Negotiating the History of Education: How the Histories of Indigenous Education

Expand the Field

Author(s): Yesenia Lucia Cervera
Source: History of Education Quarterly , august 2014, Vol. 54, No. 3 (august 2014), pp.
362-383
Published by: Cambridge University Press

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 Negotiating the History of Education: How
the Histories of Indigenous Education
Expand the Field

Yesenia Lucia Cervera

Today many historians of education reference Bernard Bailyn's Educa

tion in the Forming of American Society and Lawrence Cremin's three
book series American Education as important works that created a turning
point in the field.1 Yet, few have constructed histories of education as
narratives in the transmission of culture across generations and even
fewer have taken time to critically analyze the possible meanings, im
plications, and limitations of proposals set forth by Bailyn and Cremin.
Thus, while the definition of education was broadened, research has
not advanced new research topics and designs. This special issue frames
histories of American Indian cultures as education histories thereby
bringing this pressing conversation into critical analysis and pushing
the field toward new agendas and frameworks. The authors demonstrate
that constructing American Indian histories requires new methods and
concepts be employed and advocate for the dismissal of Euroameri
can frameworks. Accepting their proposals, historians of education can
hope to gain fresh histories of teaching and learning that can expand
research in new and exciting ways.
Narratives of Indigenous education, as defined either by the peo
ple themselves or through their actions, represent the most signifi
cant contributions of these essays because they are entirely different
from the mainstream of writing in the field. Adrea Lawrence's "Epic
Learning in an Indian Pueblo: A Framework for Studying Multigener
ational Learning in the History of Education," documents Santa Clara

Yesenia Lucia Cervera is a PhD Student at School of Education, Indiana University,

Bloomington, IN; e-mail: ycervera@indiana.edu.

1 Bernard Bailyn, Education in the Forming of American Society: Needs and Opportuni
ties for Study (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1960); Lawrence A.
Cremin, American Education: The Colonial Experience, 1607-1783 (New York: Harper &
Row, 1970); American Education: The National Experience, 1783-1876 (New York: Harper
& Row, 1980); and American Education: The Metropolitan Experience, 1876-1980 (New
York: Harper & Row, 1988).

History ofEducation Quarterly Vol.54 No. 3 August 2014 Copyright © 2014 History of Education Society

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Negotiating the History of Education 363

Pueblo Indians' lessons in navigating U.S. policy and p

der to preserve land rights while also highlighting missed
for cross-cultural learning between Euroamericans and
constructing these historical episodes revealed the errors
education through prevailing Euroamerican frameworks.
many Euroamericans were unable to recognize systems of
outside of schooling, thus overlooking American Indian kn
missing learning opportunities. Today, historians of educa
to neglect unfamiliar systems of education and fail to see
tories of education. To produce better research in the futu
proposes the framework of epic learning to trace the mult
education that took place as diverse societies negotiated t
tence. In "American Indian Histories as Education Hist
Warren boldly proclaims all of Indigenous history as mu
secting and dissecting educational narratives yet to be cr
structing these histories will require that historians of edu
nize tribal curricula and employ innovative methods to un
teaching and learning that took place within Native cont
describes numerous examples of Indigenous education histo
demonstrating how such narratives can be reconstructed,
they hold for expansion in the field, and also to prompt h
education to move forward in new directions. Lastly, Ku
Kroupa's "Education as Arikara Spiritual Renewal and Cult
tion" tells an Arikara education narrative, which highlight
and other cultural episodes in Arikara history. By defini
using an Arikara worldview, Kroupa exemplifies an edu
rative told from an Indigenous perspective. The importan
epistemology in the construction of education history is key;
are transformative. Together, the presented essays break aw
mainstream of writing in the field and urge historians to
to education outside of Euroamerican curricula.
Historians of education have been preoccupied with documenting
the development of schooling since the field's inception. Revisionism
beginning in the 1960s briefly promised fresh perspectives, yet schol
arly efforts were comfortably situated on schools and other similar in
stitutions before the implications of new conceptualizations were ever
seriously considered. This is not to imply that there have not been gains
in the field; many of the studies produced since the 1960s have certainly
benefited from the lessons of revisionism. Nuanced accounts of the past
that do not follow a conclusively progressive storyline have become the
standard. Our historical narrative has also been enriched by the addition
of histories documenting the experiences of marginalized people.
Despite these important gains, progress has been incomplete. Most
in the field have failed to engage in an expansion of the framework

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 364 History of Education Quarterly

through which we define and search for educatio

of stories we tell. Lawrence, Warren, and Kr
of education as cultural phenomena revealing
provide numerous examples of what history co
its comfortable Euroamerican operationalizat
clear, inquiries must always begin with a discu
is. To that end, an overview of the history o
below. It shifts from general trends to researc
order to situate the research presented in this
field.

