Native American Identity

Exploring Identity and the Native American Adolescent

Jordan A. Pehler
University of Florida

ARE6641 Contemporary Issues in Art Education

Dr. Jodi Kushins
April 22, 2016

Introduction

Native American Identity

One of the many education programs I conduct through the Yellowstone Art
Museum is a partnership program the museum holds with the nearby communities
of Crow Agency Public School and Hardin Middle School in bordering Bighorn
County, Montana. Few of our programs are as rewarding, prolific, and challenging as
this partnership. This outreach program provides art education once a week to the
4th and 5th grade students of Crow Agency and monthly to the 6th grade students
of Hardin.
Crow Agency, located on the Crow Indian Reservation in Southeastern
Montana, is the headquarters for the Crow tribe. Fifteen miles to the west lies
Hardin, Montana, a rural community just beyond the border of the reservation.
Though a mere 15 miles separates these two communities the demographics are
vastly different. The 2010 Census (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012) shows Crow Agency
as having a Native American population of 96% and Hardin having 41% Native
American population and 50% White with the remaining 9% representing other or
mixed races.
Upon completion of 5th grade, students and families from Crow Agency must
make a decision of where the students will continue their public education, as 5th
grade is the end of public education in Crow Agency. Many families choose Hardin as
the location for their children's continued schooling. The impetus behind the
museums program with Hardin, is the desire to provide art education to the many
children making the difficult transition to a new school in a new community. Through
this program I have been able to watch students grow, change and grapple with the
transition to middle school and the new shift from ethnic majority to ethnic minority.
With this change I noticed something interesting, something I honestly haven't
witnessed with any other community. The students I work with in 4th and 5th grade

Native American Identity

know they are Native American but rarely acknowledge or voice this fact. Yet, the
Native American students attending school in Hardin have a seemingly newfound
interest in the classification process of themselves and others, often exclaiming
without context, that they are Native American, that they are Crow, or pointing out
the presumed ethnic background of others. This is something I have not personally
witnessed with the students located in Crow Agency and this of course made me
curious to understand the rationale behind the new interest in identity.
Challenges
Native American youth face a unique set of challenges in regards to
development of identity. Native American children find confusing and conflicting
views of their culture and heritage portrayed in popular culture and a lack of Native
perspective in history books. Newman (2005) explains that Native Americans "are
exposed to inconsistent messages about the meaning and value of their ethnicity
from broader society. In the mainstream media, the imagery of Native people, when
it does exist, tends to be distorted" (p. 736). Throughout popular culture
stereotypical images of the noble savage or mystical chief infiltrate the minds of the
general public, and worse yet the minds of Native American adolescents. Many
popular sports teams inexplicably still use offensive Native American figures as
mascots including, the Chiefs, the Braves and the Redskins, a term Delacruz (2003)
explains, "the term Redskins was originally used by White settlers as a way to
count the number of Indian scalps collected by trappers and other Indian
exterminators"(p. 17). The issue of caricatures of large nosed, feather bearing
Native American mascots is not limited to professional sports as "Indian mascots are
still used in over 1500 public schools throughout the United States" (p. 18). Treat
(1993) describes one reason Native American stereotypes go relatively

Native American Identity

unchallenged because "few non-Indians have had personal experience with life as
an American Indian family or community" ( p. 623). Beyond the insensitive and
inconsistent views expressed within popular culture, Native people hold a unique
position in American Society. The 2010 Census (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012) states
that Native Americans comprise only 1.7% of the U.S. population, compared to
16.3% Hispanic and 12.6% African American. Many Native American people live on
Reservations, located in rural and isolated areas where direct contact with the
cultural majority may be rare. Life on the Reservation is often difficult, high suicide
rates, poverty, unemployment, violence, substance and child abuse plague these
areas (Whitesell, Mitchell, Kaufman and Spicer, 2006).
Identity Development
Whitesell et al. (2006) define personal identity as "aspects of the self that are
differentiated from others and motivated toward self-interest and individual goals;
self is defined as a unique identity" (p. 1488). Development of personal identity will
shift and change throughout one's development. This process is explained by
Griffiths (1993) as:
the experience of doubting and discovering our identity is central to an
account of self-identity.

