When Cultures CollidePresentation by: Ward Johnston, Shara Rose, Renee Tolina, & Dallas McPheeters

Oraibi: A Brief History

High Atop the MesaMany times in her childhood Polinngaysi had stared down into the valley, seeking to make out the figures of the visitors. The wind was forever moving the sand of the dunes, uncovering ancient Cooking post, had stones, and arrow points.

The People

What were dates to the old time Hopi? What did days and months mean to them? They lived the days as they came and were not concerned with the length of their sojourn on earth.

Inevitable Progress

Soon she discovered that she was forbidden to speak Hopi to children in the classroom. (schoolmaster)" We want them to learn English” (Polingaysi) “ What do these white-man stories mean to a Hopi child? No, I will not begin with the outside world of which they have no knowledge. I shall begin with the familiar. The every day things. The things of home and family.“

A Peaceful PeopleHow could she, as insignificant as she was in the scheme of things, bring her people a realization of the good in their own culture, now that she had finally realized it herself? Could she, perhaps, help to blend the best of the Hopi culture with the best of the white culture, retaining the essence of good from both?

History of Native American Education

the search for identity,the escape from stigma Caught in the middle, minority cultures struggle to identify with the majority culture yet are often ostracized.

To make matters worse, cultural hybridity ensures that those who successfully bridge their former culture with

their new culture can no longer return to their past with full acceptance.

They are thus stigmatized as hybrids by both sides and neither fully accepts them. They are caught between two worlds.

This crisis between identity and stigma is the nexus of Polingaysi’s experience and a solution to this

paradoxical dilemma has yet to be found.