A Brief History of the Historiography of Education History

Ellwood P. Cubberley's Public Education in the United States published
in 1919 established many parameters for the history of education as a
field of study.2 Cubberley's influential work documented the history
of education in the United States as the inception of the nation's first
schools, leading to the actualization of a public schooling system, and
its development over time. Summarizing the book's contributions, Sol
Cohen wrote that research before Public Education was often nothing
more than "chronologies and compilations of facts, largely about ed
ucational institutions, laws, and administrative codes" until Cubberley
reimagined the field "by shifting the emphasis from Europe to America,
from intellectual history to social history, from history of educational
theory to history of educational institutions."3 Lawrence Cremin sim
ilarly acknowledged that Public Education synthesized a vast amount of
information and also provided "a clear and plausible thesis" for the his
tory of education.4 After Public Education, many historians continued
to write similarly progressive institutional histories seeking to create
a practical use for the field by connecting national progress with de
velopments in school policy and practice.5 It was not until 1960 that
revisionist efforts, from two distinct camps, problematized the tradi
tional interpretation of the history of education and provided the field
with new parameters.
Bernard Bailyn, in Education in the Forming of American Society, be
gan the reassessment of the traditional paradigm in 1960 by criticizing

2 Ellwood P. Cubberley, Public Education in the United States (Boston: Houghton

Mifflin, 1919).
3 Sol Cohen, "The History of the History of American Education, 1900-1976:
The Uses of the Past," Harvard Educational Review 46, no. 3 (1976): 305-306.
4Lawrence Cremin, The Wonderful World of Ellwood Patterson Cubberley: An Essay
on the Historiography of American Education (New York: Bureau of Publications, T eachers
College, Columbia University, 1965), 1.
Cohen, "The History of the History."

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Negotiating the History of Education 365

Cubberley and other traditional historians of education

similar and predictable histories.6 In The Wonderful Wo
agreed that traditional historians' work had "a striking u
interpretation" that treated the field as "the history of p
alizing itself over time."7 More specifically addressing Pu
Cremin argued that Cubberley had erroneously equated e
schooling, distorted history "by seeking to inspire teache
sional zeal rather than attempting to understand what rea
and failed to contextualize his research within the larger
text.8 Breaking the traditional storyline, Cremin's The T
of the School questioned the long-held belief in the relatio
public schooling and national progress by documenting
the progressive movement, while also pointing out its l
schools.9 Cremin questioned whether the ideologies and m
progressive movement were appropriate in a society that
immense change by the 1950s. The answer was no. Havin
the tensions within the field and the decline of progress
Cremin instead viewed the role of the historian as "p
sight' and 'perspective,' not 'ammunition, inspiration, or
sought to 'repair the bridge' between the history of educ
discipline of history."10 The criticism set forth by Baily
marked the beginning of new trends as most in the fie
progressivism had outlived its usefulness.
Bailyn and Cremin believed a reconceptualization o
would improve research in the field. Bailyn convincingl
education occurs outside of schooling, contending that i
tire process by which a culture transmits itself across ge
Given this reconceptualization, Bailyn argued that Edwa
Transit of Civilization, which described the development o
culture in the United States through examination of con
language, folklore, literature, medical notions, land, and
have been a seminal work" as it was entirely "a study in
of education."12 He pushed historians of education to st
velopments in Euroamerican culture and dedicated the s

6 Bernard Bailyn, Education in the Forming of American Society: Nee

nities for Study (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press,
'Cremin, The Wonderfid World, 25.
8Ibid., 43.
'Lawrence A. Cremin, The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American
Education, 1876-1957 (New York: Vintage Books, 1964).
10Cohen, "History of the History," 323.
"Bailyn, Education in the Forming of American Society, 14.
12Ibid., 6; Edward Eggleston, The Transit of Civilization from England to American
in the Seventeenth Century (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1901).

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 366 History of Education Quarterly

Education in the Formation of American Society

for exploration.
Cremin answered Bailyn's call for expansio
ries entitled American Education documentin
developments in institutions outside of schoo
work of Bailyn, Cremin's research defined ed
systemic, and sustained effort to transmit, ev
attitudes, values, skills or sensibilities, as well
effort" and thus, according to Wagoner, pro
ucation somewhat more meaningful if almos
more general" approach.14 Moreover, Wagone
Bailyn's work might be considered the "mani
of education, Cremin's study on American so
strated the important role for historians of
general historians.
While many historians agreed on the
Cremin's definition was still "staggering" for
formidable challenge to our ability to compr
cess."15 Each factor introduced in Cremin's m
further analysis within the field, while also op
less other directions for research. This prom
questions:

If education was thought to include all of the variegated factors that af

fected human development, should historians of education abandon their
traditional emphasis, the study of schools? Was it possible or desirable to
the field, and how did one distinguish between education and non-educative
influences in society?16

In their essays, Lawrence, Warren, and Kroupa engage these ques

tions and build upon them with their own research. They eagerly add
fresh inquires: if education is cultural phenomena, when did education
begin? If education occurs outside of schools, how can we identify it?
How will we recognize it when we see it? What methods will we use
to capture and document it? What stories will we tell? Because the task
of cultural revisionism was abandoned before it ever made a significant

13Cremin, American Education.

14From Jennings L. Wagoner Jr., "Review: Historical Revisionism, Educational
Theory, and an American Paideia," History of Education Quarterly 18, no. 2 (1978): 204—
205. In defining education, Wagoner was quoting Cremin's definition from another
source.

15Ibid., 202, 206.

16William J. Reese and John L. Rury, "Introduction: An Evolving a
Field of Study" in Rethinking the History of American Education, eds. Wil
John L. Rury (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 1-16.

