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Culture Knowledge Paired Project: Pomo Nation

Nate Kim, Joshua Olmstead

Department of Education, Drexel University

EDUC 565: Foundations in Instructing English Language Learners

Professor Beth Ulcay

October 19, 2021

Culture Knowledge Paired Project: Pomo Nation

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The Pomo are an indigenous people of Northern California, rich with history and tradi-

tion for educators seeking to develop their awareness about the nature of culture. As established

in Zainuddin et al. (2011), cultural patterns strongly influence differences in teaching and learn-

ing styles, as well as verbal and non-verbal communication. In Igoa (1995), we discover how in-

tertwined culture is with the psychological and academic well-being of students. Thus, it is a

teacher’s responsibility to get to know students’ cognitive styles and learning modalities; and

moreover, to avoid at all costs cultural mismatches that can impede students’ educational, emo-

tional, and social growth. Including both a broad examination of the Pomo people, in general,

and some highlights of the Pinoleville Pomo Nation tribe, in particular, the purpose of this paper

is to enhance pedagogical practice through greater cultural awareness.

The foremost artifacts of the Pomo people are their baskets. Internationally-known basket

weavers Elsie Allen (1899–1990), Mabel MacKay (1907–1993), and Laura Fish Somersol have

helped popularize and keep alive Pomo basketry to this day (Edwards & Oswalt, 2018). Tradi-

tionally, Pomo women would weave baskets with tule, bulrush, willow, redbud, and sedge; the

baskets served countless purposes, including fish and bird trapping, cooking, harvesting, baby

carrying, food storage, and ceremonial gifts (Patterson, 1998, pp. 6-7). Artifacts commonly made

by Pomo men included fishnets and ducknets, arrows, and magnesite beads (Patterson, 1998, p.

7). Clamshells, which served as Pomo money, varied in value depending on the age of the

clamshells, the thickness of the disk, and the length of the strung disks (Edwards & Oswalt,

2018). Fur, feathers, and beads made into ceremonial ear ornaments, headdresses, belts, and

neckbands are examples of other Pomo artifacts (Edwards & Oswalt, 2018).

Historically, the Pinoleville Pomo spoke Northern Pomo, one of seven subgroups of the

Pomo language group; however, Northern Pomo is now extinct along with two other subgroups,
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and three of the four remaining subgroups have less than ten living speakers (Campbell, 1997, p.

164). While Northern Pomo is extinct, we can still glean from recorded knowledge about the lan-

guage and other subgroups of the Pomo language some of the priorities of the nation. Rather than

the possessive “s” at the end of English, Pomo languages have prefixes to denote kinship, with

different familial relations being afforded different prefixes (Campbell, 1997, p. 167).

In addition, we know that Northern Pomo avoided the use of birth names. Instead, indi-

viduals were referred to by their relational status. As such, usage of the third person was com-

mon in Northern Pomo. This especially applies to deceased relatives—although a common tradi-

tion is to name people in remembrance of elders, at no point would someone refer by name to a

living relative who shares the name of a dead relative (Campbell, 1997, p. 169). Without drifting

into linguistic determinism, we can still observe with ease the importance of family and commu-

nity in Pomo culture. This importance remains clear when looking at the tribe’s traditions and

practices.

The places of primary importance to the Pomoan people were their villages. Located in

present day northern California, the villages stretched from the Pacific Coast to Clear Lake and

Russian River in Mendocino, Sonoma, and Lake Counties. 30 to 200 people lived in a village,

and each was allotted a plot of land to hunt and gather (Patterson, 1998, p. 5). The men would

meet in small sweat houses during the winter (Edwards & Oswalt, 2018), and larger villages in-

cluded roundhouses, called a sbane, for people from surrounding communities to pray and feast

(Patterson, 1998, p. 7). Today the Pomo live in about two dozen rancherias and reservations

throughout their ancestral lands (Edwards & Oswalt, 2018). Marriages between neighboring vil-

lages, and other various ceremonies, were common to maintain alliances (Our History). Common

ceremonial occasions included giving thanks for a good harvest, observing religious days, and
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celebrating a new phase in someone’s life. These events often included music, foot races, and

gambling.

The aforementioned Pomo religion centered on a number of powerful entities. Creation

myths were often attributed to Kunula, a coyote spirit (Barrett, 2017, p. 422). In addition, there

were supernatural beings who lived at the ends of the Earth in each of the four cardinal direc-

tions; the most important of these was Guksu, a spirit healer who lived at the south end of the

world (Barrett, 2017, p. 423).

