Review of Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought By Sandy Grande

Authors

Steven Crum, University of California, Davis

Date of this Version

Spring 2006

Comments

Published in Great Plains Research 16:1 (Spring 2006). Copyright © 2006 The Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Used by permission.

Abstract

In this intriguing book, written by an indigenous Quechua scholar whose ancestors come from Peru, Sandy Grande introduces a new term which she labels "Red Pedagogy." The term has more than one facet.
One element of Red Pedagogy is its insistence that Native Americans in general, including indigenous scholars, and non-Natives need to critique, challenge, and even reject dominant modes of thought that have been applied to indigenous populations for years. Grande provides sol id evidence that some Native scholars are currently challenging older paradigms. For example, Taiaiake Alfred, a Mohawk political scientist, questions the modern-day usage and practice of "sovereignty" that includes voting politics. According to Alfred, Native Americans should return to indigenous forms of sovereignty, including tribal consensus of opinion rather than Euro-American voting.