The Bearer of This Letter: Language Ideologies, Literacy Practices, and the F

Summary: New Literacies and Old Ways

Summary New Literacies and Old Ways Efforts to create sustainable and viable language programs have continued to grow at Fort Belknap. The Speaking White Clay (Gros Ventre) Language immersion project was awarded an ana grant in 2004. The same year, the Assiniboine community at Lodgepole secured an ana grant to begin language assessment and continue to develop instructional materials. The most visible change is the newly constructed Cultural Learning Center at Fort Belknap College, which not only houses the tribal archives and provides meeting rooms and classroom space for the language programs but also symbolizes the central role the languages serve in the college’s curriculum.1 Because the understandings and developments regarding Indigenous-language literacy at Fort Belknap are ongoing, it is difÀcult to offer any conclusive statements regarding its potential. Rather, I want to offer a brief summary of the main issues discussed and explore a few unexpected continuities that emerge throughout the preceding chapters. From the early educators and agents at Fort Belknap who viewed acquisition of English as a sign of assimilation , to the community members who currently understand the endurance of Indigenous languages as resistance to a 242 summary colonial experience, language is considered a potent symbol of a person’s identity as either Gros Ventre or Assiniboine. Struggles concerning language education, therefore, mirror the communities’ own Àght for self-determination. Because of its learned status and constructed nature, literacy, both English and Indigenous, has become emblematic of this effort . But symbols are not merely reÁections of beliefs; they can inÁuence practice. A fundamental point to this study is how the use of literacy as a symbol has affected language use within the reservation communities. Underlying assumptions about the meanings of literacy have impacted the ways in which English was adopted by the community and continue to inÁuence the development of Indigenouslanguage programs The association between written forms and English has its roots in the development of the reservation system. The creation of the reservation meant the restriction of both choice and movement for the communities. In his historical description of the Assiniboine to J. W. Wellington in the early 1950s, Speak Thunder emphasizes the freedom of the prereservation era: “In the past life of the Assiniboine, our life was free. We lived it much to our own satisfaction. Do not misunderstand this telling of the past life of the Assiniboine and get the wrong impression that we were not a respecter of people or law as was known by us. . . . What I want understood is that we were free to do and act as we liked.”2 The use of documents reinforced the idea of containment , and the documents themselves were symbols of that containment. Literacy, therefore, was interpreted as a means of control rather than liberation. But learning to read and write English was also seen as a way of accessing and controlling certain forms of power. 243 summary These meanings changed throughout the reservation era as people became more proÀcient in both reading and writing, but this ultimately contributed to the association between literacy and English. Since the beginning of the schooling system on the reservation, Indigenous-language literacy was denied opportunities to develop and, as a result , the orality of Gros Ventre and Nakoda were emphasized by the different communities. This increased in the later decades when orality was connected to Native identity through various performances and served as an opposing force to the domination of English. Presently, there are efforts to redeÀne Indigenous-language literacy and use it for language maintenance and revival. The transformation of literacy from a symbol of a colonial past into an example of self-determination is difÀcult. This has to do both with the problematics of the past as well as the special function of literacy as a learned technology . In regard to current efforts to develop languageeducation programs in South America, Nancy Hornberger notes, “SpeciÀcally, there are tensions and contradictions inherent in transforming what has been and continues to be a tool for standardization and national uniÀcation into, simultaneously, a vehicle for diversiÀcation and emancipation .”3 This transformation is challenging but not impossible . What becomes necessary is for the communities to associate literacy with other cultural forms and practices and identify distinct arenas for the use of Indigenouslanguage literacy. The meanings of Indigenous-language literacy continue to change within the present communities...