Autobiography: Stories by a Sioux Teacher Evelyn Alexandria Good Striker B.Ed., University of Lethbridge, 1986 A One-Credit Project Submitted to the Faculty of Education of The University of Lethbridge in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Education LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA December, 1998 I ABSTRACT Human science research is a fOTTn of writing. Creating a phemonenological text is the object of the research proces-s-(Van Manen, 1990). In the case of this-project my writing. and research serves as pedagogy. Anecdotal narrative as story form is an effective way of dealing with certain kinds of knowledge. Anecdotes can -teach us. The use of story or of anecdotal material in phenomenological writing is not merely a literary embellishmenL The stories themselves are -examples -of practical theorizing. Anecdotal narratives {stories) are important for pedagogy in that they function as experiential case material on which pedagogic reflection is possible; H. Rosen (1986), points out the significance-and power of anecdotal llarrative: (1) to compel: a s-tory recruits-our willing. attention; (2) to lead us to reflect: a story tends to invite us to a reflective search for significance; (3) to involve us personally: one tends to search actively for the storyteller's . . , meanmg VIa one sown; (4) to transform: we may be touched, shaken, moved by story; it teaches us; (5}tomeasureone!s interpretive sense: one's responsetoa story is a measure of one's deepened ability to make interpreti ve sense (Rosen, 1986). Famous- works- shared by the likes- of Van Manen and Rosen (and many others} have encouraged me to communicate my stories; to validate my life; to heal. I tell my stories through my Sioux mind and heart. I provide a mere snap-shot of what its like inside my world. My personal experiences reveal, who I am, where I came from. My past helps provide a map for my future journey. This work reflects yearnings, desires, dilemmas and questions to uncover possibilities for a better understanding for educators and for any one who imparts knowledge. My work is grounded in the cultura:l and spiritual knowledge of Sioux and Blackfoottraditions. My-eyes-see differently. I-am engaged in different conversation with thin.gs. Some anecdotes describe spiritual conversations with my Maker in the form of prayers, songs and ceremony. Others are harsh realities informing the reader about racism, 11 seXIsm, oppression and deprivation. You will read about endurance, survival and inextinguishable identity. This- writing has- been my journey to freedom. Through my investigation and reflection I called forth a more confident inner voice of my own. I emer~ed with self confidence and power to control my own life. The narratives! share are dedicated to the Marlenes and Audreys not to be forgotten during busy days in classrooms everywhere. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my professors at the University of Lethbridge in the Master of Education Program, my students, my loving friends and family who have helped me. Without everyone's encouragement and sURport I would not have been able to come this far. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v REFERENCES 68 CHAPTER ONE: MY BACKGROUND 1 1. I Am Sioux 1 2. My Parents 1 3. My Maternal Grandparents 3 4. MyPatemal Grandparents 5 5, Childhood Experiences 7 6. My Education 10 CHAPTER TWO: SACRED RELATIONS 17 7. Dakota Oyate Oyea 17 8. Sitting Bull's Monument 20 9. A Disagreement 21 10. Singer of Sacred Songs 23 11. Cranberries for Dinner 27 12. Perseverance 28 13. Around the Kitchen Table 30 14. Name Giving - the Power 30 15. The Trail of Coyote Woman 34 16. I Lost My Power 35 17. Spiritual Healing 38 18. The Sweat Lodge 38 19. What is Knowing? 39 v CHAPTER THREE; PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICE 41 20. My Professional Semester Experience 41 21. Teaching Days 42 22. Teaching Practice 43 23. In Response to Elizabeth Ellsworth 48 24. A Plea for Help 50 25. A Lesson About Life 52 26. What I Like About School 53 27. Metaphors in the Blackfoot L1nguage 54 28. Unlocking My Silence 60 CHAPTER ONE: MY BACKGROUND I Am Sioux I am a Sioux woman; a LakotalDakota. The two tribes to which I belong are Minicouju (Plant by Water -Lakota) and Wahpetonwan (Camp Among the Leaves Dwellers - Dakota). The name of the reserve where I grew up is Standing Buffalo and the reserve where my mother and grandfather lived was Wood Mountain. The Lakota from Wood Mountain came to Canada after the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1886. The Dakota from Standing Buffalo came to Canada during the Minnesota Wars of 1862. At that time in history there was a lot of conflict, mainly because of the encroachment of white settlers on Indian lands. The Sioux defended their traditional territory (lands stretching from what is now the state of Minnesota to the Dakotas and south eastern Montana) against farmers, ranchers and gold-seekers. As a result of the fighting, both of my tribal ancestors fled from the United States and sought protection across the Canadian border. As a result, our tribes have always been treated somewhat as foreigners or refugees. In the early 1920s, when the two tribes refused to return to the United States, they were given Canadian citizenship under the telm, "Status Indians." Earlier in the nineteenth century when the Federal Government made treaties with other Canadian plains tribes, our tribes were not included. Our "status" gives us rights that are almost equal to Canadian treaty tribes. One of the benefits we are excluded from is the annual five dollar payment which every treaty Indian receives in July. My Parents My father, Alexander Goodwill, was born on September 14, 1914. He was the fifth oldest of a family of nine. He had six brothers and two sisters. My father told us of his childhood experiences, working with his father and brothers on their farm, while hunting, fishing, gardening and raising chickens to supplement their family's income. As a child, he attended Qu'Appelle Indian School, a federal school operated by Roman Catholic priests and nuns. There he obtained about a grade six level of education. Along with schooling, he had to learn farming, animal husbandry, and carpentry. It was the curriculum of those schools at that time. 2 My father's memories of boarding school were mostly negative. He told us stories of how he was subjected to cruelty; he was treated like a prisoner; they all were. Whenever they ran away they would be sought out and returned. Upon returning the principal would pubicly strap them as an example to the rest of the students. He also