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Traces the experiences of Yurok high school students and educators as they navigate between Native and non-Native spaces
Learning to Survive explores how Native American youth are impacted by formal educational experiences, through the insights of students and teachers working to revitalize the Yurok language. Sharing stories of Native American resilience amidst toxic school and community cultures, Mneesha Gellman examines the consequences of the misrepresentation and suppression of Indigenous culture in secondary education.
Through personal testimonies and interviews from Northern California high schools, Gellman traces the experiences of students as they navigate their own identities between Native and non-Native spaces, and of educators who relate their efforts in providing their students with not just language instruction, but a sense of support and community that goes beyond the classroom. Students and teachers alike detail how they struggle to thrive under systems of White supremacy while protecting and preserving their identity and culture, particularly through the work of language education and language-keeping.
Learning to Survive highlights the profound harm done by perpetuating White supremacy and the importance of investing in culturally sustaining curricula. Youth well-being suffers when students are faced with hostile school environments and when they do not see themselves or their communities truthfully or positively represented in curricula. This book calls on adults—policymakers, teachers, families, and others—to consider what changes we can and should make in our daily work to promote Native American well-being in schools.
"I have always known that learning our language has made a huge difference in my life and guided me through some of hardest times I’ve ever experienced. Reading this book helps me understand why. The testimonies and research, beautifully collected and clearly presented, have given me a new appreciation for the hard work and vision that not only our elders had, but also those who have dedicated their lives to giving the next generation a powerful tool to help bring balance and renewal to our world."
"Learning to Survive should be required reading for everyone interested in Indigenous language reclamation and cultural resilience. I know nothing like it. Featuring voices and stories that are by turns joyous, painful, thoughtful, and inspiring, Gellman's moving book shows how language and culture work led by Indigenous teachers and activists can help heal the wounds of colonization."
"This book illuminates the structural forces at the root of ongoing inequities in U.S. schools. By centering the experiences of Yurok youth and educators, this book challenges us to confront how systemic oppression continues to shape educational spaces. It is also a call to imagine schools as places of affirmation and well-being rather than marginalization. Learning to Survive offers a critical analysis of how tokenism and curricular erasure continue to marginalize Indigenous youth in public education. It also documents the steady and often unrecognized efforts of Indigenous educators, Elders, and students who work to counter whitewashed histories and transform educational spaces for cultural survival and community well-being. This work reveals the frequently ignored or hidden structural forces that continue to marginalize American Indian youth in schools today, while lifting the brilliance and resistance of students, educators, and Elders who are reshaping educational systems from within."
"This is a heartfelt and sensitive book about the ways in which public schools still fail minority groups in our country, and how a Native American community in far northern California is working to make things better. Educators from the Yurok Tribe are teaching the Yurok language to students in schools across two counties, and helping them connect with cultural pathways that lead to a greater sense of identity and resilience in the face of discrimination and intergenerational trauma. At the same time, they are helping other teachers and students learn more about the history, lives and needs of the children they teach. This is a highly readable book, woven through with gripping personal stories. Strongly recommended for educators across our multicultural nation."
"Through collaboration with the Yurok Tribe, language-keepers, school staff, and students, Mneesha Gellman elevates the voices and aspirations of youth and communities who tell their stories in their own words. As a school leader, Learning to Survive immediately forced me to confront two questions: Why don't we have a Native American studies curriculum, and what are we going to do about it? I wish there were more books like this."
Mneesha Gellman is Associate Professor of Political Science at Emerson College.
Jim McQuillen (Yurok/Tolowa) is the Education Department Director at the Yurok Tribe.