Literature, Life-Writing, and Identity

Rationale

“The one thing that is helping students with the conditioning of their young mind about self-identity as a Dine…… is to get in touch with traditional culture to define themselves through stories from the creation, twin monster slayer, clanship/kinship and story of what parent know so that they would not be inept with Dine tradition.”, S. Young.

In the entire process of self-identification, it is good to see that young Diné children begin to ask themselves, “Who am I?”  As educators, we think young natives automatically begin to search by way of heritage.  The six interviews I conducted show that family values are the foundation. It is reassuring that our young Navajos are aware of our cultural system and philosophy of self-worth. Yet, Jones and Galliher state what Diné parents have known for several years: that even when our young native children are fully immersed in Diné culture, they are not understanding the culture fully or even appreciating the tradition and attributes of their culture.¹ Former generations know many cultural teachings of identity exist in our oral history, creation stories and oral stories told by medicine men and shaman.  Gerald Hausman learned that the origin myth of the Diné does not only tell us where Diné come from but also explains why we as Diné on earth today need to balance our lives.  Remembering as young Diné children, the stories and small teaching window by elders and knowledgeable family member inform us of the important learning points in each origin story.  One point native children learn is that the deities that lived on earth before us had made some crucial mistake that imbalanced their lives. Therefore we the people cannot repeat the same mistake.  Knowing that deep understanding, Hausman, in All is beautiful All Around Me:  Navajo Ways and Ceremonial Stories, indicated that natives make the connection of stories and their application.  Such teaching and cultural awareness help people understand their purpose and identity on earth. ²

I believe by developing a curriculum unit that defines identity from our great grandparents’ perception to today’s youth’s understanding of identity, the importance of self-determination will come back to our younger generation. Reading and discussing characters from creation stories like The Navajo Hero Twins by Don Mose Jr. will set an example of how the creation story sets the tone for identity through traditional stories.  A unit using a book like this will explain and create activities that highlight and emphasize what identity means to each generation. It would be nice to explain and create activities of what identity means to each generation.  The awakening from the young natives’ version of what identity means to them can close the gap instead of widening the identity gap.  I believe by listening to our young natives, I can learn a lot from them. The learning will be a huge positive gain in saving our cultural identity within the community. I cannot wait to learn and utilize the learning to design daily collaboration with peers that teach at our school. 

Opening with a text from another culture, such as Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese, will allow my students to observe how culture and identity function from an objective perspective.  After this introduction to the idea of the importance of identity and culture, students will be better able to process the significance of the Dine’ creation tale, The Navajo Warrior Twin Heroes.  Students will process this story on not only an intellectual level, but also culturally  as they learn to develop pride in their identity as Dine’. One selection that would encompass the students’ sense of finding self would be the introduction of Joy Harjo.  Although not a member of the Dine tribe, she is conveys how her journey of self-identity began.  The path she travel was intriguing because of the different challenges that occurred in her life.  This is one of the selected ligature that will mean a lot to students in sixth grade