My Lands Are Where My Dead Lie Buried: The Representation of Native Americans in South Dakota High School History Textbooks
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Objective: In this study I discuss how history textbooks used in the state of South Dakota over the last 30 years or so represent Native Americans. In order to determine whether Native Americans are represented accurately, equally, and respectfully in the texts I analyze five historical events involving the tribes of South Dakota in each textbook. Method: Through the use of textbook coding and word counts the textbooks are analyzed and discussed in terms of accuracy and overall content. Teacher interviews are also conducted to provide insight into how educators teach South Dakota Native American history. Participants in the interviews are asked about their use of textbooks in their classrooms and how they incorporate outside sources to help students grasp certain topics as they relate to Native Americans. Results: The text analysis shows that although more recent textbooks are more objective and “politically correct” in the names they use for Native American people and tribes, the textbooks have slowly decreased in their coverage of Native issues and events. The teacher’s interview showed a pattern that goes along with the inaccuracies in the textbooks. Teachers very rarely use only the textbooks as sources for information. Many use outside and supplementary sources to discuss topics surrounding Native tribes in the area. Conclusions: Within a classroom setting textbooks cannot be the only source of information for high school students. Teachers must incorporate supplementary sources and school districts need to provide more accurate representations of Native Americans. Textbooks cannot cater to one group or specific event in history, meaning it is up to schools to pick up where the textbooks leave off. Schools need to help bridge the gap between cultural respectfulness and educational responsibility as it relates to teaching about cultural groups who have had huge impact on history in order to further improve cultural relations and establish well educated and informed students.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | May 28, 2015 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Schad, Taylor |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | LaFromboise, Teresa |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Graduate School of Education |
Subjects
| Subject | Native American |
|---|---|
| Subject | Textbooks |
| Subject | History |
| Subject | Curriculum |
| Subject | South Dakota |
| Subject | Graduate School of Education |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
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- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-SA).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Schad, Taylor. (2015). My Lands Are Where My Dead Lie Buried: The Representation of Native Americans in South Dakota High School History Textbooks. Unpublished Honors Thesis. Stanford University, Stanford CA.
Collection
Undergraduate Honors Theses, Graduate School of Education
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- Contact
- taylorschad@gmail.com
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