The focus on the four cardinal directions extended into construction of housing. Houses

often incorporate redwood posts in each of these directions, in honor of their associated spirits

(Seltenrich, 2012, p. 466). Also common were a sunken living room with a skylight and an open

kitchen/dining room, design elements which highlight the people’s interest in communal living

(Seltenrich, 2012, p. 466). Walls are typically built using a combination of clay and tule, a local

species of rush indigenous to the area’s freshwater marshes (Seltenrich, 2012, p. 466).

The interest in housing design and implementation is by no means a historical issue. De-

spite the small size of the tribe, they have been the subject of a major collaboration with the De-

partment of Housing and Urban Development to redesign government-funded Native American

housing in a way that is aligned with Pinoleville Pomo social norms and cultural beliefs (Ed-

munds, 2013, p. 802). A common desire is for housing to be more “aspirational,” to “[nurture]

hope and energy and solidarity” and reinforce the nation’s importance on the lives of both indi-

viduals and tribes, as well as the lives of nonhuman entities in the local ecosystem (Edmunds,

2013, p. 802).

Like many cultures, traditional Pomoan food was seasonal. Small game was hunted year-

round. In the spring, the Pomo people gathered clover, potatoes, and seeds to make staple foods
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yuhu and pinole; they journeyed to the coast for seaweed––or “sea bacon”––abalone, and shell-

fish, which was dried for winter supplies. The summer months were marked by berry gathering

in the hillsides, trading with neighboring villages, and more fishing. Acorns collected in the fall

and stored for the winter––supplemented by Pepperwood nuts, buckeyes, deer and elk––were

most essential to the Pomoan diet (“Our history”). The people also gathered and ate insects such

as grasshoppers and caterpillars (Edwards & Oswalt, 2018). While their methods of obtaining

food have changed over time, the Pomo continue to eat traditional foods, which have been in-

creasingly used at social and ceremonial events since the cultural revival initiatives characteristic

of the 1990s (Patterson, 1998, p. 14).

Pomoan music revolved around singing, with two-part singing––in which one person

sang the melody while another vocally kept the rhythm (or “called the rock”)––representing the

most common music performed for "ceremonial dancing, blessing, doctoring, warding off evil,

bringing good luck in the harvest, hunting, attracting a mate, [and] gambling.” Split-stick rattles,

foot drums, and a two-toned whistle are examples of other Pomoan musical instruments. Danc-

ing often accompanies Pomoan singing, and The Pinoleville Band of Pomo Indians host an an-

nual public festival, featuring the traditional songs and dances (Edwards & Oswalt, 2018).

Pomoan educational beliefs are rooted in the culture’s respect for its elders, who were re-

sponsible for taking care of the home and tending the fire, as well as forming special bonds with

the youth to pass down tribal history, while adult tribe members hunted and gathered (Edwards

& Oswalt, 2018). The Pomoan educational system of practices was “severely altered by the in-

troduction and enforcement of American standards” during the Rancheria Period (1900-1935),

when Pomo people were forcibly moved from their land to rancherias and reservations (Theodor-

atus, 1974, p. 209). Attempts at the integration of Pomo children in local public schools in the
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early 1900s were met with conflict, and led to the opening of “emergency” schools on the

rancheria, often run by nuns and female missionaries. By 1952, however, a consolidation of area

schools returned many Pomo children to the public school system (Theodoratus, 1974, p. 210).

Today, some individual tribes, like Pinoleville Pomo Nation, offer a variety of educational ser-

vices, such as a Native American Youth & Partnership Program, Youth Reinvestment Program,

Tutoring Center, and Head Start (“Our history”).

Speaking broadly and incompletely, the values and student strengths of Pinoleville Pomo

align with the general body of research surrounding Indigenous learners. In general, learners

value “process over product”, and there is high interest in using stories and legends as teaching

paradigms (Pewewardy, 2002, p. 35). Native learners are unlikely to engage in any form of com-

petition that highlights the disparities between them. In some cases, white educators have found

that when one student doesn’t know the answer to a question, the entire class will refuse to an-

swer in solidarity. More effective is the use of problem-solving techniques to encourage cogni-

tive development (Pewewardy, 2002, p. 36). Cooperative learning strategies are in line with stu-

dents’ preferences of “harmony, unity, and [a] basic oneness” (Pewewardy, 2002, p. 36).

