Ethnoscience as a Methodology In IndianEducation: A Sioux and Apache Example

The utility of ethnoscience as a methodology to improve American Indian education programs is discussed. Data from two native American communities is presented, focusing on the cultural conflict prevalent in their schools. The San Carlos Apache, a reservation-tribe of Western Apache in Arizona and an off-reservation community of Oglala Sioux from North-western Nebraska, are compared, emphasis being placed on the linguistic and cultural problems prohibiting effective education. Specific ethnosemantic studies are cited for their illumination of cognitive dissonance between native Americans and non-Indian teachers. The necessity of designing culture-specific ethnic education programs has become apparent to teachers, anthropologists, and members of minority groups. Research among various native American popUlations has demonstrated that schools serving Indian communities have generally failed to enlist parental participation and therefore lack community support. Because education had long been equated with acculturation, cultural differences were an obstacle; children were encouraged, often forced, to abandon their languages and traditions and replace them with those of the dominant society. During the last decade it has become clear that the philosophy regarding inevitable assimilation has changed and correspondingly, the goals of ethnic education. Incompatibilities regarding values, cognitive processes and goals have been illuminated rather than suppressed; this realization, in turn, has generated a desire for curriculum reform and revision, and the replacement of standardized materials with those that are culturally relative. The demand for teachers skilled jn bi-lingual/bi-cultural education has subsequently increased. The task of educating Indian children has become necessarily complex, i.e. how to teach them the skills needed to function in the off-reservation urban world, while preserving the traditional language and culture of the particular tribe. Decisions concerning teaching methods, sensitivity training, classroom unit content, parent and community involvement and textbook needs are often made by administrators and teachers whose knowledge of ethnography is, at best, superficial. Some anthropologists interested in directed culture change are presently using ethnoscience or cognitive anthropology as a methodology in discerning, analyzing and fulfilling community needs. Programs are currently being implemented which express cultural values and reflect native cognitive systems. This study will focus on the utility of ethnoscience as a methodology which can assist in the creation of practical educational alternatives. An ethnographic method for discovering native perceptions, ethnoscience has