Teaching at the Edge of Empire, Part II

Sep 26, 2009 13:53

Continued...

I don't mean by all of this to imply that Navajo is a dying culture (or Fiji or Lenape or Makah, for that matter) or that the appellation 'Diné' is in any way appropriate.  I mean to indicate that members of my own Euro-American culture are attempting to eradicate this culture.  The attempt is entirely transparent to us- it just ( Read more... )

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doesdance October 1 2009, 02:57:04 UTC
i feel like we have some innate differences. every wound will heal itself until the sun swallows the earth.

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monkeyparts October 1 2009, 05:37:51 UTC
- So long as the wound doesn't fester, and so long as there isn't someone cutting new holes in the body, yeah, I agree with you- every would heals given enough time and a safe place to convalesce. Here, there's a bad case of cultural gangrene and a zealous Euro population all too keen on carving yet more chunks out of the Navajo Nation. So long as my culture remains in power in this part of the world, I don't see any healing going on here.
Unfortunately I cannot dismiss the trauma experienced every day, for three generations, by many of my students and neighbors by reckoning that one of these days things will be peaceful here again. I also am acutely aware that simply recognizing that there are ongoing problems isn't enough either. Gallup's a gordian knot of a town; I don't know anyone here, who's wrestled with these dilemmas, who has any clear solution.

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