While indigenous learners as a group are necessarily as inherently creative and intelligent

as any other group of learners, a number of misconceptions arise in student teacher interactions

which cast these learners in a negative light—a case where different and equally valid learning

differences are seen as an inherent issue with the Native learners (Pewewardy, 2002, p. 34). A

plurality of indigenous students tend to be both visual learners and field dependent, meaning they

require context to situate knowledge (Pewewardy, 2002, p. 26). The lack of accommodation of

this necessity has been most clearly evident in mathematics, which “seldom includes overt con-

nections with tribal culture” (Pewewardy, 2002, p. 29). This is not for a lack of opportunities—
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the visual representation of beads, common in many Native American cultures, and specifically

notable in the Pinoleville Pomo culture, can accommodate a wide range of mathematical ideas in

ways that can create meaning for learners; so far, this set of possibilities has, for the most part,

remained unexplored (Pewewardy, 2002, p. 30). The failure of teachers to build strong relation-

ships with students is, however, one that can be seen across all disciplines. One of the most im-

portant steps educators can take is to use the community as a setting for student learning and put

emphasis on place-based and service learning projects which are in conversation with the tradi-

tions, needs, and values of local communities (Harrington, 2013, p. 496).

The realms of classroom procedures also leave a desire for more culturally responsive

practices. White educators who employ trial and error or inquiry methods have found resistance,

not because students are incapable of considering new problems, but because there is an empha-

sis on avoiding unfamiliar ground which students have not yet mastered. In many indigenous

cultures, “a respectful attitude toward a task involves doing a task well” (Pewewardy, 2002, p.

30).

Traditional Western classroom management techniques may also prove ineffective. Of-

ten, “obedience is approached through explanations of the desired behavior,” but more important

even than the explanation is the source which it comes from (Pewewardy, 2002, p. 32). As seen

in the linguistic construction of Northern Pomo, elders, and particularly grandparents, are impor-

tant members of communities. The task of instilling desired behaviors in young people is often

left to them (Pewewardy, 2002, p. 32). Thus, modern research on indigenous education is recog-

nizing the necessity for any successful classroom management strategy of the “active participa-

tion of family members in educational activities” (Harrington, 2013, p. 496).

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An investigation of Pomo culture, both in the realms of culture and education, unveils a

rich system of values and traditions which can guide us as educators both in the specific and in

the general. While we may never encounter a Pomoan student in our education career, thinking

about the broader range of Indigenous experiences is useful in understanding why students from

these backgrounds, or others, may not buy what our education system is selling. Drawing even

broader conclusions, looking at this specific culture can help us to understand how nuanced any

culture, and any student, can be with details we may be unaware of. In Pomoan cosmology,

Lizard wrestled Coyote at the beginning of creation to advocate for giving humans the right to

speak. While we do not speak for our students, we can, in filling in our perpetual lack of under-

standing, create environments where students from Pomo culture or any other have that same

ability to advocate for themselves.

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Works Cited

Barrett, S. A. (2017). Ceremonies of the Pomo Indians. University of California Publications in

American Archaeology and Ethnicity, 397–441.

Campbell, L. (1997). American Indian languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America.

Oxford University Press.

Edmunds, D. S., Shelby, R., James, A., Steele, L., Baker, M., Perez, Y. V., & TallBear, K.

(2013).

Tribal Housing, Codesign, and Cultural Sovereignty. Science, Technology, & Human

Values, 38(6), 801–828. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43671157

Edwards, L., Oswalt, R. L. (2018, May). Pomo. Encyclopedia.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/united-states-and-canada/north-american-indige-

nous-peoples/pomo

Harrington, B. G., & (D. Michael Pavel), Ch. (2013). Using Indigenous Educational Research to

Transform Mainstream Education: A Guide for P–12 School Leaders. American Journal

of Education, 119(4), 487–511. https://doi.org/10.1086/670962

Igoa, Cristina. (1995). The inner world of the immigrant child. New York: St. Martin’s

Press.

Our history. Pinoleville Pomo Nation. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2021, from

https://pinoleville-nsn.gov/heritage/our-history/.

Patterson, V. (1998). Change and continuity: Transformations of Pomo life. Expedition

Magazine, 40(1), 3-14. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/change-and-continu-

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Pewewardy, C. (2002). Learning Styles of American Indian/Alaska Native Students: A Review

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of the Literature and Implications for Practice. Journal of American Indian Education,

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Seltenrich, N. (2012). Healthier Tribal Housing: Combining the Best of Old and

New. Environmental Health Perspectives, 120(12), A460–A469.

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Theodoratus, D. J. (1974). Cultural and social change among the coast central Pomo. The

Journal of California Anthropology, 1(2), 206–219. https://www.jstor.org/stable/

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Zainuddin, H., Morales-Jones, C., Yahya, N., & Whelan Ariza, E. (2011). Fundamentals of

teaching English to speakers of other languages in K-12 mainstream classrooms. (4th

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