Residential Schools and Indigenous Peoples: From Genocide via Education to the Possibilities for Processes of Truth, Restitution, Reconciliation, and Reclamation

247 Pages·2019·13.291 MB·English

by  Stephen James Minton

Residential Schools and Indigenous Peoples
Residential Schools and Indigenous Peoples provides an extended multi-country
focus on the transnational phenomenon of genocide of Indigenous peoples
through residential schooling. It analyses how such abusive systems were
legitimised and positioned as benevolent during the late nineteenth century
and examines Indigenous and non-Indigenous agency in the possibilities for
processes of truth, restitution, reconciliation, and reclamation.
The book examines the immediate and legacy effects that residential school-
ing had on Indigenous children who were removed from their families and com-
munities in order to be ‘educated’ away from their ‘savage’ backgrounds, into
the ‘civilised’ ways of the colonising societies. It brings together Indigenous and
non-Indigenous authors from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Greenland,
Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States in telling the
stories of what happened to Indigenous peoples as a result of the interring of
Indigenous children in residential schools.
This unique book will appeal to academics, researchers, and postgraduate
students in the fields of Indigenous studies, the history of education, and
comparative education.
Stephen James Minton is a British chartered psychologist and an Associate
Professor in Applied Psychology at the School of Psychology, University of
Plymouth, UK.
Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education
This is a series that offers a global platform to engage scholars in continuous
academic debate on key challenges and the latest thinking on issues in the
fast-growing field of International and Comparative Education.
Titles in the series include:
Informal Learning and Literacy among Maasai Women
Education, Emancipation and Empowerment
Taeko Takayanagi
Parental Involvement Across European Education Systems
Critical Perspectives
Edited by Angelika Paseka and Delma Byrne
Transculturalism and Teacher Capacity
Professional Readiness in the Globalised Age
Niranjan Casinader
Residential Schools and Indigenous Peoples
From Genocide via Education to the Possibilities for Processes of Truth,
Restitution, Reconciliation, and Reclamation
Edited by Stephen James Minton
Transnational Perspectives on Curriculum History
Edited by Gary McCulloch, Ivor Goodson, and Mariano González-Delgado
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Research-in-International-and-Comparative-Education/
book-series/RRICE
Residential Schools and
Indigenous Peoples
From Genocide via Education to the
Possibilities for Processes of Truth,
Restitution, Reconciliation, and Reclamation
Edited by Stephen James Minton
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Stephen James Minton; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Stephen James Minton to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-138-61558-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-46304-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Cenveo® Publisher Services
‘Sequoyah, the Gift’ (painting by Daniel Milton Horsechief)
This book is dedicated to all survivors of the
types of residential schools, and other similar
institutions, that we have described in this
book; to their families, and their descendants.
We honour them, and also all of those who live
with the legacy and contemporary effects of
the attempts to forcibly assimilate Indigenous
peoples in post-colonial nation states.
Contents
List of figures x
List of tables xi
List of contributors xii
Preface xv
Acknowledgements xix
List of abbreviations xxi
1 Setting the scene 1
STEPHEN JAMES MINTON
The scope of this book 1
The structure of this book 6
Some initial thoughts on the possibilities for processes
of truth, restitution, reconciliation, and reclamation 8
Notes 14
References 19
2 Some theoretical touchstones 24
STEPHEN JAMES MINTON
Indigenous as ‘Other’ 24
Educational systems as agents of (cultural) genocide 30
The residential school as a ‘total institution’ 34
Assimilation and nation state identity 38
Notes 41
References 45
3 Aotearoa/New Zealand 48
TANIA KA‘AI
Historical contexts 48
The operation of the residential schools system 54
viii Contents
The legacy of the residential schools system 55
Processes of truth, restitution, reconciliation, and reclamation 57
A final note 61
Notes 62
References 64
4 Australia’s native residential schools 66
ROSEMARY NORMAN-HILL
Introduction 66
Historical contexts 68
The establishment of the residential schools system in Australia 70
The legacy of the residential schools system in Australia 78
Processes of truth, restitution, reconciliation, and reclamation 82
A final note 86
Notes 90
References 90
5 Greenland 95
STEPHEN JAMES MINTON AND HELENE THIESEN
Historical contexts 95
‘The experiment’ 103
Efforts towards processes of truth, restitution,
reconciliation, and reclamation 105
Notes 107
References 109
6 The colonisation of Sápmi 113
JENS-IVAR NERGÅRD
Key elements of Norwegianisation 115
Internal colonisation 120
An inferno takes shape 122
Bleak fate at a boarding school in the 1970s 127
Destructive consequences 135
The milestones of reconstruction 137
References 139
Contents ix
7 Colliding Heartwork: The space where
our hearts meet and collide to process
the boarding school experience 141
NATAHNEE NUAY WINDER
Introduction 141
A brief history of Indian boarding schools in the United States 143
Overview of ‘Southwestern University’ students
and the dissertation study 146
Methods and methodology 148
Findings 151
Concluding remarks 159
Notes 160
References 160
8 Punishing poverty: The curious case
of Ireland’s institutionalised children 163
JEREMIAH J. LYNCH
Historical contexts 163
The operation of the residential schools system 166
Ireland’s Travelling community and the industrial schools 170
The legacy of the residential schools system 174
Processes of truth, restitution, reconciliation, and reclamation 177
Notes 182
References 185
9 Reflections 191
JULIE VANE, STEPHEN JAMES MINTON, TANIA KA‘AI,
ROSEMARY NORMAN-HILL, AND NATAHNEE NUAY WINDER
A reflection by Julie Vane and Stephen James Minton 191
Reflections by Tania Ka‘ai, Rosemary Norman-Hill,
and Natahnee Nuay Winder 209
Notes 216
References 218
Index 220