In this Book

summary
Since 1879, Indian children from all regions of the United States have entered federal boarding schools—institutions designed to assimilate them into mainstream society. Chemawa Indian School in western Oregon, one of the nation’s oldest and the longest still in continuous operation, is an emblem of a system that has intimately impacted countless lives and communities.

In To Win the Indian Heart: Music at Chemawa Indian School, Melissa Parkhurst records the history of the school’s musical life. She explores the crucial role music was meant to play in the total transformation of Indian children, and the cultural recovery and resiliency it often inspired instead. Parkhurst chronicles the complex ways in which students, families, faculty, and administrators employed music, both as a tool for assimilation and, conversely, as a vehicle for student resistance—a subject long overlooked in literature on Indian education and the assimilation campaign.  

Combining oral histories of Chemawa alumni with archival records of campus life, the book examines the prominent forms of music making at Chemawa—school band, choirs, private lessons, pageants, dance, garage bands, and powwows. Parkhurst traces the trajectory of federal Indian policy, highlighting students’ creative responses and the ways in which music reveals the inherent contradictions in the U.S. government’s assimilation practices.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Title Page, Other Works in the Series, Copyright
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. 7-8
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Introduction
  2. pp. 9-19
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 1. The Origins of Chemawa Indian School, and Why Music Mattered
  2. pp. 20-33
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 2. "Chemawa Always Had a Huge Band": The School Band as Social Barometer
  2. pp. 34-53
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 3. A Hegemonic Tool Redeemed? Chemawa's Voices and Choirs
  2. pp. 54-78
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 4. Private Lessons: For All, or the Talented Few?
  2. pp. 79-97
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 5. Staging the Past, Preparing for the Future: Theater and Pageantry
  2. pp. 98-119
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 6. Dance: From Exacting Prohibitions to an Integral Part of Campus Life
  2. pp. 120-141
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 7. Rocking the Northwest: Chemawa's Garage Bands
  2. pp. 142-156
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 8. Powwow: Chemawa Students Dancing, Drumming, and Hosting
  2. pp. 157-180
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 9. After School: Keeping the Music Going
  2. pp. 181-188
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 189-202
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Notes
  2. pp. 203-222
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 223-240
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Back Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.