Unlearning the Language of Conquest

Responding to anti-Indianism in America, the wide-ranging perspectives culled in Unlearning the Language of Conquest present a provocative account of the contemporary hegemony still at work today, whether conscious or unconscious. Four Arrows has gathered a rich collection of voices and topics, including: Waziyatawin Angela Cavender Wilson's "Burning Down the House: Laura Ingalls Wilder and American Colonialism," which probes the mentality of hatred woven within the pages of this iconographic children's literature. Vine Deloria's "Conquest Masquerading as Law," examining the effect of anti-Indian prejudice on decisions in U.S. federal law. David N. Gibb's "The Question of Whitewashing in American History and Social Science," featuring a candid discussion of the spurious relationship between sources of academic funding and the types of research allowed or discouraged. Barbara Alice Mann's "Where Are Your Women? Missing in Action," displaying the exclusion of Native American women in curricula that purport to illuminate the history of Indigenous Peoples. Bringing to light crucial information and perspectives on an aspect of humanity that pervades not only U.S. history but also current sustainability, sociology, and the ability to craft accurate understandings of the population as a whole, Unlearning the Language of Conquest yields a liberating new lexis for realistic dialogues.

Four Arrows (Wahinkpe Topa), also known as Don Trent Jacobs, is a Professor in Fielding Graduate University’s College of Educational Leadership and Change and an Associate Professor in Northern Arizona University’s Educational Leadership Department. Of Cherokee, Creek, and Scots-Irish ancestry, he holds a doctorate from Boise State University focused on indigenous worldviews. Jacobs was Dean of Education at Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and is a Lakota Sun Dancer. Recipient of the Martin Springer Institute for Holocaust Studies Moral Courage Award in 2004, Jacobs currently lives in Mexico, where he works as an activist in behalf of the Seri people.