Revitalising language through music: a case study of music and culturally grounded pedagogy in two Kanien’ke:ha (Mohawk) language immersion programmes

ABSTRACT

Since the 1990s scholars, teachers, and policy makers have debated over the importance of culturally grounded or culture-based education (CBE) approaches in primary and secondary programmes. For Indigenous communities, CBE methods are often regarded as decolonising tools that support linguistic and sociocultural revitalisation efforts. A majority of Indigenous educational projects have prioritised teaching language above other cultural components, such as music, which has largely been overlooked as a powerful tool due to the pervasive assumption that traditional musical practices rely on the language to survive. This article explores how cultural components have a symbiotic rather than a hierarchical relationship, focusing on the interdependence between language and music. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and observations with four Indigenous language immersion teachers, I argue that music is a linchpin pedagogical tool that promotes intergenerational interactions, builds social relationships, and facilitates the daily use of language in and outside the classroom.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous
• Haudenosaunee
• Iroquois
• culture-based education
• language immersion
• decolonisation

Acknowledgements

Niawenhkó:wa Kaweienón:ni Cook Peters, Tekahiónhake Teddy Peters, Kawennahén:te Cook and Teioswáthe Cook for your time and openness to having me visit your classrooms. I have learned a great deal from you as a teacher, language learner and musician. I would also like to say niá:wen to the Tsi Snaihne and Ahkwesáhsne Freedom School students and their families whom I met when attending performances and observing classes. Niá:wen Amos Key for the personal tour of the Woodland Cultural Centre and the moving discussion about residential school history. Barry Montour, niá:wen for speaking with me about this project in its earliest stages and for your guidance in reaching out to Kaweienón:ni. This article and project would not have been possible without the excellent mentorship and encouragement I received from Tara Browner and Helen Rees. Kristina Nielsen, thank you for your thorough and thoughtful comments on the most recent drafts. I would also like to express my gratitude to the following people whose questions and suggestions contributed to developing and refining this article: Morit Gaifman, Michael Iyanaga, Kati Szego, Beverly Diamond and Sadie Buck, as well as the journal editors and blind reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Dr. Jessie M. Vallejo is currently an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology and Director of Mariachi Ensembles in Cal Poly Pomona’s Music Department. Her research focuses on a hemispheric approach to Amerindian studies, Indigenous cultural-linguistic revitalisation projects, and mariachi music. Dr. Vallejo has also co-produced, annotated, and provided photography for Smithsonian Folkways’ 2013 release ¡Así Kotama!: The Flutes of Otavalo, Ecuador. In addition to her research and teaching, Jessie is an active freelance violinist in the Los Angeles area. She received her Ph.D. from UCLA’s Ethnomusicology Department in 2014.

ORCID

Jessie M. Vallejo http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6109-9313

Notes

1 In the U.S., the terms American Indian or Native American usually refer to Indigenous peoples and nations north of the U.S.-Mexico border. In Canada, First Nations and Aboriginal people are the preferred terms. In this paper, my use of Native American refers to Indigenous peoples from across the American continents and Caribbean. I employ the term Indigenous to discuss original peoples from across the globe who share similar settler-colonial experiences with Native Americans. I capitalise Indigenous in the way that nationalities are capitalised in the English language.

2 See Vegh Williams (2013) for a study on mainstream schooling and how misunderstandings and the lack of cultural competencies among non-Native teachers negatively impacts Kanien’kehá:ka/Mohawk students.

3 Teddy Peters is also a country music artist who writes original songs and covers popular hits translated into Kanien’ke:ha. Teioswáthe is also a singer-songwriter and has recorded country music with Teddy.

4 My analysis is also informed by my learning of Kichwa (an Indigenous language from South America), my research and applied work with Kichwa musicians, and my training and short career as a certified K-12 music teacher in New York State.

5 Due to the lack of conversation specifically about Indigenous language revitalisation through music, I cast a wide net when reviewing recent research. In addition to ethnomusicology-related publications and conferences, I reviewed publications, conference proceedings, abstracts, and papers mostly from North America and renowned American Indian Studies programmes that would likely relate to the educational contexts in which the Cook Peters family members have been teaching. These include the Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium (SILS), the Sweetgrass First Nations Language Council’s ‘Raising Our Voices’ Bi-Annual Language Conference, and the 2016 United Nations International Expert Group Meeting on Indigenous Languages: Preservation and Revitalization. For more information on these, see Cantoni (2007), United Nations (2016), and Woodland Cultural Centre (2016). See also Reyhner et al. (2000).

6 The rescheduled meeting held in October 2017 did not strictly focus on the arts or music.

7 For a historical overview of research on children and music, see Minks (2002). See also Shehan Campbell (1998), Gaunt (2006), Emberly (2009), Bishop (2011), and Mackinlay (2011) for examples of anthropological studies on children’s music. For more on increasing multicultural content taught in elementary or secondary music classrooms, see Damm (1998) and Shehan Campbell and Wiggins (2013).

8 Studies on music, children, and language acquisition have related to improving academic achievement, neural connections, and memorisation (e.g. Lang 1999; Strickland 2002). Other studies explore connections between musical elements (e.g. pitch, rhythm), language, & musical aptitude (e.g. Chen-Haftek et al. 1999; Kreutzer 1997).

9 Language nests are early-childhood educational environments that are often operated out of someone’s home. They facilitate intergenerational transmission of language between elders, who are the caregivers, and pre-school aged children between 0 and 5 years old. Language nests were first implemented in Maori communities in the 1980s.

