoking and how it would be good to hear people like them are still out there in our society today.
P.S. Michelle didn't write the paper :)
Response for Alycia,
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way about being inspired to research my family history and culture. My family is German and I have always wanted to learn the language but unfortunately it is one of the hardest to learn and I currently don't have the time to dedicate. Culture is a part of everyone's history and I think everyone should acknowledge who they are and where they came from at the very least.
Response to Katie Covin:
ReplyDeleteI agree with every point you touched on. The "White Man" destroying the Native American culture is inhumane. Unfortunately, it would be virtually impossible to fully revive their culture to what it once was. I believe their culture should certainly be preserved, however, certain aspects of their culture, such as their language, cannot be revived.
The essay by Adriane Tailfeathers describes the current junction within the Blackfeet community as the tribe, and the author, must decide between their traditional ways or the, increasingly more appealing, modern american lifestyle. This very easily fits in with the descriptions of place and community discussed on the front page of the syllabus as the Blackfeet are in the midst of deciding their place in the modern world while the author is discovering her place within the Blackfeet culture. Overall I thought the essay was a very interesting read, you could argue it could have been written better but the author still conveyed what she was trying to say in an intriguing manor. I though this was a very interesting topic. It was fascinating to discover more about what life is like for native americans in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteI believe Adriane’s essay was a great example of the description of place and community which was outlined in our course syllabus. Instead of using place in the typical sense, Adriane used her native language to represent her home and community.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this essay I had trouble identifying with the author and the topic in general. But after reading the essay a second time I realized that Adriane’s story is not just an isolated event. In our current age of globalization the same loss of culture, customs, and identity that Adriane experienced in her own community is happening all over the world. I find this topic very interesting and believe that language preservation is imperative l if we wish to better understand other people and their respective cultures.
Note: Posted for Vera
ReplyDeletePlace is important in this essay because language of the Blackfeet is only important to those who come from that community. Though, I believe it is our own personal choice weather our hereditary language is important to us and if we should pursue to keep it a part of us. To me it seemed a bit harsh when she stated that she sees people from her community at U Of M and how they are on a destructive path. It is ones personal choice of the path chosen and what is wanted for the future.
I thought this essay was a good example of place and community because it shows how proud the blackfeet are of their culture and how important it is to them that they sustain it for as long as they can. Kipp and Still Smoking are doing whatever they can to keep the blackfoot language in the young blackfeet peoples lives which is a great way to keep their heratige alive and well. I respect what they are doing with the school even when they are doubted by many people and looked down upon. Their is clear evidence that what they did was good because 10 of the graduates pursued a higher education and you can even find some here at U of M. I think what they did was really good becasue the blackfeet that go to public schools in towns like Browning dont get the best education and deserve a higher education just like we do. Kipp and Still smoking gave them a chance to pursue what they really want to do with their lives and to not let the government tell them how smart they are by making them take tests.
ReplyDeleteThis essay proves how imporant place and community is becasue if some people dont feel connected to their culture as much as they would like to they feel disconnected. I know I am not very close to my heritage or culture and that does not bother me at all much but that is just me and it is very important to some other people. However if I did have a chance to become closer to it I probably would. Overall i thought this was a great essay relating to our syllabus about place and culture and i feel this essay will help me in the long run when i have to write an essay of my own.