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Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: March 22, 2019 at 11:46:46 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-AmIndian]: Amerman on Emery, 'Recovering Native > American Writings in the Boarding School Press' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Jacqueline Emery. Recovering Native American Writings in the > Boarding School Press. Lincoln University of Nebraska Press, 2017. > 336 pp. $55.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8032-7675-8. > > Reviewed by Steve Amerman (Southern Connecticut State University) > Published on H-AmIndian (March, 2019) > Commissioned by F. Evan Nooe > > Toward a Native Point of View > > How does one reconstruct the history of a people who have left no > written records of their experiences? I suspect that I am not the > only one in the field of American Indian history to have heard some > version of this question from students, the general public, and more > than a few fellow historians. Setting aside the fact that written > records are but one among many ways to learn the stories of the > past--and setting aside the fact that written sources provide us with > neither an infallible nor a complete picture of that past--scholars > of Indian history have had to frequently point out that, contrary to > popular presumptions, many Native people did indeed leave behind > written accounts of their lives. By collecting a large, diverse, and > revealing set of writings by American Indian people in this book, > Jacqueline Emery has thus helped join the important and ongoing > effort to correct that basic misperception. > > More specifically, Emery--a professor of English--has gathered > together Native-authored texts that appeared in turn-of-the-century > boarding school newspapers, part of a "vast newspaper archive that > remains largely understudied" (p. 2) but much of which is also > "inaccessible to scholars and students" (p. 32). By tapping into > these underused and hard-to-get sources, she has collected a sizable > number of publications, which she has grouped into two parts. Part 1, > entitled "Writings by Boarding School Students," has sections for > letters, editorials, essays, and "short stories and retold tales," > while part 2, entitled "Writings by Late Nineteenth- and Early > Twentieth-Century Native American Public Intellectuals," includes the > work of such notables as Charles Eastman, Gertrude Bonnin (also known > as Zitkala-Ša), Carlos Montezuma, and Henry Roe Cloud (all of whom > also happened to be tied into the Society of American Indians at the > time). In all, there are thirty-five Indian writers in this > collection. To her credit, Emery takes the time to supply readers > with background information on each of them, revealing an impressive > diversity in terms of gender, tribal affiliation, and schools > attended. The writings are pulled from about fifteen boarding school > newspapers--from Carlisle, Hampton, Chilocco, Santee, and Seneca > schools--and Emery indicates that she performed only light editing on > the texts she ultimately selected for inclusion. > > In her helpful introduction, Emery readily acknowledges that, as is > the case with any set of sources, these writings must be handled > carefully. In general, white boarding school administrators > maintained considerable control over what was published and, > accordingly, one has to view these texts with that in mind. However, > in keeping with broad developments in this historiography, Emery > energetically asserts that it would be wrong to dismiss these sources > as merely assimilationist propaganda. "Boarding school newspapers, > much like the schools themselves, were complex sites of negotiation," > she writes. "Native Americans developed multiple strategies to > negotiate the different and sometimes competing demands and > expectations of Native and non-Native audiences in order to gain > visibility and the authority to speak" (p. 2). > > And yet, the language of assimilation in these writings--while it > should not necessarily be surprising--remains quite striking in its > pervasiveness. "If there were many big schools like this ... we think > the Indians would get along very nicely," one student wrote in 1881. > "When all the Indians become educated there would be no more wild > Indians but all civilized and educated people" (p. 60). Indeed, words > like "civilized," "advancement" (p. 158), and "progress" (p. 215) > appear repeatedly throughout the book, as do "savage" (p. 158), > "barbaric" (p. 181), "primitive" (p. 191), "superstitious" (p. 182), > and "in the dark" (p. 182). > > The question remains: to what extent did the writers truly believe in > the ideas that such words conveyed, and to what extent were they > simply writing what they knew their teachers wanted to hear (or even, > to what extent did their teachers actually alter their words)? > Perhaps the most extensive insight we get on some of this comes with > Bonnin's texts. Bonnin presents some of the most obvious examples of > resistance--she gives a sharply negative description of her boarding > school experience and also offers a vigorous defense of traditional > Indian dances--but what is further distinctive is that, in this case, > Emery is able to also give us a glimpse of the school administrators' > interventions into her writings. Her work has "a literary quality," > the officials concede, but add, "We regret that she did not once call > to mind the happier side of those long school days, or even hint at > the friends who did so much to break down for her the barriers of > language and custom, and to lead her from poverty and insignificance > into the comparatively full and rich existence that she enjoys today" > (p. 254). > > Elsewhere, it seems that the extent of the schools' editing is less > known, and the flashes of resistance are often more subtle. But the > resistance is there. While few may approach Bonnin's directness in > defending Indian culture, several at least challenge the notion that > it has to be completely destroyed in order to achieve "success" in > the modern world (p. 246, e.g.). There are also several descriptions > of Indian cultural practices, whether the Nez Perce running tradition > (p. 104), traditional labor divisions among Lakota men and women (p. > 224), or the extended collection of Indian folk tales and creation > stories. Further poignant are the glimpses that appear of traditional > Indian education. With "close observation and patience in practice," > notes Eastman, for instance, a child's eye "swept the ground, and the > moment he saw a footprint he knew whether it was that of a deer or a > moose, a bear or a buffalo. He knew whether that track was made an > hour ago or the day before yesterday.... He had been thoroughly > taught" (pp. 221-22). Intentional or not, such descriptions serve to > challenge the prevailing notion of the time that "education" was > something that Indians lacked until whites generously bestowed it > upon them. > > Thus, this book contains many words of agency, along with many words > of assimilation. However, sorting out the extent of agency versus > assimilation remains one of the difficult, but crucial, balancing > acts in the field. Some of the writers here may well have used > assimilationist words without really believing them, at least not > fully, and so it can be wrong to overestimate the power of those > words. But--now as well as then--it can be unwise to underestimate > the power of words, too. Some may have been able to withstand the > relentless barrage of terms that denigrated Indian cultures, but > others may have gradually become worn down by it, to the point of > succumbing to it (or at least to much of it). > > And then of course, further complicating these kinds of delicate > calculations are the Native people who seemed to express both > mindsets simultaneously. "[S]ometimes, within the same issue [of a > newspaper]," notes Emery, "writings by Native Americans who assert > tribal identities in an effort to preserve them against the school's > programs of cultural erasure appear alongside Native-authored texts > that promote the school's assimilationist agendas" (p. 9). As one > example, before describing traditional family practices among his > people, a Yankton Sioux boy felt compelled to write, "Before the > Indians become [_sic_] civilized they used to have foolish accustoms. > I will tell you a few of them" (p. 75). In addition, some of the > "resistance" (p. 279) was actually not so much against the school's > educational goals as it was against whites who thought Indians were > incapable of a white-style education. In other words, in such cases, > the person was in fact _supporting_ the civilizing mission more than > they were refuting it. > > In any case, any reckoning with boarding school history must consider > the profound damage as well as the amazing survivals. One of the > starkest manifestations of that damage came in the form of ill > health, with tragic numbers of students suffering from disease, too > often ending in death. One such ailment that appears in the pages of > this book is trachoma, a disease that progressively robbed victims of > their sight. In fact, this particular malady might stand as an apt > metaphor for the ways in which we have seen, and not seen, boarding > school history itself. For one thing, many remain blind to this > history altogether. But then, even for those who do notice it, they > may tend to see it only partially: first as only a history of > victimization, later as a "restrictive assimilationist-resistance > binary" (p. 5). Thus, by carefully doing the time-consuming work of > collecting the writings for this book--writings by Indian people > themselves that are scattered in difficult-to-access newspaper > archives--Emery has provided a valuable service. She has created a > resource that can help us restore and recover at least some of our > sight, bringing more detail, nuance, complexity, and humanity into > view, if only we can take the time to look closely enough. > > Citation: Steve Amerman. Review of Emery, Jacqueline, _Recovering > Native American Writings in the Boarding School Press_. H-AmIndian, > H-Net Reviews. March, 2019. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=52855 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