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 Negotiating the History of Education 367

impact in the field, unanswered questions remain the lega

historians.
Attention shifted from cultural revisionism in tandem with the so
cial turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s and the accompanying research
developing in other disciplines, including research from general his
tory departments. As "research priorities and designs" shifted, "the
Bailyn-Cremin challenge became moot" and radical revisionism took
prominence.17 Histories of education outside of formal Euroameri
can schooling remained uncommon in the field and few explored the
meanings and possibilities for this new paradigm. Radical revisionists
proposed a different method to stifle progressivism. Rather than expand
the definition of education, these works instead focused on atrocities
committed within schools emphasizing that not all development had
been progressive.
Radical revisionism began with Michael B. Katz's The Irony of Early
School Reform in 1968.18 Documenting the controversy surrounding the
development of common schools, The Irony highlighted the role of pol
itics, and specifically, the power of the social, political, and economic
elite, to influence schooling. It impacted the field by emphasizing that
schooling had historically been used to serve specific purposes that
benefited certain groups over others. Evoking his own viewpoint, Katz
later described his generation of crucial historians as "part of a larger
community of historians re-writing American history—revising the his
tory of race, gender, and labor as well as foreign-policy, the American
West, and the meaning of reform" who found energy and inspiration
from the Civil Rights, Women's rights, anti-War, and War on Poverty
movements.19 Following Katz, more historians followed suit and wrote
similar stories that documented historical oppression through school
ing
Marginalized groups and people of color became an important fo
cus of these new histories. Several scholars argued that public schools
were in fact created to assimilate and Americanize immigrants and
minorities.20 Joel Spring developed these ideas in popular textbooks.
For example, The American School was premised on an interpretative
framework that included "conflict over cultural domination," "ideolog
ical management," "racism," "economic issues," and "consumerism" as

17Donald Warren, "History of Education in a Future Tense," in Handbook of Re

search in the Social Foundations of Education, ed. Steven Tozer et al. (New York: Routledge,
2011), 41-60.
"Michael B. Katz, The Irony of Early School Reform: Educational Innovation in Mid
Nineteenth Century Massachusetts (New York: Teachers College Press, 2001).
"Ibid., xix.
20Ibid., 8.

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 368 Histoiy of Education Quarterly

central themes.21 Spring continued his work

lishing a second textbook, Deculturalization a
ity, which concentrated scholarly efforts on
experiences endured by many people of colo
turalization's central theme described "the e
stroying a people's culture (cultural genocide
new culture."23 School educators played a cr
"preach[ing] equality of opportunity and good
ing in acts of religious intolerance, racial segr
and discrimination against immigrants and n
books similarly reversed progressive histories
oppression through schooling. Narratives con
ing the history of schooling with analysis f
efforts to control the so-called education of p
appeal of such histories lay in their contemporar
educational differences across race and ethnic
"root" of outcomes in order to provide histor
Other historians opted for a more "mod
history of education, while nevertheless reje
gressive paradigm. R. Freeman Butts reasone
did not provide "the kind of history we need
neither the cultural approach nor the radical
ately revise Cubberley or produce the concep
to improve the history of education. Instead
ify Cubberley's essentially optimistic and na
order to produce "a more balanced conceptio
cial change."26 Butts' approach signaled a cha
the field; one that would be largely institutio
ate institutions within their appropriate socia
contexts; and would avoid overtly celebratory
ative accounts of history. David Tyack, for e
to provide "a more balanced appraisal of the
schools as harshly."27 He proclaimed, "[Social

21Joel Spring, The American School, 1642-2004 (Ne

2-3'
22Joel Spring, Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality: A Brief History of the
Education of Dominated Cultures in the United States (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010).
"Ibid., 8.
''Ibid.,2.
"For example, as noted in the title: Clarence J. Karier, Paul C. Violas, and Joel
Spring, Roots of Crisis: American Education in the Twentieth Century (Chicago: Rand Mc
Nally, 1973).
26R. Freeman Butts, Public Education in the United States: From Revolution to Reform
(New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1978), v-vii.
"Reese and Rury, "Introduction," 4.

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Negotiating the History of Education 369

form in every organized society," adding that describ

historically imposed on children "is hardly news." R
important analysis should focus on the "intent, metho
social control. The goal was to "expose" and "correct"
the past.28 Tyack further explained the need for histo
to avoid generalizations and take a more understandi
those working in schools. New research focused on s
scholars looked for "turning points" as important tim
torical analysis. Historians moved forward, embracin
forth by Butts and Tyack; they provided the field w
ries of changes in schooling and their connections to l
Authors of textbooks followed suit.29
Historians learned from the trends of radical rev
knew to consider race, socioeconomic status, and gen
analytical themes in respectable history.30 Many inte
with federal interests and actions with analysis sprea
tions and the people within. For example, Carl F. Ka
the Republic provided a detailed account of the comm
proposed that

the eventual acceptance of state common-school systems wa

by Americans' commitment to republican government, by the
Native Protestant culture, and by the development of capitalism

Noting that soon after revisionist efforts began, t

ded back to its institutional focus, Reese and Rury hi
award-wining books of the 1980s and 1990s that foc
of schooling. In Rury's view, these awards demonstra
to address issues of interest to the profession."32
By this time, revisionist movements had all but d
While the proposals of cultural revisionists were more
doned, the lessons of radical revisionists continue to

28David B. Tyack, The One Best System: A History of America

(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974), 10.
29For example, John L. Rury, Education and Social Change: Conto
American Schooling (New York: Routledge, 2013).
ir,For example, as stated by David Tyack and Elisabeth Hansot,
Public School Leadership in America, 1820-1980 (New York: Basic
31 Carl F. Kaestle, Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and Am
IS 60 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1983), x.
3 John L. Rury, "The Curious Status of the History of Edu
Perspective," History of Education Quarterly 46, no. 4 (2006): 571-
33As noted by Warren in "History of Education in a Future
Rury, "Introduction," and Rubén Donato and Marvin Lazerson
American Educational History: Problems and Prospects," Educatio
8 (2000): 4-15.