told us stories of life and freedom after he left school. He seemed to enjoy baseball the most. He and his brothers had a team which was quite famous in that region. They played for a number of years in every small town in Saskatchewan. He was a left handed pitcher, a strike-out king. My mother, Stella, was the second daughter of John Okute Sica. She was raised by her paternal grandmother Emma. My mother never received formal schooling. She was sent to Qu'Appelle Indian School when she was eleven years old. She recalls being sick for months, for some unkown reason, and spent all of that time in the infirmary. Her father went to pick her up and they returned to Wood Mountain. As a result my mother never did learn how to read and write. My mother spent her adolescent years under the guidance of her grandmother and her father, and learned the traditional way to live off the land. They lived out on the open prairies for most of the warm season, camping, hunting, and trapping. They traveled with horses and a buggy carrying all they owned. They had saddle horses and hounds which they used for hunting. In the winter time, they settled on the outskirts of the town of Moose Jaw. This was where the Lakota who were left in Canada came to winter. By this time their numbers had dwindled drastically due to starvation and disease. During those hard times, some survived by eating the cast-off PaI1S of animals that were slaughtered in the town's abattoir. My grandfather became the first Lakota to own land in that area. He filed for a homestead where he settled with his family in 1946. Later, his land and surrounding area became the Wood Mountain Reserve. My mother learned many skills working on her father's ranch, by assisting him with chores and helping her grandmother perform domestic tasks. She became an excellent horsewoman, entering challenge races. She would ride for miles by herself looking for cattle, hunting, or picking up mail and supplies in town. She developed her talents at 3 creating traditional designs in her crafts and clothing with beads and quill work. She tanned hides and made moccasins and jackets. She gathered herbal medicines and learned of their specific uses. She uses her herbal knowledge to help sick people to this day. This is how my mother and father met - her family made frequent trips to Standing Buffalo to visit her relatives. During one of those trips she became acquainted with my father. Although, a family named "Yuzicapi," actually arranged for her to marry one of their sons (arranged maniages were still practiced at that time), she was allowed to break tradition and she did. Her father supported her wish. Years later, my father began visiting her at Wood Mountain. It was then that they decided to get married. They had a Catholic wedding ceremony in my grandfather's house on April 4, 1939. They then moved to Standing Buffalo to live. At Standing Buffalo Reserve, my parents owned a farm which was passed down to my father by his father. My grandfather, uncles and father worked very hard cutting and clearing the land to prepare for farming. It was the days of horse drawn implements. This farm was where all thirteen children (of which I am the fifth oldest) grew up. I have eight sisters and three brothers, (one brother is deceased). Eleven of the thirteen are married. Our immediate family consists of eighty members. My mother passed away on February 6, 1998 at the age of 79 years. My father passed away on April 6, 1972. My Maternal Grandparents The Lakota in Canada would not return to the United Sates for fear of their lives. The American Lakota had convinced them that they would be killed if they crossed the border. By this time Sitting Bull was dead, and the Massacre at Wounded Knee had occuned. The remaining Lakota, less than three hundred in all, continued to roam southwestern Saskatchewan and parts of southern Alberta, avoiding the United States government officials. The Canadian government allowed the Sioux to stay once they agreed that they would remain peaceful. Under the watchful eye of the Northwest Mounted Police the activities of the Lakota were closely monitored. Among the remaining members were my great-grandparents, Tashunka Nupa Wi (Her Two Horses) and Waucapsne (Hard To Shoot At). 4 My maternal grandfather, Okute sica, (John was his English name) had married three times. His first marriage was to a Cree woman named Emma Cote, whom he met at the Regina Industrial School. After their wedding, they went to live at Wood Mountain. They had a daughter, Adeline, who was eighty-two years of age at her passing just before Christmas of 1992. A short time after Adeline was born, her mother died of tuberculosis, a disease to which many aboriginal people had succumbed at that time. My grandfather sought his parents' help in raising his young daughter. He was widowed for nine years. Years later, he visited Standing Buffalo reserve where he met Helen Tawayaika (Carry Their Own Feather). They married and my mother was born on June 3, 1918. When my mother was only three months old, her mother died of the Swine Flu, an epidemic that killed many native people at that time. Once again, my grandfather relied on his parents to help him raise his second daughter. As my mother and her sister, Adeline, grew up they helped provide for themselves and their grandparents by performing domestic labor on nearby ranches. But their labor was not always confined to the house; they sometimes had to break horses, tend to cattle and hunt to provide food for the families with whom they lived. Ten years later my grandfather, John, married for the third time. He married Christine Laswisse (He Sings for the People). She was also from the Standing Buffalo Reserve. They had four children: two sons and two daughters. My grandfather passed away in 1961 at the age of 76. My step-grandmother Christine, who is now 92 years of age, still lives in Wood Mountain with her youngest son Gus who cares for her. The other family members, my aunts and uncles, have families and live in various parts of Canada and the United States. My recollections of my grandfather, John, are wonderful. He was a tall man, around six foot three inches, and a handsome gentleman who was also very kind. He displayed a wealth of knowledge, mostly self-taught. He was particularly skilled in writing. He documented Lakota history, wrote poetry, legends, letters to family and friends, all of which explained our culture and his beliefs and values as a Lakota. Whenever he came to visit us or we went to visit him, (we lived three hundred miles apart), he would be very happy to see us. I remember he would tickle us with his