Description
Children of the Dragonfly: Native American Voices on Child Custody and Education contains a collection of thirty fiction and non-fiction selections by Native American and First Nations writers about the subject of cultural assimilation. Each of the selections conveys a Native perspective on the role of traditional education, the impact of state sponsored education such as residential and boarding schools, and the role of the state and removal of Native children from their families and communities. The author has taken a unique approach by selecting poetry, prose, essay, short story and official government records that speak to the issues involved when Native children are apprehended by the state. The selections are organized around chapters that cover traditional stories about child-rearing, the boarding and residential school experience in United States and Canada, child welfare and health services, and finally the cultural survival of Native families and communities. Writers include such well-known storytellers as Sherman Alexie, Joy Harjo, and Luci Tapahonso.