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 370 History of Education Quarterly

scholarship produced to this day. In their his

Donato and Lazerson concluded that "whether
icizing it" subsequent research in the history
radical revisionist trends to produce narra
tion, vocational education, high schools, teach
can Americans, African Americans, regional h
urban schools, and the role of foundations in
American Indians' educational history similar
tention as a result of the radical revisionist trend

A Brief History of the Historiography of

Education

Since contact, Indigenous educational systems went unrecognized and

disregarded by European and later Euroamerican peoples. Vine De
loria Jr. and Daniel R. Wildcat analyzed differences in educational
perspectives between Indigenous people and Euroamericans in Power
and Place: American Education in America. Acknowledging Euroameri
can ethnocentrism, Deloria states, "For many centuries whites scorned
the knowledge of American Indians, regarding whatever the people
said as gross, savage superstition and insisting in their own view of the
world."35 Instead, Western epistemology permitted a very narrow view
of education; often equating it with European institutions, primarily
schools.36 The history of education has likewise reduced much of the
history of American Indian education to the history of American Indian
schooling, thus overlooking other forms of education.
Some historians, particularly American Indian scholars, have been
perceptive to the field's limiting conceptualizations of education. They
have intuitively critiqued historians of education for failing to recognize
Indigenous education outside of Euroamerican institutions and ideol
ogy.37 Yet, the construction of these historical narratives has typically
not been the central focus of their work. In Indian Education in the Ameri
can Colonies, which highlighted American Indian education from 1607 to
1783, Margaret Connell Szasz had intended to use a broader view of ed
ucation that included the influences of family and religion.38 However,

34Donato and Lazerson, "New Directions," 7.

3SVine Deloria, Jr. and Daniel R. Wildcat, Power and Place: Indian Education in
America (Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2001J, 1.
36 K. Tsianina Lomawaima and Teresa L. McCarty, To Remain an Indian: Lessons
in Democracy from a Century of Native American Education (New York: Teachers College
Press, 2006).
37 Several of the authors mentioned in this essay make this point.
38Margaret Connell Szasz, Indian Education in the American Colonies, 1607-1783
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007).

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Negotiating the History of Education 371

upon beginning her research, she found "Bailyn's defi

to be unwieldy," and decided instead to focus on the
ing. Szasz justified her position by stating that scho
a "crucial dimension of the larger process of cultura
Hence, while Indigenous educational traditions hav
historians of education and by historians of American
alike, imposed schooling has remained the primary t
in the field. Moreover, although church-based progr
day schools, reservation boarding schools, and off-res
schools were all European institutions aimed at educa
Indians, the history of off-reservation boarding sch
the most scholarly attention. This has further narrow
history of American Indian education.
Perhaps in part due to the legacy of radical revisi
search on American Indians has focused on imposed
revisionists sought to dismantle the progressive thesis
ditional historians by revealing more sinister episod
U.S. history; the history of American Indian schooling su
Numerous scholars have constructed historical accounts to document
Euroamerican efforts to eradicate Indigenous cultures through imposed
schooling. In general, the history of American education has greatly
benefited from such accounts. Research has not only documented Eu
roamerican ideology, policy, and practice, but has also analyzed the
experiences and interpretations of Indigenous people in order to create
more balanced accounts of the past.
Indian boarding school histories have provided valuable narratives
that add a great deal to our collective national history, expanding the
field in important ways. Research on boarding schools has documented
the social and political influences, ideologies, policies, and people that
implemented American Indian schooling. David Wallace Adams' Ed
ucation for Extinction, a general boarding school history, revealed that
these schools were enacted with the mission to replace American In
dian cultures and identities with those deemed appropriate by people in
positions of power. Using official school documents, he also described
the ideologies that had supported boarding school policies. Connecting
boarding school objectives to the histories of more general American
ization efforts in schools, Adams situated boarding schools within the
larger public education context.40
While the general attitude toward American Indians was put
plainly in the saying, "the only good Indian is a dead one," Brigadier

39Ibid., 3.
^'David Wallace Adams, Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding
School Experience, 1875-1928 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995).

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 372 History of Education Quarterly

General Richard Henry Pratt, who founded t

boarding school, instead argued that boarding
Indian in him and save the man."41 School
Indian cultural traditions targeted the you
reservation boarding schools could separate ch
dismantle other cultural influences in such a way
be molded into socially acceptable citizens acc
standards. Yet, processes and practices were m
intended and the successful destruction of American Indian culture and
identities was never fully accomplished.42
Inferior views held toward American Indians, along with the in
stitutional policy of deculturalization, culminated in many atrocities
occurring within boarding schools in the name of education. Students
endured several assaults on their identity. Upon arrival, students' ap
pearance was among the first things changed. Hairstyles, clothing, and
even names were changed to conform students to Euroamerican prac
tices. School policies enforced the suppression of cultural ideologies
and traits such as language, ceremony, songs, etc., and instead offered
teachings in Euroamerican culture. Because many schools operated in
a strict military sense, disobedience was met with severe and often bru
tal punishment. Adding insult to injury (often literally), students were
taught a remedial curriculum that focused on vocational training. They
were even made to do a great deal of the daily duties needed to operate
the facilities.43
This brief boarding school narrative has been documented in much
of the research on the history of American Indian education. However,
as Adams and other scholars point out, Indian students were gener
ally not passive victims; many resisted a great deal of boarding school
life. American Indian scholars have been particularly helpful in adding
the voices of Indigenous people to mainstream historical narratives.
They have added insights from students, parents, family members, and
community members to provide more integrated accounts of board
ing school experiences that offer alternative narratives. K. Tsianina
Lomawaima's They Called It Prairie Light and Brenda Child's Board
ing School Seasons used documents left by American Indians, oral his
tories, and American Indian life-views to tell histories from Indian
perspectives. While these histories certainly portrayed the inhumanity
of boarding schools, the authors also highlighted complex American

41Ibid., 26.
42 Adams, Education for Extinction-, Szasz, Indian Education in the American Colonies-,
K. Tsianina Lomawaima, They Called It Prairie Light: The Story of Chilocco Indian School
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995); Lomawaima and McCarty, To Remain an
Indian.
43 Ibid.

