“Leviathan: A word from the Hebrew, meaning literally ‘that which gathers itself in folds,’ and given in the Bible to a mythical sea serpent (Job 41:1; . 27:1; Ps. 104:26). The name is also applied to the whale and the crocodile, and by extension it has come to mean something vast and formidable of its kind.”
Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.
“strand: A group of related themes or concepts within an overall curricular area. For example, a social studies curriculum might be divided into such strands as citizenship, history, economics, geography, legal systems, political systems, and so on.”
Excerpted from: Ravitch, Diane. EdSpeak: A Glossary of Education Terms, Phrases, Buzzwords, and Jargon. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2007.
“Shawnee: Algonquian-speaking people from the central Ohio River Valley. Closely related in language and culture to the Fox, Kickapoo, and Sauk, the Shawnee were also influenced by the Seneca and Delaware. In the summer the Shawnee lived in bark-covered houses grouped into large villages near fields in which women cultivated corn. The primary male occupation was hunting. In winter the village broke into small patrilineal family groups, which moved to hunting camps. In the 17th century the Shawnee were driven from their home by the Iroquois, scattering into widely separated areas. After 1725 the tribe reunited in Ohio. Following their defeat by General Anthony Wayne (1794), they broke into three independent branches that eventually settled in Oklahoma. Today they number about 4,000.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
“Sacagawea: (1786?-1812) Shoshone Indian woman who, carrying her infant son on her back, traveled thousands of wilderness miles with the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-6). Though she had been separated from her people for nearly 10 years when the expedition began, Sacagawea was instrumental in obtaining horses and guides from a band of Shoshone (led by her brother, Cameahwait) at a point when the expedition may well have ended. Her fortitude in the face of hazards and deprivation became legendary.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
“Penutian languages: Hypothetical superfamily of North American Indian languages that unites a number of languages and language families mainly of the far western United States and Canada. The Penutian hypothesis was proposed by Roland B. Dixon and Alfred B. Kroeber in 1913 and refined by Edward Sapir in 1921. Like the Hokan hypothesis (see Hokan Languages), it attempted to reduce the number of unrelated language families in one of the world’s most linguistically diverse areas. At its core was a group of languages spoken along California’s central coast and in the Central Valley, including Ohlone (Costanoan), Miwok, Wintuan, Maidu, and Yokuts. Sapir added Oregon Penutian (spoken along the lower Columbia River), Plateau Penutian (languages of Plateau Indian peoples), Tsimshian (spoken in western British Columbia), and Mexican Penutian (spoken in southern Mexico). Aside from the Mexican group, all the languages today are either extinct or spoken exclusively by older adults. Though the hypothesis remains unproven, at least some languages of the group are probably related to each other.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
“Salishan languages: Family of about 23 North American Indian languages, spoken or formerly spoken in the Pacific Northwest and adjoining areas of Idaho, Montana, and southern British Columbia. Today, Salishan languages are spoken almost exclusively by older adults. They are remarkable for their elaborate consonant inventories and small number of vowels. Grammatically, all words except for particles tend to assume predicative function, so there is no clear demarcation between nouns and verbs.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
OK, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on noble savage archetype. This is a half-page worksheet with a three sentence reading and three comprehension questions.
This was a concept, I can say with some pleasure, that my high school teachers disabused me of quickly. It’s a good thing, too, because (“Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” as I delighted in hearing Gomer Pyle USMC say when I watched that show as a child), despite what this worksheet avers in placing the origin of this concept with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, it turns out not to be the case.
In fact, in addition to the many problems implicit in the term itself, it happens that Rousseau never uttered the term, and that the concept and the linguistic clothes it wears are the product of poet and playwright John Dryden, who invoked the stereotype in his play The Conquest of Granada by the Spaniards. When the term is next heard, it is from the mouths of physician James Crawfurd and anthropologist James Hunt, who erected the term as a signpost en route to scientific racism. Apparently, in the process of their “work,” Crawfurd deliberately misattributed noble savage to Rousseau.
So, with this short document, there is a lesson on debunking that I will write sometime in the future. I can tell you that only the most cursory research yielded the results in the foregoing paragraph. So, there is quite a bit of juicy stuff here–especially for inquisitive high school students.
Finally, if you want to see the decisive send-up of the noble savage stereotype (or, alternatively, if you’re interested in trying some excellent series television), check out Dallas Goldtooth’s hilarious performance as William “Spirit” Knifeman in Reservation Dogs–one of the best things ever to appear on television in my opinion.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
Posted in English Language Arts, Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets
Tagged building vocabulary/conceptual knowledge, cultural literacy, diction/grammar/style/usage, fiction/literature, film/television/photography, first nation/indigenous peoples' history, professional development, science literacy
“American Indian Languages: Languages spoken by the original inhabitants of the Americas and the West Indies and by their modern descendants. They display an extraordinary structural range, and no attempt to unite them into a small number of genetic groupings has won general acceptance. Before Columbus, more than 300 distinct languages were spoken in North America north of Mexico by an estimated population of 2-7 million. Today there are fewer than 170 languages, of which a great majority are spoken fluently only by older adults. A few widespread language families (Algonquian, Iroquoian, Siouan, Muskogean, Athabaskan, Uto-Aztecan, Salishan) account for many of the languages of eastern and interior North America, though the far west was an area of extreme diversity (see Hokan, Penutian). In Mexico and north Central America (Mesoamerica), an estimated 15-20 million people spoke more than 300 languages before Columbus. The large Otomanguean and Mayan families and a single language, Nahuatl, shared Mesoamerica with many smaller families and language isolates. More than 10 of these languages and languages complexes still have over 100,000 speakers. South American and the West Indies had an estimated pre-Columbian population of 10-20 million, speaking more than 500 languages. Important language families include Chibchan in Columbia and south Central America, Quechuan and Aymaran in the Andean regions, and Arawakan, Cariban, and Tupian and north and central lowland South America. Aside from Quechuan and Aymaran, with about 10 million speakers, and the Tupian language Guarani, most remaining South American Indian languages have very few speakers, and some face extinction before linguists can adequately record them.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
[Speech of surrender at tend of Nez Perce War, 5 Oct. 1877:] “I am tired of fighting…. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead.
Chief Joseph, Quoted in Herbert J. Spinden, The Nez Perce Indians (1908)
Excerpted from: Schapiro, Fred, ed. The Yale Book of Quotations. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006
“Totemism: Complex of ideas and practices based on the belief in kinship or mystical relationship between a group (or individual) and a natural object, such as an animal or a plant. The term derives from the Ojibwa word ototeman, signifying a blood relationship. A society exhibits totemism if it is divided into an apparently fixed number of clans, each of which has a specific relationship to an animate or inanimate species (totem). A totem many be a feared or respected hunted animal or an edible plant. Very commonly connected with origin myths and with instituted morality, the totem is almost always hedged about with taboos of avoidance or of strictly ritualized contact. Totem, taboo, and exogamy seem to be inextricably intertwined.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
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