As we wonder which groups we belong and which we do

not, which we want to belong to and

which we do not, which ones we will try to

belong to and which ones we will not, we are in the act of doubting and discovering
our own self-identity (p. 306).
During the process of defining and differentiating, accepting and rejecting concepts
of one's self-identity, many factors come into play including cultural background,
gender, location, religious affiliation and the community one is located in all affect

Native American Identity

the way an individual identifies them self. Newman (2005) explains that one's
community plays a major role in identity development "specifically in early
adolescence, identity strivings hallmark the initiation of efforts to achieve a sense of
belonging and identification with one's larger social group" (p. 735). For ethnic
minority youth, Newman (2005) explains that the child must also negotiate how
their ethnic background fits into and shapes their sense of self.
Native American Identity
Whitesell et al (2006) explains one of the unique characteristics of Native
American identity development being:
American Indian youth, like most minority youth, are the children of at least
two cultures.

American Indian adolescents have, at least potentially, a

collective identity related to belonging

to their tribe and a collective identity

related to being an American. They must construct a sense

of self that

includes personal identity and dual collective identities (p. 1488).

The majority of Native American adolescents hold a strong sense of ethnic and
cultural identity (Treat, 1993, Newman, 2005, Whitesell et al., 2006). Newman
(2005) describes ethnic identity as "one's sense of belonging to an ethnic group and
the part of one's thinking, perception, feeling, and behavior that is due to ethnic
group membership" (p. 736). Studies of Native American adolescents living on the
reservation show that Native American children may rely heavily on their identity as
the collective community instead of the individual, and the term "we may be as
central to self-concept as me" (Whitesell et al., 2006, p. 1488). This process of
identifying with one's ethnic group is often essential to the development of a
personal identity. Yet, as Newman (2005) expresses, "adolescents understand and

Native American Identity

identify their ethnic group membership as American Indian, but there is little
indication that anything like a major foray into identity development has begun" (p.
744). The connection and dependence upon the ethnic identity may not result in
major conflict for an individual that remains within their cultural community, but
what is the result of an individual that is removed from their culture as is the case
with the children described being displaced from Crow Agency to Hardin?
Conclusion
In the case of the 6th grade students being removed from their community in
Crow Agency and transplanted into the unfamiliar Hardin community, students
struggle to understand their self-identity as their identity has revolved around their
culture, their ethnicity and their community. As their personal identity lacks
development and exploration. These students entering 6th grade must grapple with
just who they are in these new surroundings in this foreign community, pushing
them to classify, question, and assess as witnessed in my classroom.
I propose that, quality art education, can assist in the process of developing a
sense of self-identity in the grades preceding the transfer to Hardin in 6th grade. I
will do this by providing questions like, Who are you? Who were you? Who do you
want to be? Where do you want to go? What do you wish to be? By providing
questions that promote introspective thinking, students are asked to explore the
concepts critically important to the development of self-identity. I plan on
implementing several lessons for both 4th and 5th grades that allow students the
freedom to critically explore their self-identity while simultaneously embracing and
expressing their ethnic and cultural identity.

Native American Identity

I certainly do not believe, nor do I wish, that students in the 4th and 5th
grades fully understand their identity, as identity should be developed and adjusted
throughout adolescence. I suggest that this process of laying the foundation for selfidentity development will assist children in the transition to new and unfamiliar
schools or communities to adjust more easily to their new surroundings, and be able
to make the critical assessment of their belonging and place within this new
community. I am certain the other minority adolescents, not only Native American
children, would benefit through the process of critically assessing who they are as a
member of the community, but more importantly, who they are as a unique
individual.

References
Delacruz, E.M. (2003, May). Racism American style and resistance to change: art
educations role in the Indian mascot issue. Art Education, 56(3), 13-20.
Griffiths, M. (1993). Self-identity and self-esteem: achieving equality in education.
Oxford review of education, 19(3), 301-317.
Newman, D. L. (2005, May-Jun.). Ego development and ethnic identity formation in
rural American Indian adolescents. Child Development, 76(3), 734-746.

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Treat, J. (1993, Dec.). Engaging students with Native American community
resources. American Quarterly, 45(4), 621-630.
U. S. Census Bureau. (2012). The American Indian and Alaska Native population:
2010. Retrieved April 18, 2016, from
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-10.pdf
Whitesell, N.R., Mitchell, C.M., Kaufman, C.E., & Spicer, P. (2006, Sep-Oct).
Developmental trajectories of personal and collective self-concept among
American Indian adolescents. Child Development, 77(5), 1487-1503.