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Negotiating the History of Education 373

Indian narratives that exposed differences in experiences and

tations.44
Collectively, narratives on boarding schools conveyed the trauma
American Indian people endured. In enrolling children, some families
had trusted in the promises of sound education and decent care for their
children; others had turned to boarding schools out of desperation and
need. Entire communities struggled as families were torn apart. Native
youth grappled with the transition to life in boarding schools; they expe
rienced homesickness and had difficulty adjusting to a new, unfriendly,
and threatening environment.45 Students resisted threats whenever pos
sible and, upon adapting to boarding school life, many learned collective
oppositional behaviors and attitudes. At Chilocco Indian school, for ex
ample, the youth created a school culture that fostered their identity and
made life in boarding schools bearable. They formed bonds and loy
alty with each other, often spanning across tribal affiliations. In some
cases, their Indigenous identities were even strengthened by boarding
school.46 Over time, some institutions allowed certain expressions of
Indigenous cultures in schools as a means to control identity.
As Lomawaima and McCarty pointed out in To Remain an In
dian, changing American ideologies impacted policies and created some
fluctuation throughout history. Lomawaima and McCarty argued that
U.S. federal policy toward Indigenous people has historically operated
within a shifting "safe zone." In the "safe zone," sociocultural differ
ences are negotiated between the U.S. government and Indigenous peo
ples; the former attempts to eliminate the latters' cultural differences
that are regarded as threatening. In schools, Euroamerican school of
ficials made efforts to narrow and perpetuate only "acceptable" forms
of Native American expression by schoolchildren. After publication of
the Meriam Report, changing policy allowed more American Indian
cultural influence in schools; still only those cultural aspects that were
perceived as nonthreatening could be incorporated into school life, such
as songs and art.
Lomawaima and McCarty further demonstrated that throughout
history and into contemporary times, American Indians have struggled
to "remain Indian." Resistance to Euroamerican policy and practice has
continued today, manifesting in revitalization and self-determination
movements. Issues such as bilingual and bicultural education have
become markers of these movements in public schools.47 Szasz's

^Lomawaima, They Called It Prairie Light-, Brenda Child, Boarding School Seasons:
American Indian Families, 1900-1940 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000).
45Ibid.
46Lomawaima, They Called It Prairie Light.
47Lomawaima and McCarty, To Remain an Indian.

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374 History of Education Quarterly

"American Indian Education: Historical Perspe

the contemporary struggles for self-determin
text. She recognized that American Indians ha
systems of education that should be acknowl
into schooling today. As Szasz made clear, th
to most American Indians because the struggl
are always a backdrop to more specific educa
preting historical events proves quite ironic; a
society over the years, Native Americans have
preserve culture and language (the very oppos
were intended for in their inception). By hig
struggles in schooling, these scholars were abl
present showing Native American agency and
vation, and adaptation of Native American ed
expansion of the schooling tradition.
Overall, the history of American Indian edu
history of education in several ways. Most obv
a largely overlooked group by adding Native
periences to our national narrative. The atroc
forced schooling and American Indians' strug
been documented in several accounts. Many A
have also problematized the interpretation of
alone. They have insisted that American Indian
educational methods that have been overlooke
they have explained American Indian adaptatio
lighted how activists have sought to use schoo
Indigenous cultures. Research that has focuse
has brought agency and voice to overlooke
contemporary struggles in schooling to the hi
Despite these numerous gains, there is a gr
know, particularly about American Indian tr
current issue helps us to pick up and move forwa
scholars left off. It dislodges the field from it
ing of education thus decolonizing knowledge
here emphasizes American Indian education o
therefore adds new and exciting narratives t
this work can be used to the benefit of contempo
movements. In order for these movements to
nous cultures, understanding traditional educa
transmitted across generations outside of Eur

48Margaret Connell Szasz, "American Indian Educati

Peabody Journal of Education 61, no. 1 (1983): 109-112.
Lomawaima and McCarty, To Remain an Indian.

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Negotiating the History of Education 375

becomes crucially important. This current issue might be

porary school struggles by providing more insight.

Moving Beyond Schooling and Euroamerican Framew

This issue picks up on some of the conversations started
tural and radical revisionists in the history of education and
many of the insights from historians of American Indian
lizing conceptualizations brought to the forefront by cu
ists, histories of education are constructed outside of schooli
instead cultural phenomena. However, these studies furth
cultural revisionist agenda by researching cultural deve
side of the Euroamerican foci, instead of focusing on Am
educational narratives. Even though research on Native
ucation has astutely noted Indigenous educational traditio
presented in this issue provides more detailed narrative
torical episodes. Furthermore, the work of Kroupa emp
portance of self-determination and revitalization in edu
providing historical context for important developments
rary American Indian education. In line with radical revi
these studies problematize Euroamerican ideology and et
Warren's essay pushes historians of education outside of
comfort zones into the culturally unknown. Lawrence's w
ethnocentrism by emphasizing missed opportunities for
learning and overlooked histories of education. Kroupa p
ample of history constructed through an Indigenous fram
all, the histories presented here add a great deal to e
arship and have potential to move the history of educat
in new directions. Rather than focusing on the histo
tion, these authors propose decolonizing research in t
education.
Historian Donald Warren has most explicitly critique
and topics in the history of education and illustrated the
new education narratives in American Indian history. In
of Education in the Present Tense," Warren argued that
research approach can lead historians to new narratives
the institution of slavery and American Indian historie
of such.50 On American Indian education history, Warr
that while scholars have noted the existence of Indigenou

