Scholarly Work - Indigenous Research Initiative
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/15852
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Item Diverse literature in elementary school libraries: who chooses and why?(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2017) Bulatowicz, Donna Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Joyce HerbeckPublished children's literature in the United States overrepresents some identities while underrepresenting others, such as people of color, LGBT people, people with disabilities, people who live below the poverty line (Crisp et al., 2016), and more. Thus, some children may not encounter text representative of their identities. As literature can assist with identity development and provide ways for children to learn about those who differ from self, the lack of diversity in children's books disadvantages children with minoritized and majoritized identities (Bishop, 2012; Koss, 2015; Lifshitz, 2016; Schachter & Galili-Schachter, 2012). School librarians function as gatekeepers through the purchase and promotion of various texts. The decisions made by these gatekeepers may enable greater access to representative literature or may limit access. This illustrative case study with a descriptive survey examines the frequency with which librarians promote diverse literature, their comfort level doing so, and how they describe the factors that impact their decisions regarding diverse text. The researcher created an online survey on Qualtrics with both quantitative and qualitative questions and emailed 1,137 elementary school librarians in Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming to request participation in the survey. One hundred and sixteen librarians completed the survey. Eight participants self-selected for interviews. Librarians felt most uncomfortable promoting books with LGBT characters, and were most likely to "never" promote these books than any other type of diverse identity listed in the survey. Two main themes emerged from this study: internal and external factors impact librarian decision making regarding promotion of diverse texts, and some librarians may self-censor purchase and/or promotion of diverse texts. This study offers insight into the factors that impact librarian decision making, as well as how frequently librarians promote diverse texts and their comfort level promoting diverse literature. The study concludes with an examination of the implications from this study, including lack of available texts reflective of LGBT identities, a possible need for training regarding intellectual freedom and the librarian code of ethics, and the impacts of budget issues. Finally, recommendations for future studies are explored, which may further illuminate this under-researched area.Item Exercising influence, hoping for change : Sara Orne Jewett, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Zitkala-Sa negotiate feminism at the turn of the century(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2007) Feusahrens, Ellen Teresa; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Amy ThomasBy the mid 1800s, American feminism began gaining momentum. Politicians, scientists, and clergymen all responded to the evolving call for reforms. More and more people adopted the view that women were oppressed by a male-centered society, and most women were isolated within the home. Women writers belonged to a small group of women whose voices had cultural weight and they had to negotiate between the demands of their writing and audience and their involvement and interest in the women's movement. At the turn of the century, Sarah Orne Jewett, Zitkala-Ša, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman each had their respective audiences and expectations, and each woman had to balance her writing and her interest in the debate over women's role in society.Item Lolita last star : a theoretically informed narrative of survivance(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2010) Young, Micaela Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Greg Keeler; Susan Kollin (co-chair)Common missteps by non-Native writers lead to literary representations of Native Americans as tragic figures slumping towards inevitable annihilation, as museum Indians and simulations of the real, mystical and noble "savages," (yes, this still occurs in contemporary film and literature), or simply as inactive members of contemporary life. Authors also attempt to unveil and profit from sensitive spiritual and personal secrets, and offer explanations that do not match reality, leading to grave offenses, and the continuation of harmful stereotypes. In this respect, Lolita Last Star intentionally avoids discussions of spiritual and cultural traditions, or the actual personal lives of "real life" people, because these areas are guarded for good reasons, and instead focuses on native presence in contemporary American life, in the surprisingly complex, globalized space of the Rocky Mountain West. In other words, the final product is a narrative of Survivance; a concept first explored academically by Anishinaabe scholar Gerald Vizenor, in his book Manifest Manners: Postindian Warriors of Survivance. Survivance, I would argue along with many others, may not be as theoretically complex as it first appears. At its most basic level, "Survivance is a practice, not an ideology, dissimulation, or a theory." The concept of Survivance only becomes difficult when we look to the spectrum of responses to conditions that inspire the need to do more than survive. Survivance is coping, but it is also subversion, creation, amusement, ingenuity, reimagining, the provision of new explanations, and recapturing one's own destiny. The characters and their actions in Lolita Last Star respond in illustrations of full human vibrancy that transcend space and time, definitions, borders, accusations of authenticity, oppression, domination, petty moralities, victimry, and they move us all one step closer to self-sovereignty and human dignity. They show that if anything westerners contain cultural universes and are better for it. The only frauds are the people too scared to step out of their narrow focus of what a westerner, an Indian, a firefighter, or a cowboy is. They are never afraid to ask, "Where the hell are we supposed to go from here?"