Bilingual Curriculum among the Northern Arapaho: Oral Tradition, Literacy, and Performance | CU Experts

Overview

The correlation between the increasing formality of education and the loss of influence of traditional elders (and traditional culture) has been noted not only for the Arapaho but also more generally. Cowell suggests that Northern Arapaho language classrooms, led by Native-speaking, "traditionally-oriented" elders, offer perhaps the best example within the culture of how traditional practices of oral performance can be mediate via written materials in such a way that traditional forms and content of knowledge can remain intact. Bilingual education materials thus offer a particularly fascinating example of the often-cited Northern Arapaho propensity for creative adaptation and assimilation of Euro-American practices.