50In "History of Education in a Future Tense," Warren uses an ind

to the study of the history of education derived from Richard Storr
of History: Some Impressions," Harvard Educational Review 31, no. 2

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 376 History of Education Quarterly

traditions before the arrival of Euroamericans, t

sider the implications. Instead, assumptions

skew research at the outset, slanting emphasis toward

formal institutions, their personnel, policies, and progra
an expansive sifting for contextual variables and their effe

Omissions have created the following three

historians of education should note: (1) without
about Indian education history outside of Euroam
the costs and benefits of imposed schooling cou
(2) Euroamericans' cross-cultural lessons canno
(3) there exist numerous Indian educational histo
overlooked.52 In this issue, "American Indian Hi
History" develops investigations along these line
on overlooked American Indian education histor
"messiness" of doing historical research, predica
ingly clear when studying the educational histo
ans. Engaging dilemmas, Warren's goal is to "exp
of searches for educational phenomena presente
by American Indians."53 New frameworks are n
existing cannot capture American Indian history.
The field's lack of reliable and valid existing
sources, and analytical methods are particular
many resources, problems arise in both the reco
ical episodes and consideration of historical m
sures historians that because the past cannot be r
must settle for reconstructing "elusive pasts plaus
"onto admittedly loose and shifting soil," he ana
ture across multiple disciplines, including anthr
history, folklore, oral traditions, genetics, demo
economics, and statistics, in search of clues ab
education.54 He finds that traces of historical te
have been documented (though not recognized) o
Arikara, Apache, Tohono O'odham, Comanche, C
other American Indian nations. Warren concludes that American In
dian histories are multifaceted connecting, diverging, and interweaving
histories of education.

51 Warren, "History of Education in a Future Tense," SO.

S2Ibid., 50-51.
"Donald Warren, "American Indian Histories as Education History," in this issue,
256.
54Ibid.

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Negotiating the History of Education 377

Finding, analyzing, and making sense of all relevant

quires "multiple and different ways of sensing."55 In other w
an "outsider" can begin to construct an American Indian
she must be knowledgeable with American Indian episte
laborate with someone who is, or "settle for corrupted
At the very least, researchers should consider diverse e
riculums and processes, especially when researching diff
groups. Warren cautions that relying on familiar narra
researchers from their task and perpetuate existing kn
does not help the field move forward.
Social formation lies at the heart of Warren's research
"suggesting larger, more complex projects than schooling"
be understood as histories of education.57 The Apalachees
whose population ranged in the tens of thousands, were
prosperous in present-day Florida before European co
their talents were sailing, navigation, farming, creating a
tecture, geographic design, and complex warfare tactics
European accounts ignore many of their accomplishmen
itary developments were duly noted. However, even thi
curiosity; accounts do not ponder how the Apalachees lea
of what they had accomplished. Their educational history
written; a task that might never be possible because the
not survive Euroamerican diseases and thus their oral traditions and
other important sources were not preserved.58
In another example, the Comanches, who were also vast in num
bers and influence from the early 1700s to the mid-1800s, survived
contact leaving more diverse sources that provide clues about their
culture and, hence, education. Searching for traces of teaching and
learning, Warren uses second-hand accounts to construct a Comanche
history with educational development at its core. The Comanche "fash
ioned a culture" according to changing times in order to maintain
and build power. Versatility was at the core of their cultural devel
opment. The introduction of European horses and guns was used to
strengthen their power base to the extent of "subverting the colonial
aspirations of New Spain." Politically they learned to navigate and
exploit the interests of England, France, and the United States. In ad
dition to these macro lessons, Warren finds educational lessons within
Comanche communities. Using the Comanches' "horse-based econ
omy" as an example, Warren states that men trained children in horse

"Ibid.
56Ibid., 267.
"Ibid., 261.
58Ibid„ 273.

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 378 History of Education Quarterly

riding until they became experts on horses w

of rounding up, stealing, breeding, and tam
plishments earned them quite a reputation. W
with unerring marksmanship, Comanches' ridi
implying in both cases cross-generational
practice.
The reconstructed histories on American Indians reveal that ed
ucation was "originally instrumental in cultural change and continu
ity" serving as a "shield against assimilation and extinction and the
resource for feeding alternative plans."60 Hence, not only did American
Indians possess fully developed educational institutions, but education
was a fundamental part of their existence allowing them to develop
their cultures as necessary. American Indians' educational curriculums
are relevant in all aspects of their history and stand out in episodes
of contact with Euroamericans. These educational narratives can only
be considered when historians engage "a different way of sensing" or
a different way of doing research. Warren essentially proposes that a
paradigm shift is needed in order to move the field forward.61
Lawrence's exploration of Santa Clara Pueblo Indian history led
her to an interesting discovery: a teacher's realization of missed oppor
tunities for cross-cultural learning because of Euroamerican ethnocen
trism and racism. "Epic Learning in an Indian Pueblo: A Framework
for Studying Multigenerational Learning in the History of Education"
uses this opening story to prompt readers to question the meaning and
scope of education. She argues that a misguided or narrow view of ed
ucation allowed oppression of Indigenous people through schooling in
the first place. Because Euroamericans refused to see the education that
American Indians possessed prior to contact, they missed opportuni
ties for learning. Santa Clara Pueblo Indians, on the other hand, and
perhaps as representative of all Indigenous peoples, were not afforded
the luxury of ignorance and ethnocentrism. In a changing world, they
were forced to understand Euroamerican education—not only through
imposed schooling, but also in order to negotiate politically within
Euroamerican systems.
Exploring historical negotiations of land ownership, use, and man
agement, Lawrence is able to advance education as cross-cultural lit
eracy. Lawrence builds on the well-theorized concept of "double
consciousness" to explain how Pueblos not only had to understand their
culture but Euroamerican culture as well in order to survive and prosper
in shifting contexts. Santa Clara Puebloans learned and relearned how

S9Ibid., 280.
60Ibid., 269.
61 Ibid., 284.

