Reflections on an ethnographic project with elementary educators on the Wind River Reservation: A cautionary tale

Abstract

In this article, I analyze the successes and challenges of the first year of a four-year applied anthropology project conducted on Wyoming's Wind River Reservation intended to help mostly white educators of Arapaho children who develop culturally relevant classroom pedagogy. Educators of Arapaho children have expressed concerns that student achievement is low, but also that the curriculum is largely disconnected from student backgrounds and experiences. Following deficit models, non-Indian educators have historically cast American Indian schooling to reflect the norms and expectations constructed by the white dominant group. In contrast, in this study teachers were taught anthropological methods to conduct fieldwork in the households of children they taught. Teachers successfully documented historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being. Teacher's ethnographic research fostered trust between school and families, and bridged communities to classrooms. On the other hand, pedagogical paradigms remained largely aligned with preexisting schooled programs, culturally relevant pedagogy existing as an add-on but not inextricably embedded within the curriculum.