Cognitive Development among Sioux Children

167 Pages·1983·6.138 MB·Cognition and Language

by  Gilbert Voyat (auth.)

COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
AMONG
SIOUX CHILDREN
COGNITION AND LANGUAGE
A Series in Psycho linguistics
Series Editor: R. W. RIEBER
CLINICAL PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
Theodore Shapiro
CRAZY TALK: A Study of the Discourse of Schizophrenic Speakers
Sherry Rochester and J. R. Martin
PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE AND LEARNING
O. Hobart Mowrer
DIALOGUES ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT
Edited by Robert W. Rieber
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AMONG SIOUX CHILDREN
Gilbert Voyat
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLINGUISTICS
Three Ways of Looking at a Child's Narrative
Carole Peterson and Allyssa McCabe
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COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT
AMONG
SIOUX CHILDREN
GILBERT VOYAT
City College and the Graduate Center
of the City University of New York
New York, New York
in collaboration with
STEPHEN R. SILK
University of California at San Diego
School of Medicine
La Jolla, California
and
GAYLA TWISS
Indian Health Service
Pine Ridge, South Dakota
PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Voyat. Gilbert.
Cognitive development among Sioux children.
(Cognition and language)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Oglala Indians-Psychology. 2. Indians of North America-South Dakota-Psy-
chology. 3. Cognition and culture. 4. Piaget, Jean, 1896- . I. Silk, Stephen R. II. Twiss,
Gayla. III. Title. IV. Series.
E99.03V68 1983 155.4'13'08997 83-2463
ISBN 978-1-4684-1163-8 ISBN 978-1-4684-1161-4 (eBook)
DOl 10.1007/978-1-4684-1161-4
©1983 Plenum Press, New York
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1983
A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation
233 Spring Street, New York, N.Y. 10013
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical. photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
To my wife Mary,
with all my love and gratitude
G. V.
Acknowledgments
Primarily our thanks and deep gratitude go to the Indian com
munity on the Pine Ridge Reservation, without whose help, involvement
and commitment this study would not have been possible. So many
people in the community have in one way or another contributed to
this work that it would require almost another book to cite them all.
Specifically, however, we would like to thank those of the staff
of the Mental Health Program whose help has been invaluable:
Mr. M. Roscow, Acting Director of the Program, Mr. H. Zephier,
Director of the hospital, Miss E. Gill, Dr. E. Maynard,
Mr. R. Church, Mr. D. Ostendorf, Mrs. G. Twiss, Mrs. F. Afraid of
Hawk, Mr. H. Bear Runner, Mrs. D. Waters, Miss. Y. Giago,
Mrs. L. Cuny, Mrs. P. Black Elk, Mrs. L. Gipp, J. Bachant,
Mrs. H. Vessley, Mrs. D. McLaughlin.
Among the many in Oglala to whom we are indebted we would like
to thank:
Mr. L. Gross, School Principal and Mr. E. High White Man who
drove us to the parents of many of the children and made us
accepted in many families.
In Manderson our thanks go to Mr. D. Wince, Mrs. Cash, Mrs. H.
Twiss, Mrs. C. Twiss, and Mrs. S. Buffington.
Our deep gratitude goes to the staff and the members of the
Headstart Program in particular Mr. L. Bear Heals, and to the staff
and the members of the Parent Child Center (PCC) in particular Mr. T.
Allen.
We would like to thank all those who have contributed to give us
their pedagogical and educational suggestions: Mr. B. Lay, Mr. R.
Cournoyer, Mr. R. Pentilla, Mr. D. Kundson, Father Welshon, Mr. L.
Vocu, Father Labaj, Mrs. A. Ross.
We would like to thank all the parents and the children them
selves for their indispensable role in this research.
Finally in order not to make this kind of reading unduly dis
tracting we have used he instead of he and/or she and ask for the
reader's indulgence.
vii
Contents
History of an Act of Faith 1
PART I
General Introduction l3
The Pine Ridge Developmental Study (14)
Theoretical Issues (17)
Cross-Cultural Studies (19)
Final Note (25)
The Community 26
Historical Summary (27)
Pine Ridge Today (29)
Child Rearing - Formal Education 31
Education and Formal Learning (32)
The Pine Ridge Development Study: Formal Approach 35
Rationale (35)
The Four Conditions of an Operation (38)
Population (46)
Results 51
Introduction (51)
The Clinical Method: A Method of Exploration (53)
Approach to the Analysis (54)
Logical Realm Conservation: Conservation of Matter (57)
Conservation of Liquid (61)
Conservation of Weight (66)
Conservation of Length (69)
One-to-One Correspondence (74)
Logical Realm: Spatial Relationships (79)
Rotation of Landscape, or Coordination of Perspective (85)
Conclusion (96)
Development of Elementary Logic (97)
Conclusion (107)
ix
x CONTENTS
Appraisal of Results 108
Pedagogical Implications 117
Practical Recommendations (120)
Conclusion 130
Theoretical Part (130)
A Plea for the Indians and Indianness 136
PART II
The Individual Reports 145
General Considerations (145)
Chart I (145)
Chart II (149)
References 156
Index 159
History of an Act of Faith
Gilbert Voyat, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
The City College and The Graduate Center
City University of New York
INTRODUCTION
This study is cross-cultural, cognitive, and social-psychologi
cal in character. More importantly, it is a study of people, of
children - and specifically of Sioux children. It is my hope that it
may in some measure counter the fact that Native Americ'ans are widely
misunderstood, despite, or more likely because of, the "fame" bestow
ed upon them by movies and television.
Diamond [1] has pointed out that "acculturation has always been
a matter of conquest. Either civilization directly shatters a primi
tive culture which happens to stand in its historical right of way or
a primitive social economy, in the grip of a civilized market, be
comes so attenuated and weakened that it can no longer contain the
traditional culture.1I There have been two phases in the white man's
conquest of the North American Indians. The first of these was
conquest by force. "In 1876,11 writes Steiner [2], IIGeorge Armstrong
Custer surprised a wintering camp on the Little Big Horn River but
was 'wiped out.' He was killed on the first assault in the middle of
the Little Big Horn River. It was published that each Indian killed
cost the government one million dollars. The Indian population was
down to forty-four thousand souls. II The economic factor had already
played a crucial role, of course, in the conflict between pioneers
and Indians; the lust for gold, silver, and land must be considered
the chief motivational force in the systematic destruction of the
Native Americans by the white man's advancing civilization. The
banner of Christian morality held aloft by the institutionalized
religion of the Europeans put few checks on the killing of Indians.
In this first phase of conquest, genocide constituted part of the
1