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Negotiating the History of Education 379

to navigate fluctuating political regimes; they had to lear

adapt to Spanish, Mexican, and finally U.S. imposition. T
in order that they could keep cultural aspects importan
such as place.62 Thus, cross-cultural learning was imperat
Indians' existence. The finding might imply that Pueblos
more education compared to whites. Yet, the irony was n
some Euroamericans, such as Clara D. True, the teacher
opening, did in fact lament the missed opportunities.
Because the field has focused on the development of s
Euroamerican culture, most historians of education hav
ognize the histories of learning proposed by Lawrence.
provided in these narratives have subsequently been exc
scholarly analysis. In order that diverse histories of teac
ing can be included in the history of education, Lawrenc
concept of "epic learning" as a new framework to guide r
learning is multigenerational teaching and learning grou
experiences of past actors" situated in "time and place."
the complexity of historical context, Lawrence writes, "T
texts that time marks and which a learning event inhabi
the cultural milieux, perceptions, and expectations of th
rience a learning event."64 Thus, because basic concepts,
and place, have different meanings for different cultura
textualizing historical episodes requires understanding hi
cultures and worldviews. The history of Indigenous grou
be analyzed as mere episodes of U.S. history because t
diverse narratives are limited by Euroamerican framewo
quently lose meaning.
American Indian scholars have long questioned studie
about Indigenous people utilizing Euroamerican research
They have also questioned the validity of Indigenous nar
from Euroamerican perspectives. Rather than histories
histories of "epic learning" have the potential to tell stor
prefer Euroamerican culture. Because epic learning follow
and learning of historical actors throughout history, it is no
a larger Euroamerican narrative and thus "loses its directi
and gains the potential of exploring "the learning of a ho
people from a variety of vantage points."65

62 Adrea Lawrence, "Epic Learning in an Indian Pueblo: A Framewo

Multigenerational Learning in the History of Education," in this issue
"Ibid., 294.
64Ibid., 295.
65Ibid., 292.

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 380 History of Education Quarterly

In a vivid example, Kroupa utilizes method

to construct an Arikara educational narrative in "Education as Arikara
Spiritual Renewal and Cultural Evolution." Arikara sources and episte
mologies, such as oral traditions, oral histories, songs, spirituality, and
archeological surveys, are used to tell a genuinely Arikara history of
education. Eschewing existing research frameworks that lack genuine
American Indian resources and orientations, Kroupa does not privilege
Euroamerican history, research frameworks, or institutions in his his
torical reconstruction. The result is unlike anything in the field today.
Kroupa begins his historical narrative in 2009 when an Arikara
Medicine Lodge was built for the first time in more than 50 years.
This contemporary episode orients readers into an Arikara worldview.
Kroupa explains that the Lodge serves as a "sign of hope" that the
Arikara people might continue to practice and develop their ancient
way of life notwithstanding several cultural attacks. In his view, culture
is not static but rather something that lives on within the Arikara people
themselves. Understanding the importance of historical events, such
as the construction of the Medicine Lodge, requires recognition of
a "longer history of cultural change and continuity, of adaption and
survival."66 At the root of this history and culture is education.
In this essay, multiple instances of educational phenomena are
threaded together to tell a cultural story; one whose meaning is em
bedded in Arikara rather than Euroamerican culture. Describing the
Arikara, Kroupa states, "They were a committed and expert agricul
tural people whose religious practices grew from the soil as profusely
as their crops."67 While this statement might seem cryptic to those
not familiar with American Indian worldviews, Kroupa demonstrates
that understanding Arikara epistemology is key to understanding their
educational history. As with the symbolism of the Medicine Lodge,
corn is another important organizational tool for Arikara educational
phenomena. Kroupa provides several examples.
Historically, Arikaras' cultivation of corn was a scientific accom
plishment of great proportions; the peoples' extensive knowledge of
the crop is education onto itself. On their spiritual journey northward
along the Missouri River, Arikaras were able to pass expertise to other
tribes, such as the Omaha and Oglala Sioux. Arikara women, who were
able to breed corn in diverse and harsh ecosystems, were "arguably the
greatest gardeners in the world."68 Women passed knowledge and skills
to future gardeners by taking daughters, nieces, and other girls to assist.

66Kuunux Teerit Kroupa, "Education as Arikara Spiritual Renewal and Cultural

Evolution," in this issue, 303.
67Ibid., 306.
68Ibid., 313.

