Last weekend, we visited the Poeh Cultural Center, a museum and research gallery honoring the Tewa people of Northern New Mexico. Tewa is the language that connects people from a half-dozen pueblos around what is now known as the Española Valley. Each pueblo has its own unique cultural practices including the creation and decoration of pottery.
The Trip Home
A prominent display at the Cultural Center is a collection of 100 pottery pieces that the Smithsonian Museum recently returned to The People. The return was negotiated in 2015. Specific pieces were hand-selected by Tewa delegates, to represent Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Nambe, Pojoaque, and Tesuque Pueblos. At long last, the pottery was welcomed home in October 2019.
Videotaped interviews of select tribal members revealed how deeply they felt this homecoming. They spoke about the pieces as being their ancestors – that those who created the pots, pitchers and other pieces had imbued some of their being into the pieces. Various people spoke of the relief that the pottery felt at being returned to their Place, to hear their native tongue again, and of their prayer that those left behind will find comfort with each other and from The People who come to visit them. This moving experience caused me to contemplate what it is to have a sense of Place.
We Are Our Place
There is something to Place. We long to belong, not just to our present, but also to our personal and ancestral past, and to our future. There is something in us that grabs onto Place and integrates it into our identity in a deep and organic way.
- Sometimes it expresses itself in sensory ways, like when the sound and smell of crashing through piles of leaves instantly transports me back to my childhood home in the Midwest.
- It can involve the intellect, like when seeing a thumbnail photograph of Salt Lake City promoting a Denver event made me feel quite disoriented. I thought, “Those aren’t my mountains – there is something wrong with this photograph.” The thought happened in the blink of an eye – long before I was able to identify a glimmer at the center of the photograph as Gabriel atop the Mormon Temple.
- It can generate authentic connectivity with people we have known and those who have gone before us, like when visiting my ancestral homeland of Denmark enabled me to recognize so many of my father’s mannerisms and habits being uniquely Danish.
The Study of Place
Dr. Montessori gave us a wonderful framework for gaining insight into modern and ancient cultures: The Fundamental Needs of Humans. In studying how a culture meets its needs, we learn about their food, housing, clothing, transportation, communication, and defense. When we dig a little deeper, we can relate a culture’s practices to their geology, geography, and climate. We can also begin to deduce a culture’s value system – what they deemed worthy of esteem. But, at least the way that these cultural studies generally unfolded in my classroom, we fall short of really understanding their Place. Perhaps finding that deep insight is an impossible goal – perhaps Place can only be experienced, and that, over a period of years. But it made me think about immersive experiences that might lead in that direction. Here are just a few random musings, chosen to create as many sensory images as possible. I bet that many of you have even more creative, integrative practices in your own classrooms. If so, please share! Perhaps one of these will find its way into your next cultural study!
- On the first day, initiate the study of a modern or ancient culture by filling the room with music, art, and photography reflecting the heritage of the region for an extended period of the day, not just during the cultural lesson. Consider culminating the period in reading creation stories from that culture.
- Continue to immerse children sensorially and experientially as the study progresses. I know of one classroom that starts each study with a blank wall. As they learn more about the culture, they add 2- and 3- dimensional representations of the culture (ancient and modern) to the wall until it is filled with visual images. For example, when studying Japan, they “planted” a branch from the yard in a plaster-filled coffee can and, over the course of the study, added “cherry blossoms” from tissue paper – the tree blossomed as the children’s knowledge blossomed. When children experimented with shodo, “the way of writing”, some added their efforts to the wall. Some chose to post illuminated original haikus or thoughts from Japanese philosophers. Some created beautiful results of research on Samurai. And more.
- Whenever possible, integrate non-visual sensory images into the childrens’ Fundamental Needs studies. The smells and tastes of curry, for example, will enliven the study of India (ancient or modern). Working with wool (carding, dying, weaving, etc) using the tools and methods appropriate to the time and region can provide wonderful connections and an appreciation for how techniques evolve over time.
- Culminate a study of an ancient culture by bringing in or visiting a guest to give a first-person account of living in the region today: the modern-day expression of the culture’s Place. When someone shares their personal sense of Place with others, it creates a special connection that cannot be attained through books and videos.
Of course, our repertoire of speakers and experiences must develop over time! Unfortunately, there is no “cultural experiences” site where we can order up a guest speaker or chef du jour! But when we broaden our sights, opportunities arise. There are people everywhere who would be pleased to share their Place. What cultures are represented in your classroom? Is there a parent or grandparent who can speak to (or demonstrate) Place? What cultural centers are in your town or city that might provide resources to a culturally sensitive classroom? It might be that a conversation with a restaurateur or craftsman in your neighborhood would provide opportunities. These culminating cultural experiences integrate “book-learning” with experience to create a connection to the culture that transcends mere information, creating opportunities for authentic empathy.
In all of this, we must guard against cultural appropriation. It is one thing to see or experience what people of a particular time and place would have experienced. It is another to take their practices out of context and enact them as if we were part of their culture.
With all of the children’s accumulated knowledge and experience, we can harness their considerable imagination. What would it have been like to be a child in the Agora on a hot summer day? Imagine the smell of the dusty road as you come into the busy market place. What other scents and sounds would greet you? Would you hear philosophers arguing the finer points of governance or of geometry? What would the weather be like that day? If you lift your eyes from the hustle and bustle of the city, what would the surrounding country look like? Do you see a monument to one of the gods or goddesses – perhaps the patron of the city? What would make this place “home” to you?
Place in Our Spaces
Another point of consideration is the sense of Place that we create in our own school and classrooms. That is the subject of today’s reflection.
Reflection for Adults:
- What about the school or classroom tells children that they belong here? Does each child have a space that belongs to them, that shows that they are a member of this community? This might be something as simple as a cubby with the child’s name on it, in a set of cubbies that represents the classroom community.
- Is there a sense of history? Is there a way for children to leave their “mark” on a classroom when they leave? This might be a class/school photograph on the wall, or an anthology of children’s poetry or stories (one per child per year), or a children-created photo album or scrapbook that retells the year. (Be sure to keep at least 3-5 years’ worth in the classroom to provide a sense of history!)
- Some schools have a brick walkway where, in exchange for a donation, families’ names and messages are inscribed on a brick. Taking a page from that playbook, consider starting a rock garden, where each child brings in a river rock the size of their hand and paints it with something that represents them and their dreams and aspirations.
Reflection for Children:
- How is our school different from other schools that you know about? If a friend from another school was going to visit, what would you tell them to prepare them for the visit?
- What things about our school make you feel at home? This might be people, things, routines, rituals, or something else. It might be something that you experience with your 5 senses, or it might be extra-sensory – something that you feel or just know.
Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_slippers
“Love makes you see a place differently, just as you hold differently an object that belongs to someone you love. If you know one landscape well, you will look at all other landscapes differently. And if you learn to love one place, sometimes you can also learn to love another.”
Anne Michaels, Canadian poet and novelist, Fugitive Pieces