In indigenous societies where oral tradition is extraordinarily
developed for transmitting knowledge from one generation to the next,
access to the sacred and everyday knowledge of the society comes by
following the protocols that have existed from time immemorial. While
the Western academy entrusts its accumulated knowledge to its libraries
and scholars, indigenous societies entrust their accumulated knowledge
and wisdom to carefully chosen keepers and seekers of knowledge.
Knowledge is also encoded in the stories, songs, ceremonies and
experiences that, once entrusted, each knowledge keeper assumes the
responsibility to safeguard and transmit to future generations. (Bell et
al., 2005, p. 80).
Inspired by The
United Nations’ declaration of choosing 2019 as the International Year
of Indigenous Languages, we—at the Social Responsibility
Interest Section (SRIS)—would like to use this special issue as an
opportunity to join this important celebration.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, indigenize is defined as to “bring under the control…
of the native people.” For this reason, the title of this special issue
is, purposefully, “Indigenizing TESOL” because we want to use our
newsletter as a platform to share stories and works that honor the
traditions of Indigenous peoples around the world and their ways of
learning. In addition, in this special issue, we (Luis and Ethan), use
this platform to place Indigenous stories, authors, and students front
and center while celebrating Indigenous peoples, cultures, and languages
around the world. Furthermore, we hope that with this special issue we
are giving our readership the opportunity to reflect on their teaching
practices and on how we are serving our Indigenous students within our
learning environments.
This issue was conceived through meaningful collaboration of
extraordinary contributors who share with us their stories, messages,
and success. Ethan and I (Luis) believe that in this special issue we
bring together articles that convey a clear message: Indigenous is
unique, Indigenous is beautiful, Indigenous is vibrant, Indigenous is
here! Indigenous is the connection of past, present, and
future.
It is, then, with great enthusiasm that we introduce this
issue’s contributions. Our issue begins with “The Lumbee Indian
Community of East Baltimore” by Ashley Minner. In her article, Ashley
shares the story of the Lumbee Indian community, the largest tribal
group of Baltimore, and shares gorgeous portraits of four community
members as part of The Exquisite Lumbee project. Next, Elizabeth Jenner
and Maria Konkel recommend specific resources that teachers of
Indigenous Mayan students can use in their classrooms. In their article
titled “Supporting Indigenous Mayan Identity in U.S. Classrooms,”
Elizabeth and Maria propose beautiful Mayan poetry and music to empower
Mayan learners. In our third article, titled “Invisible Literacies Among
Multilingual Children: A Reflection,” Lydiah Kananu Kiramba inspires us
through her personal anecdote of growing up multilingual in a rural
community of Kenya where she was forced to negotiate among her cultural
knowledge, literacy, and language in Kimeru (her native language) and
English, the language of instruction.
In the next article, titled “Lessons From Guatemala: Fear of
Cultural and Linguistic Loss and a Curriculum of Urgency,” Lydia A.
Saravia revisits a curricular practice that she labels as “curriculum of
urgency” as a reflection of the possible cultural and linguistic loss
for Indigenous migrants arriving in the United States—a timely topic! In
our sixth article, titled “Decolonizing My Pedagogy, Indigenizing My
Being,”I (Luis Javier Pentón Herrera) take this opportunity to share my
story of personal and professional transformation as I learned that one
of my English learners was Ixil (Indigenous Maya). Our newsletter ends
with a powerful message written by Judith Landeros and Pablo Montes
titled “Language and Land Have Always Been in Communication: Unsettling
English Pedagogical Practices.” In this article, Judith and Pablo make a
compelling call to action to ESOL educators teaching Indigenous
communities around the world to “critically examine how the teaching of
the English language is not innocent and carries sociopolitical and
historical legacies that must be disrupted.”
Each of the contributions composing this special issue shares a
message of support and advocacy toward our Indigenous student
populations. In unison, these contributions become a compendium of
passionate voices honoring Indigenous languages, cultures, customs, and
populations around the world.
We would like to end this introduction with a beautiful
teaching from the Ute peoples, which reminds us, TESOL educators and
readers, of what equality in human relations truly means. It is through
the act of walking beside one another that we learn to appreciate our
similarities and differences—we begin to practice respect.
Don't walk behind me; I may not lead.
Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow.
Walk beside me that we may be as one.
~Native American Ute Proverb~
References
Bell, N., Davis, L., Douglas, V., Gaywish, R., Hoffman, R.,
Lambe, J., … Williams, S. (2005). Creating Indigenous spaces in the
academy: Fulfilling our responsibility to future generations. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples,
1(1), 64–84.
Indigenize. (n.d.). In Oxford dictionary.
Retrieved from https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/indigenize |