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Negotiating the History of Education 381

Oral traditions passed to the youth emphasized the import

and further immersed the lessons of Arikara horticulture. These educa
tional examples demonstrate the significance of corn to Arikara culture.
Without understanding the proper place of corn to the Arikara people,
a researcher could easily miss instances of education such as these.
With the arrival of Euroamericans came a great deal of hardship
and cultural destruction for the Arikara. Prophecy foretold losses while
conjecturing that the Arikara would once again rebuild. Today, signs
of cultural continuity and creation can be witnessed. In addition to
Arikara architecture, Kroupa describes the creation and performance
of new Mother Corn songs and traditional ceremonies. By highlight
ing revitalization efforts, Kroupa's educational narrative connects the
past and the present, manifesting in episodes of cultural change and
continuity. For Kroupa, a tribal member engaged in self-determination
efforts, Mother Corn and the Medicine Lodge have "clear educational
function [s]" and yet few historians of education have understood them
as such.69
Stark omissions in the history of education are considered by all
three essays in this series, leading authors to propose new frameworks
and the inclusion of American Indian tribal histories to expand the
history of education. Through their appraisals of the field, the es
says revive and expand revisionist dialogues of the 1960s and 70s.
Lawrence, Warren, and Kroupa generate new ideas about the sources,
methods, concepts, narratives, meanings, and epistemologies needed
to move forward in proposed directions. The contemporary relevance
of these essays lies in their ability to decolonize the history of educa
tion by uprooting it from its Euroamerican focus and to strengthen
movements for revitalization and self-determination in Indian country
today.

In Support of Frameworks and Methods Proposed

When Bailyn proposed an expansion of the field in 1960, few his
torians responded by constructing narratives outside of the existing
paradigm that equated education to Euroamerican schooling. Likewise,
few engaged in scholarly discussions about the types of phenomena that
should be considered in order that useful histories for the field could
be pursued. In this issue, Warren, Lawrence, and Kroupa engaged
these unanswered inquiries and added others. Each essay presents new
histories of education and proposes new analytical frameworks for the
history of education. The authors move past Bailyn's and Cremin's own

69Ibid„ 304.

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3 82 History of Education Quarterly

considerations to include social formation outsid

tural forms as histories of education. In additio
many of the themes of radical revisionism by not
of U.S. imposition. The authors point to Indige
that have gone unnoticed because of Euroamer
also the persistence and popularity of colonize
works today, such as periodization schema that
turning points. These contributions should cat
historians of education; particularly those with
torically marginalized experiences.
Radical revisionists' efforts to document the educational histo
ries of people of color reiterated the implementation of Euroameri
can schooling as an agent of oppression and assimilation. In the case
of American Indians, research focused "on the explicit intentions of
Euroamericans to save Indians by destroying their cultures."70 Even
those narratives that emphasized the experiences and voices of disen
franchised groups were situated in Euroamerican institutions; primarily
schools. As Kroupa lamented, "A view that takes boarding schools as
the centerpiece of Indian education leaves the long history of learning
among Indigenous American people unexplored."71 Despite all revi
sionist trends, the history of education has primarily housed narratives
that privileged both Euroamerican educational institutions and con
ceptualizations and thus has reproduced colonizer ideologies, although
perhaps unintentionally.
Conversely, the studies proposed here have more power to de
colonize the field by confronting and problematizing Euroamerican
concepts. Institutions, timelines, frameworks, definitions, and methods
must all be scrutinized for biases before they can be applied in re
search. Lawrence arrived at "Epic Learning," which traces the teaching
and learning that occurs across generations and avoids any institutional
or conceptual constraints, as a means to avoid premature conclusions.
By following traces of teaching and learning, history loses any "direc
tional privileges" European or otherwise.72 Employing this framework,
she was able to center Santa Clara Pueblo political education and Eu
roamerican missed educational opportunities in her research; topics
that have received very little attention in the history of education.
Focusing more exclusively on tribal histories of education, Warren
similarly warns against uncritical uses of typical periodization schemes,
as they tend to impose "a stencil of Euroamerican turning points"

70Warren, "History of Education in a Future Tense," 54.

"Kroupa, in this issue, 304.
"Lawrence, this issue, 295.

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Negotiating the History of Education 383

and overlook "those that emerge from Indian experienc

ically varied by region, climate, and social group."73
cation as cultural adaptation and social formation reveal
peoples' curriculums were organized around turning poi
to the people and not always aligned with major histori
Euroamericans. The narrative of Comanche adaptation an
most powerfully exemplifies this point. For instance, the int
European horses and guns created important cultural ch
ciency in both became integral to Comanche education an
unprecedented affluence.74 Likewise, by beginning his n
the construction of a traditional Medicine Lodge, Kroupa
as a major Arikara turning point that warrants attention.
privileges an Arikara epistemology as the story unfolds
authors make clear, before new histories can be construc
that influence research to an extent of limiting finding
regarded. Instead, new ideas about time, place, space, an
curriculums are utilized in this groundbreaking work.
A final contribution of this new research that warrants a
its ability to add historical context and future directions to r
and self-determination efforts among American Indians
ous research has made clear the ways in which Indigeno
historically struggled to retain their traditional ways of l
their struggles continue, often manifesting in advocacy
sion of Indian cultures in contemporary schooling practi
promotion for bilingual and bicultural education has mad
strides, the work presented in this issue might give furt
by providing more examples of traditional curriculums
included in the schooling of American Indian children t
encing contemporary revitalization efforts among the Arikar
of Kroupa most explicitly shows potential. Arikara youth
lot to gain if traditional platforms, such as the Medicin
utilized. This implication makes this research extremely
schooling today.
Collectively, the essays in this special issue urge hist
ucation to broaden the way they think about and look fo
the past. Expanding and providing new directions for an
the field, the research here unveils limitless opportunities fo
of education today. As a graduate student in the history o
is my personal hope that this research moves our conve
the field in new exciting directions. There is a lot we can

73 Warren, this issue, 261.

74Ibid., 271.
75Kroupa, this issue, 303.
76Lomawaima and McCarty, To Remain an Indian.

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