TL;DR
Many of us grapple with cultural appropriation as a concept or wonder how to explain it clearly to colleagues, friends, or loved ones. This post covers important topics for teaching land-based learning and restorative soil education, and, as many Indigenous people worldwide have practiced and held this knowledge for millennia, cultural appropriation is an important part of this conversation. Here’s a quick recap of what cultural appropriation means:
“Let me take a minute to define what I mean by cultural appropriation. It is the taking of intellectual property, traditional knowledge, cultural expressions, or artifacts from someone else’s culture without their permission, and in many cases, for profit or gain. Scafidi (2005) notes that it is harmful when the source community is a marginalized group that has been oppressed or exploited in other ways or when the object of appropriation is particularly sensitive, like sacred objects.”
Dr. Tiffany Smith October 23, 2020. “Quit Playing Indian: Unearthing Indigenous Historical Trauma around Halloween”
Dr. Smith goes on to explain that it is especially harmful when the item, piece of knowledge, or cultural expression was (or still is) banned by law or disallowed in work or public spaces.
We’re learning, and humility is key
We at the farm are constantly treading a line of adopting and practicing relationships with our land that have been widely practiced by humans all over the world for millenia. We sometimes draw from specific Native American practices, language, and cultivated plants. We are constantly striving to acknowledge and lift up the specific stories of the people whose history we are drawing from, but we miss a lot.
Our Executive Director, Barak Ben-Amots, explains, “Even in my lessons about the three-sisters planting technique, I have misrepresented the people (saying it was a Ute practice rather than Iroquois and Cheyenne), the reasoning, and the technique.” Over time and with feedback we have become more accurate and true to the principles of the original caretakers of this land. It takes a lot of humility to admit that we’ve messed up but that’s an important lesson we’ve learned from the land as well; humility allows us to learn and shift our understanding of the world.
We use a Yurt as our classroom space. This is a structure that has a wide, long history among indigenous people of the Mongolian Steppe. It’s been transformed in dozens of ways to serve as our classroom, where we want to both honor the sacredness of the structure and acknowledge how it has changed from its original form.
As people trying to connect with land and seeds in a respectful regenerative way, we have planted thousands of seeds in the wrong conditions, with cobbled together ideas and efforts that didn’t serve them or the soil. We’ve got to acknowledge and accept our mistakes and keep trying, knowing we’ll miss the mark while trying hard not to.
Here are some things we’ve had to grapple with this year and discuss with teachers, partners, and students – grappling for answers to questions and the discomfort brought on by our settler mindsets. These are important conversations and there is nuance to every conversation, including how to show non-authoritarian leadership, how to stand up for others, how to show compassion and grace in the face of a general lack of knowledge, and so on.
Teach with accurate and specific stories.
When we teach about or reference practices from Native American peoples/people of Turtle Island, it is important to share accurate information, show your source, and especially acknowledge the actual people from whom you gained that knowledge or practice.
It seems like if we really wanted to teach children about Native American or Indigenous practices, we would have to start at a minimum with really good research so that the projects we present are as accurate as possible. If we’re going to specifically make a Native American craft, for example, ideally we would find someone from that culture who is open to teaching in person, or at least guiding the adults on the technique and messaging.
Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery. It causes harm.
The biggest harm that we see here is that, while the goal of teaching indigenous wisdom and creativity may be for cultural appreciation and learning, the result is often a sort of further generalization, or minimization of Native people and their culture through oversimplification and inaccuracy. These kinds of harm are at the source of what we call cultural appropriation, regardless of intent. As teachers, we need to ask, “How is this deepening the understanding of specific people and specific practices?”
Cultivate your relationship with the Land and each other.
If you’re not sure about a practice, or you’re unsure how to proceed with a lesson, unit, or project:
(a) ask trusted colleagues,
(b) research through a researching body [a library, vetted journals, or Native/American Indian coalitions are great examples], and
(c) wait patiently for a considered response.
When we let the land teach, there really is no urgency to develop a specific lesson. Each day, that natural world has something new to offer students, giving us teachers grace and time to carefully consider the consequences and goals of any education plan that involves Indigenous culture.
