Unlearning the Language of Conquest: Scholars Expose Anti-Indianism in America [Paperback]

Four Arrows (Don Trent Jacobs) (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0292713266 | ISBN-13: 978-0292713260 | Publication Date: June 1, 2006

Responding to anti-Indianism in America, the wide-ranging perspectives culled in Unlearning the Language of Conquest present a provocative account of the contemporary hegemony still at work today, whether conscious or unconscious. Four Arrows has gathered a rich collection of voices and topics, including: • Waziyatawin Angela Cavender Wilson's "Burning Down the House: Laura Ingalls Wilder and American Colonialism," which probes the mentality of hatred woven within the pages of this iconographic children's literature. • Vine Deloria's "Conquest Masquerading as Law", examining the effect of anti-Indian prejudice on decisions in U.S. federal law. • David N. Gibb's "The Question of Whitewashing in American History and Social Science," featuring a candid discussion of the spurious relationship between sources of academic funding and the types of research allowed or discouraged. • Barbara Alice Mann's "Where Are Your Women? Missing in Action," displaying the exclusion of Native American women in curricula that purport to illuminate the history of Indigenous Peoples. Bringing to light crucial information and perspectives on an aspect of humanity that pervades not only U.S. history but also current sustainability, sociology, and the ability to craft accurate understandings of the population as a whole, Unlearning the Language of Conquest yields a liberating new lexis for realistic dialogues.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Outstanding scholarship. . . . Giant first steps towards the goal of providing a truthful and constructive understanding of indigenous worldviews. (Daniel R. Wildcat, Professor of Sociology and American Indian Studies, Haskell Indian Nations University )

About the Author

FOUR ARROWS (Wahinkpe Topa), also known as Don Trent Jacobs, is a Professor in Fielding Graduate University's College of Educational Leadership and Change and an Associate Professor in Northern Arizona University's Educational Leadership Department. Of Cherokee, Creek, and Scots-Irish ancestry, he holds a doctorate from Boise State University focused on indigenous worldviews. Jacobs was Dean of Education at Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and is a Lakota Sun Dancer. Recipient of the Martin Springer Institute for Holocaust Studies Moral Courage Award in 2004, Jacobs currently lives in Mexico, where he works as an activist in behalf of the Seri people.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292713266
• ISBN-13: 978-0292713260
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #898,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great step toward world harmony, November 10, 2006

By 

Calvin Adams "Two Eagles Flying" (Pompano Beach, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Unlearning the Language of Conquest: Scholars Expose Anti-Indianism in America (Paperback)

Four Arrows gathers together an impressive array of minds to, from several points of view, reveal the revisionist history and ongoing treachery of the hegemony of power in Western culture. Not just in America, but in the case of our European forefathers as well, there has been and is a systematic agenda of conquest, thievery, genocide and mind bending so pervasive that it goes unnoticed as if it were "normal", often even by those who are being conquered and exterminated. By exposing this pattern of treachery, "Unlearning" opens the door to understanding and, hopefully beginning to correct the effects of the lies we have been taught by our governments, churches and educational systems. The first step in overcoming a problem is to admit there is one and this book should go a long way toward facilitating that admission in anyone who reads it. Let's hope a lot of educators, clergy and government employees do so.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Price of Conquest, April 5, 2007

By 

Barbara J. Olexer (Milwaukie, OR) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Unlearning the Language of Conquest: Scholars Expose Anti-Indianism in America (Paperback)

This is an important book, one that I wish every politician and policymaker and teacher would read. Four Arrows has gathered together a number of essays that speak to the damage that continues to be inflicted on America's Indigenous Peoples. The essays are well written, cogent, and enlightening, showing how deeply the language of conquest is embedded in our national literature and how it damages our citizenry. For, while the oppressed receive the greatest damage, the oppressor is also negatively affected. In trying to justify the actions that deny Indian citizens their rights, the majority utilizes every kind of lie: anything built on lies will eventually collapse. We must stop telling lies and live up to the treaties we made with the Indian Nations. We must insist on our courts meting out justice based on law, not on prejudice. We must unlearn the language of conquest.