March 14, 2008

From dropout to PhD

Russell:  From the bottom of the education barrelI remember my low point in the Oklahoma schools like it was yesterday. The Coach was teaching Oklahoma history, which normally meant The Coach was reading the textbook to us. Oklahoma is football country and The Coach is an important person. On this day, The Coach was in high good humor, talking about the discovery of oil on the Osage Reservation.

More precisely, The Coach was telling us about the white vultures who preyed on the newly rich Indians. "They were selling washing machines to dumb Indians who had no electricity," The Coach informed us, adding a "haw haw haw" in case we did not get the humor. The Indian kids, maybe a fifth of the class, were looking at our shoelaces and praying for the bell to ring.

Because I was Indian, I was destined to work with my hands, perhaps as an artist but more likely as a carpenter or plumber or some such. This was problematic because I had no aptitude for such things, and further complicated by the fact that relatives who had preceded me in the schools in fact did have artistic talent.

The teachers wanted nothing but the best for me. They knew what Indians do, and they wanted to help me become a very good craftsman or, if I had the talent, an artist. Everyone knows there are no Indian intellectuals, right?

Today, I am a gatekeeper for the intellectual union card, the Ph.D., and I work with two Indian Ph.D. candidates. Need I add that I consider those students to be solid gold, that their existence justifies my own?
But the discrimination continues at the university level:I'm reminded of two other recent tenure denials. Waziyatawin Angela Wilson's denial at Arizona State was explicitly based on her "political agenda," and it was reversed after an outcry by many if not most Indian scholars (there are not that many of us). Pamela Owens' denial at the University of Nebraska-Omaha is at this time without public explanation, but it's worth mentioning that a letter favoring her tenure came from Vine Deloria Jr., who was the foremost Indian academic of our generation. Owens' case is heading to litigation.

I've been tenured twice, but both times my writings on Indian issues were belittled. In my third-year review at the University of Texas-San Antonio, I was flatly told to "lay off the Indian stuff." At Indiana, the man who was department chair at the time I was hired professed not to know what it is I do and abstained on my tenure vote.
Below:  Gee, I wonder why anyone would think an Indian couldn't be an intellectual.

6 comments:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
That is an old story to writerfella. The very reason Natives get no regard as 'intellectuals' is that their 'intellects' differ simply because of what is called 'the alien point of view.' Natives (yours truly included) have reference points that cannot be fathomed by anyone who is not Native themselves. We see your society from two points of view, as struggling participants and also as non-participants. Thus, we don't see your movies or TV or even the news the same as you do. Now, is that an advantage, or a disadvantage? Whatever the case, it still is true...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

dmarks said...

The "Streets of Glory" image could fit here alongside the two charactures.

Rob said...

Re "we don't see your movies or TV or even the news the same as you do": That's hilarious considering I usually agree with the Natives who criticize white-produced movies and TV shows and you don't. If you can't remember, reread all the Native critiques I posted of Apocalypto. Then reread your own insipid praise of the white man's fantasy.

Judging by your childish cheerleading, you must think white producers like Mel Gibson, Dick Wolf, and Larry McMurtry can do no wrong. I wonder: Are they paying you to lick their boots, or are you doing it free? I guess you hope they'll hire you if you shower enough fawning flattery on them.

Really, Russ, I'm glad to see your sense of humor is undiminished. But seriously, let's see you criticize any white-man movie or TV show more heavily than I have. Prove you're not the EuroMan-loving sycophant you seem to be.

Rob said...

Yes, the STREETS OF GLORY image would work here. Don't worry, DMarks, I'll use it eventually. But I don't like to reuse an image I've used recently--within the last week or two.

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Sorry, but writerfella licks no one's boots and neither does he permit jack-booted self-styled "critics" to run rough-shod over him, as well. Apparently you hold your little plastic, battery-powered boy-fan cooler in your left hand and believe that NEWSPAPER ROCK is a black helicopter of truth, justice, and the American way. Mel Gibson is a militia-mongering Neo-Nazi anti-Semite, Dick Wolf is a petty dictator whose empire was built on closed-shop staff writing that walled out freelancers, and Larry McMurtry is a racist stumpbreaker who rules over thousands of acres of former Wichita, Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache lands. But they also are accomplished and predominant and even preeminent, and nothing you or I say one way or another can increase or detract from such status or even be brought before their notice. It just is that I realize it and you don't...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

I'll "run roughshod" over anyone who deserves it, thanks.

Nice reply, but you still haven't criticized any white-man movie or TV show more heavily than I have. You're still a bootlicker compared to me.

I must've told you a dozen times that my goal is to educate the public, not to educate the particular people I criticize. If you had a PhD like Steve Russell or two master's degrees like me, maybe you'd be able to understand plain English.

P.S. I have no idea what a "boy-fan cooler" is. But I have a couple of room-sized fans to keep me cool, if anyone cares. It's about time to start using them, too.