10 The other seven Kanien’ke:ha territories are Ohswé:ken (also called Six Nations of the Grand River Territory), Kahnawà:ke, Kanehsatà:ke, Tekaientené:ke, Wáhta, Kanienkeh, and Kana’tsioharé:ke; the latter two are not typically considered to be communities of Kanien’ke:ha speakers. The name Ahkwesáhsne translates to ‘Land Where the Partridge Drums’, describing how the male ruffed grouse, a game bird native to the region, drums logs with his tail. In this article, I use mostly Kanien’ke:ha spelling variations of words and places.

11 Rotinonhsión:ni, also glossed as ‘The House Makers’, is sometimes spelled as Hotinonshón:ni or Haudenosaunee (Avery 2014: 1). The six nations are Kanien’ke:há:ka (Mohawk), Onyota’ake (Oneida), Onoda’gega’ (Onondaga), Gayogohono (Cayuga), Onodowahgah (Seneca), and Skaruren (Tuscarora). Rotinonshón:ni follow a matrilineal kinship system divided by Turtle, Eel, Beaver, Wolf, Bear, Deer, Snipe, Hawk, and Heron clans.

12 Canada’s National Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established in 2007 following the signing of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA), a class-action, civil lawsuit. Today the commission is known as the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and continues to maintain an archive of Canada’s Residential School system, historical assimilation policies, and Native students’ testimonies.

13 Nicholas Flood Davin, a Member of Canada’s Parliament, based Canada’s approach to addressing the ‘Indian Problem’ on U.S. Army Lt. Richard Pratt’s methods to ‘kill the Indian and save the man’, which he applied at the Carlisle Indian School he founded in 1879. It is estimated that in the U.S., as many as 500 residential schools operated between the late 1800s to late 1900s (Pember 2015). For more information about efforts in the United States to document this history, see the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition’s site www.boardingschoolhealing.org.

14 Handsome Lake is both the name of a political position within the Rotinonhsión:ni Confederacy and the name of a Seneca man who was the second person to serve in this position. His teachings have been historically controversial within the Rotinonhsión:ni communities due to some parallels with Euro-American culture.

15 See George-Kanentiio ([2006] 2008) for more information about Ahkwesáhsne and Kanien’kehá:ka history. Louellyn White (2009, 2015) also discusses how the Ahkwesáhsne Freedom School and local language revitalisation movements were affected by what some Ahkwesáhsne residents have called a civil war and related conflicts.

16 Estimates of Kanien’ke:ha language speakers living in Ahkwesáhsne fluctuate considerably due to issues of self-identification and variable definitions of language use.

17 See White (2015: 116–118) for more about people’s aversion to language immersion in Ahkwesáhsne as well as research on the benefits of Indigenous language immersion education.

18 For a more complete history of the Ahkwesáhsne Freedom School’s founding and other related educational projects, see White (2015). See also George-Kanentiio ([2006] 2008), who refers to this turmoil as a civil war.

19 Kaweienón:ni Cook implemented this routine at the Kawenni:io school when she was principal in 2009.

20 See also Deloria ([1969] 1971: 97) for critiques of the West’s abstraction and isolation of concepts.

21 Wampum beads may be purple or white in colour and are made out of the Atlantic round clam shell called quahog. Today glass, plastic, and other materials may be used as substitutes for natural shells. The beads have been important for the Rotinonhsión:ni writing system (wampum belts) in addition to political and spiritual uses for several hundred years. When held today, these beads still symbolise a speaker’s sincerity, good intentions, and speaking from a good mind. For more information about wampum beads, historical uses, and their cultural significance, see Tehanetorens (1999: 10–13, 96) and Johansen and Mann (2000: 325–329).

22 Donaghy (2009) observed a similar application of music across the curriculum and throughout the day at Pūnana Leo o Hilo, a Hawai’ian school located in Kea’au on East Hawai’i Island.

23 An in-depth analysis of Rotinonhsión:ni musical genres is beyond the scope of this paper, and due to cultural sensitivities, I specifically chose not to analyse how sacred music is taught. For more information on traditional Rotinonhsión:ni music and dance, see also Kurath (1964), Riemer (1980), Blanchard (1983), and Krouse (2001). In Ahkwesáhsne, there are approximately 20 social dances that are commonly performed, and these dances are the subject of the five-part video series Hotinonhsonni Social Dances produced by The Ahkwesáhsne Mohawk Board of Education (AMBE), The Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo Language Preservation Project, The Salmon River Central School Native Film Class, and the Ronathahon:ni Cultural Center.

24 Teioswáthe and Kawennahén:te briefly explained their use of music as one of their team-teaching strategies when presenting at the Raising Our Voices Conference (Cook and Cook 2009).

25 See also Diamond (2002), Barney (2007), and Scales (2012).

26 For additional information on Kanien’ke:ha and Rotinonhsión:ni history, culture, or music, see Avery (2014), Blanchard (1983), Diamond, Cronk and von Rosen (1994), Fenton (1987, 1988, 2002, 2007), Fenton and Kurath (1953), Heth (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994), Kanatiiosh (2001), Krouse (2001), Kurath (1964, 1968), Riemer (1980), and Stock (2007). See Simpson (2008, 2014) for more information about Kanien’ke:ha and Rotinonhsión:ni sovereignty and rejection of American and Canadian citizenship.

27 Mixed-gendered student singing groups were also established in other communities, like Six Nations, most likely at an earlier time than in Ahkwesáhsne. Further research on children’s singing societies is needed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the UCLA Graduate Summer Research Mentorship Award in 2009. An earlier version of this paper was presented in 2011 at the International Council for Traditional Music’s World Conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland.