Bionote:
Jon Reyhner is a Professor of Education at Northern Arizona University where he has taught since 1995. He taught junior high school for four years in the Navajo Nation and was a school administrator for ten years in schools serving American Indian students in Arizona, Montana, and New Mexico. He served as a commissioned author for the U.S. Government's Indian Nations at Risk Task Force and has written extensively on American Indian education and Indigenous language revitalization, including co-authoring Language and Literacy Teaching for Indigenous Education and American Indian Education: A History. He co-chaired the Fourth and Eighth Annual Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposia at Northern Arizona University in 1997 and 2001 and currently coordinates the Symposia Steering Committee. He currently maintains a Teaching Indigenous Languages website at http://nau.edu/til with links to full text on-line copies of his co-edited books, including his 2017 Honoring Our Teachers and 2020 Honoring Our Students.
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This interview features in TMYS Review December 2024, available worldwide via Amazon.
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TMYS: You have worked extensively on American Indian education and Indigenous language revitalization, including co-authoring Language and Literacy Teaching for Indigenous Education and American Indian Education: A History. What is your opinion regarding the recognition that non-mainstream languages receive globally?
Non-mainstream languages tend to get marginalized. Some Christian missionaries have even called American Indian languages as the languages the Devil speaks. However, recent initiatives by the U.S. government and the United Nations have fore-fronted Indigenous efforts to revitalize their languages and cultures.
TMYS: How different are American-Indian movements vis-à-vis the global tribal movements? Are there any fiction or nonfiction books that you would like to recommend to the audience across the world, which can help the tribal sensitivities find mainstream attention?
I think the movements universally are for self-determination and sovereignty. I have a list of books I recommend for educators at https://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/AIER.html. I am looking for the very books you want me to list for my multicultural education class. I think novels often work best. I am currently using Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian that my students, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, respond to well.
TMYS: Do you think mainstream institutes play any significant role in violating and/or preserving tribal cultures? Have you worked on any of such initiatives? If yes, what kinds of violation and/or preservation have you noticed?
Northern Arizona University (NAU) where I teach is currently doing some work to help “Indigenize” itself. I am currently involved in an NAU/Tribal College & University partnership, and I presented a PowerPoint presentation on culturally-based education at Navajo Technical University. I am currently working on a new monograph that has a chapter describing one of NAU’s efforts. A draft of a chapter in that book can be found at https://www2.nau.edu/jar/HOILC/HOILC7.pdf. Conservative institutes in the United States want to “free” and detribalize the Indian. In the 1950s, Republicans in Congress tried to terminate U.S. Indian Nations (Reservations) and several were terminated. Recent books like The New Trail of Tears: How Washington Is Destroying American Indians (2016) continue to push that agenda as part of their focus on individualism and equality (versus equity).
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This interview features in TMYS Review December 2024, available worldwide via Amazon.
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TMYS: You are an expert in Bilingual Multicultural Education. What role, in your opinion, do the special educational institutes meant for indigenous learners play in the promulgation of Tribal culture and identity through multiculturalism?
I think tribal colleges and universities in the United States, Intercultural universities in Mexico, and Maori universities in New Zealand are making great strides in advancing Indigenous students educationally and Indigenous points of view worldwide. Things like the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the current UN decade of Indigenous languages are examples fore-fronting Indigenous causes and voices.
TMYS: Has the advancement brought by globalization and digitization ushered in any significant changes in the lives of tribal communities? What are the pros and cons?
Globalization and the idea that one-size-fits-all is certainly a negative in regard to tribal communities, other than the globalization of the Indigenous rights movement. However, some Indigenous groups have been using Internet based social media to advance their Indigenous languages and to network what are otherwise isolated communities of speakers.
TMYS: Request you to comment on some of the initiatives taken to induct members of the tribal community within mainstream society while preserving their culture's indigeneity.
It’s still small effort, but Indigenous language immersion schools that are revitalizing Indigenous languages are certainly, I think, helping Indigenous youth find a positive identity (which Alexie’s character at the beginning of his book mentioned above, certainly does not have). These schools teach academic (STEM) content as well as Indigenous language and culture.
TMYS: As a researcher and professor, how do you inspire your audience to aim for an inclusive culture? What kind of initiatives are taken up by individuals and organizations to support tribal movements will help amplify your academic vision?
I try to emphasize the positive aspects of Indigenous cultures and how Euro-American individualism can have a negative effect on people’s lives. In the United States and elsewhere, supporting politicians and political parties that support tribal sovereignty is very important. I have already mentioned some of the things my university is doing.
(Interview by Antara Patro)
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This interview features in TMYS Review December 2024, available worldwide via Amazon.
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