Nothing a teacher does while teaching on a farm should harm cultivated plants, companion plants, or even placeholder plants. It is antithetical to Indigenous science to rip out or destroy plant life in situations where management of those plants is a viable solution.
Students can be trusted with difficult information.
It’s okay to tell a student or young person that something is cultural appropriation and help them find another way to complete a project, assignment, or activity. When we normalize conversations about justice, love, and community throughout our time with students, the question of harm to others becomes much easier to discuss, at any age, whether it is about cultural appropriation or something else.
When students become dysregulated for any reason, we allow them to express their emotions and also co-regulate. Co-regulation is an important practice when teaching students to be more responsive and empathetic to others. We have to show what it looks like to be responsive and empathetic and practice with them.
Some of your students may be of Native heritage. Don’t assume there are no Indigenous students in your class just because you don’t recognize them as such.
Ask yourself, “How would this project affect the mental health and well-being of a Native American student in my class?” If you feel discomfort in your body or find yourself making excuses or arguments, this may be a good indication that your activity or lesson plan would make Native American students uncomfortable.
If we are to heal our relationship with Land, we need to keep trying, rest in our humility, and provide grace to others while they are learning. Remember, accuracy and specificity tell real stories, while imitation causes harm. Cultivating a relationship with Land and each other requires us to ask important questions and give the answers time to emerge. It’s okay to talk to students about harm and cultural appropriation. Part of our job as teachers is to hold space for difficult emotions whenever they come up – and that includes facing discomfort, and co-regulating with children while also respecting the unique needs and perspectives of native people. The only way to learn those needs is to be careful, listen, and research. We know that as adults we’re no different. We need to be able to mess up, we need to empower one another to protect those who are harmed by our society, and we need to be given grace when it gets overwhelming.
Some of this information was drawn from experiences at the farm and conversations between staff. Some were derived from sources that are widely accessible across the internet. Those sources and more information for parents, teachers, and friends, are available below.
Our Commitment:
We are determined to continue fumbling towards an honorable way of teaching alongside the land and respecting the people who have done so far longer than us. One way we commit to this process is by centering the Ute Resource Guide and the Ute Knowledge curriculum by History Colorado in any of our lessons that include Native American history, practices, and culture. These two curriculums were carefully constructed through years of collaboration with the many Ute People of Colorado.
The guides can be found at
- https://ccia.colorado.gov/fourth-grade-ute-resource-guide
- https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2022/website%20pdf%20Ute%20Knowledge%20HTO%20Educators%20Manual.pdf
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl68fplNJM8BgXgUqarBoDGgT_m2CO4VZ
More Resources
- Some history of what it means to be an Indigenous student, and the history of Native American schools in the US https://blog.nativehope.org/the-issues-surrounding-native-american-education
- An annotated podcast episode with examples, consideration questions, and ideas for including Native American art practice in your teaching (without being appropriative) https://advancingartsleadership.com/Tips_for_Teaching_Native_American_Art_Projects_Without_Cultural_Appropriation
- A blog post about Gratitude-Based Learning and appropriation – first person narrative https://www.edsurge.com/news/2023-09-13-how-we-can-honor-indigenous-values-in-our-teaching-without-appropriating-the-culture
- A resource and research blog about American indigeneity and appropriation https://nativeappropriations.com/
- All My Relations Podcast https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/
- Advocacy blog post about appropriation https://www.wernative.org/articles/native-cultural-appropriation
- WERNATIVE https://www.wernative.org/
- A fairly thorough explanation of appropriation https://www.naspa.org/blog/quit-playing-indian-unearthing-indigenous-historical-trauma-around-halloween
- A parent’s understanding of appropriation and how they came to understand and speak to children about this topic https://www.todaysparent.com/family/parenting/why-are-parents-so-defensive-about-play-teepees/
- Provides a basic explanation of appropriation with an example. Give teachers some questions for consideration. Provides some good practice guidelines https://www.pbs.org/education/blog/cultural-appropriation-whats-an-educators-role
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