Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - Kathleen Tigerman, an associate professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, recently published a first-of-its-kind textbook called "Wisconsin Indian Literature: Anthology of Native Voices." The book contains native Wisconsin Indian literature suitable and relevant to elementary- through college-aged students, and all Wisconsin residents. She hopes the book will be incorporated into the traditional American literature canon, taught alongside other American authors such as Franklin, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson, Twain, Hemingway and Morrison. The book includes both historical and contemporary American Indian literature and, according to Tigerman, answers requests for appropriate teachings that meet Act 31 curriculum requirements.

Since roughly 1991, Wisconsin schools must meet the requirements of Act 31, a Wisconsin law mainly consisting of three components: human relations programs for all grade levels, with particular attention devoted to relations with African Americans, Hispanics and American Indians; Wisconsin Indian history, culture and tribal sovereignty instruction for all students seeking teaching licensure; and instruction on Wisconsin tribal groups to all students to be delivered by each school district at least twice in the elementary grades and once in the secondary grades. Tigerman's book provides teachers with another resource from which to draw required educational materials.

"Tigerman's scholarly work meets two college and university goals: first, infusing our campus community with a greater commitment to issues of diversity and, second, educating future educators on these issues. Many school children first learn about Native Americans through acting out erroneous accounts of Thanksgiving, through learning that America was 'discovered' by European explorers, or understanding American history to begin in 1776. By providing a resource for B-21 educators, she makes it easier to include voices traditionally omitted in school curricula and to meet Act 31 educational goals," said Mittie Nimocks, dean of UWP's College of Liberal Arts and Education.

Jim Ottery, chair of the English department at the University of Ilinois-Springfield, wrote the foreword to Tigerman's book and said: "From an ethical standpoint, Tigerman's work allows the Indian authors included in the anthology to engage in an act of survivance, because, as she writes in the introduction, 'instead of reading descriptions of native people, we read their words.' ... The rhetorical importance of reading about American Indians in their own words is the value that Indians place on all words. American Indians' respect for language is spiritual, whether the language is used to tell traditional stories and histories or in the poetry and prose of the last centuries and this one."

In the book's acknowledgement section, Tigerman wrote: "This work was a collaborative effort by many people and would not exist except for the care, generosity and knowledge of its many contributors. I chose the excerpts based on a number of criteria: their literary excellence, their historical significance, or their insight into issues of sovereignty as mandated in Act 31." Tigerman spent seven years developing the book, making sure to gather as much input as she could from the Indian community, not to mention educating herself, collecting the scattered native literature, sharing her research with natives, obtaining permission from authors and publishers and undergoing the formal review process required of most scholarly publications. In particular, Verna Fowler, the president of the College of Menominee Nation, voluntarily read the entire manuscript.

"Fowler's generosity towards me exemplifies a deeply held traditional value that underlies relationships with all people, and her respectful response was another indicator of her cultural values when reaching out to me, a non-native," Tigerman said.

In addition to Act 31, Tigerman had other reasons for assembling the book. Affected deeply by the Jews in the Holocaust, and the similar circumstances of the American Indians throughout America's history, she asked herself what she could do about genocidal ignorance, and ignorance of treaty rights and Indian sovereignty. This book became the result, and Tigerman created the Ingrid Washinawatok Speaker's Fund to which she will give a majority of the royalties from this book. Colombian guerrillas murdered Washinawatok and her associates in 1999 while they were trying to help the U'wa Indians build a school to preserve their language and culture. Washinawatok was an avid spokesperson for indigenous peoples throughout her 41 years in many ways, through many organizations. The speaker's fund, held by the College of the Menominee Nation, will be used to bring native voices into Wisconsin classrooms.

On Friday, Feb. 9, from 7-7:30 p.m., Tigerman will appear on the Wisconsin Public Television show "Here and Now" for an interview about her book. Ada Deer, director of American Indian Studies at UW-Madison, will be on the show, too.

Contact: Kathleen Tigerman, professor, UWP Humanities Department, (608) 342-1866,tigerman@uwplatt.edu Prepared by: April Schmidt, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194,schmidap@uwplatt.edu