Captured in the Middle: Tradition and Experience in Contemporary Native American Writing

Introduction

INTRODUCTION rz;AFTER SPENDINC SUMMERS AT THE INDIAN • reservation ranch where I was raised, after a ten-year stint in the whiskey trade, and after leaving the practice of law, I have always returned to school. As a young man I more than once found myself unhappy about my life and decided the best chance I had to do anything about it was to "go back to school," recognizing the potential of the educational process to create, change, and sustain attitudes and practices across cultures. Iam particularly interested in relations between American Indian cultures and "mainstream," or "majority," culture , by which I mean those who primarily identify themselves with the largest groups ofpeople, that is, whites, Americans, or Europeans. I am intrigued by a transformative project that seeks to influence culture by means other than militant or nationalist approaches, such as the older American Indian conceptions ofthe Great Mystery as well as Keats's idea ofnegative capability, the power to remain open to mysteries , uncertainties, and doubts. This kind ofthinking is a form ofautobiography , a straining after self-knowledge where we both hate and love what we are discovering, where we continually recognize truths that attack other truths, where we do not understand ourselves too quickly. 3 CAPTURED IN THE MIDDLE Although education is the frame for my work, I am concerned that colleges and universities clearly encourage objective or disinterested learning, defining the organization of knowledge and inducting the young into society by inculcating certain values. A primary value is balancing the abstract ideas of education with consideration of what is actually happening in the lives of those with whom it seeks to interact. Conversely, the complete overshadowing ofsocial attitudes by the social attitude of education itself, which seeks to suppress those who are different , cranky, or critical by placing them in a social context, should be avoided. Imagine the outrage of those who have set out to destroy that which they perceive as complacent and devitalizing in universities and in culture upon being redescribed by their enemies as "contributors to modern thought." As part of this process, there are times lately when I feel like a missionary . It is a strange feeling - my lifework has evolved to a place of attempting to interpret to predominantly white middle-class students those American Indian worldviews that I believe may be helpful to them. In the context ofAmerican history, this is an inversion ofthe usual situation , where missionaries sought to "save" Indians. The reversal is dazzling to me, because it was just a short time ago that the American educational system went to some lengths to convince me that I would be lucky to make it through trade school. I now believe that almost anything can happen, even that we can teach people to stop killing each other and the environment. Thinking about what good might result from this opportunity consistently leads me back to my childhood. Like the majority of Indian people, I have not had an easy life in most ways. It goes without saying that being Indian in the twentieth century is not easy; being part-Indian and truly bicultural is even more difficult, requiring twice the effort of being located in anyone culture. Add to that a missing father, grinding poverty, and all the usual predatory forces, and it begins to become more clear how tricky it is for individuals like me to get smart enough quickly enough to survive. Being bicultural can also be tv.·ice as rewarding. In spite of some harrowing times 00- and off-reservation, I remember well that there 4 Introduction was always something pleasurable and comforting associated with the place and people ofthe Fort Belknap Reservation where I was raised. For many years I did not understand how Gros Ventre values ofpositive selfidentity , family, and community contributed to my sense ofwell-being. As I became more aware, however, I began to understand that those values compose a beliefsystem equal to any other "religion." My thinking about how my background relates to teaching has led me to consider that, despite some popular stereotypes, life is not easy for university students either. Even the most pampered individuals encounter the lonesome valley of intellectual challenge, which is probably one ofthe most level playing fields that exists. In addition to being on their own, a surprising majority ofstudents seem to be working hard to create a better future. As a result, we have...