Episode 41: Native American Series 4 | "Utah Indians" Song

Episode Keywords:

NACI, Native American Curriculum Initiative, teachers asking appropriate questions about Native content, cultural appropriation, addressing Native stereotypes, indigenous pedagogy, Native American lesson plans, authentic voice, Artful Teaching podcast, Native American, classroom, indigenous pedagogy in the classroom, lesson plans, Native American, tribe, NACI authentic experience, teachers, culture keepers, share, curriculum, lessons, indigenous education, culture, Native American cultural arts, sovereign nation, song, Native American song, Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, Shoshone Fish Song, choosing appropriate books, Native American children’s books, decision-based model for Native content, tipi, eight sovereign nations, Utah Educational Network

Episode Resources:

Decision-Based Model for Selecting Appropriate Native American Content for the Classroom

Blog Post: Answering Teachers’ Questions about the “Utah Indians” Song

How to Choose Native American Children’s Books for the Classroom

Utah Educational Network Resource: Five Tribal Groups, Eight Sovereign Nations

I Love the Mountains–Damen Doiya lesson plan

Northwestern Shoshone Fish Song lesson plan

Shi Naasha lesson plan: Coming soon!

Native American Curriculum Initiative Website
www.advancingartsleadership.com/naci

Native American Lesson Plans
www.education.byu.edu/arts/lessons

About the BYU ARTS Partnership
https://advancingartsleadership.com/node/66

Episode Notes:

Why “Utah Indians” from Utah’s Popular Fourth-Grade Program is a Song to Set Aside

Cally Flox: Welcome to the Artful Teaching podcast. Today we address the next question teachers have asked our Native American Curriculum Initiative experts, Brenda Beyal and Emily Soderborg. In our state, we have a wonderful program that was created in the 1990’s called “This is the Place.” It was written and based on people's understanding and the cultural zeitgeist of the day. Over the years, a sense of awareness emerged that one of the songs on that program, called “Utah Indians” is not ideally suited for representing Native American culture or Native American people. Over and over and over again, we get questions from teachers about this song: “Wow, is this song okay?” “Can I sing this?” Teachers now know to ask the questions, and they are asking intelligent questions, noticing:

“This song supports stereotypes.”
“This song is saying things that aren't really true.”
“This song has that stereotypical beat.”

Teachers are learning to ask the right questions. They’re asking, “Can I use this song?” “What do I do?” Brenda Beyal is the Program Coordinator for Native American Curriculum Initiative (NACI), and Emily Soderborg is the NACI Project Manager. They're here to help us answer that question today.

Brenda Beyal: Thank you, Cally. We have had this question over and over again. When this song was first created, it was acceptable to people in general. Now, in 2023, we have viewpoints and perspectives that have changed. At this point, this song is probably verging on creating a narrative that is inaccurate for children. We want to do what's best for children. We want them to view their fellow friends and fellow community members in a way that is authentic and accurate. I don't know if this song does that.

Cally Flox: This is a song, based on our criteria, that we recommend be set aside.

Brenda Beyal: Yes.

Cally Flox: Too many inaccuracies exist in the song for a simple explanation for children in the classroom. For example, if we're choosing a children’s book, and there are one or two inaccuracies, we can show those to the children and still use the book with modifications. This song is one that needs too many modifications. It's time to set it aside.

“Utah Indians” Song Perpetuates Stereotypes of Native Americans

Brenda Beyal: Right. Perhaps you're a teacher that is on a team that possibly uses the song, or you need to talk to an administrator about the song. Here’s how you can explain why the song “Utah Indians” marginalizes communities. There are a couple of things that we find in the song that are uncomfortable. For example, the very first words of the song—which is supposed to be about Native people—are actually sharing the original perspective that the song comes from.

Cally Flox: Will you tell us what it says in the beginning of the song?

Brenda Beyal: It's, “When white man came…” This song actually tells you what perspective the song is coming from.

Cally Flox: That's an honest point of view. This is a song written from white man's point of view about when white man came to the land.

Brenda Beyal: Yes.

Cally Flox: We want to move forward to restoring some of those cultural bonds and the sharing of the land and a more respectful point of view. At least the song was honest about the perspective they were sharing.

Brenda Beyal: Yes, yes. And that perspective was definitely skewed.

Emily Soderborg: Another thing to consider is that the song never brings Native Americans into the present. The song completely categorizes Native Americans as a historical people. Our discussions with Native families and Native educators show that the song has made many Native children feel uncomfortable and unseen, as to who they are today. So if they're being asked to sing this song, these Native children are not able to represent who they are today. The message of this song is not helping them connect to who they are right now.

Cally Flox: A great example of that was Brenda's nephew. His teacher told students, “Draw a Native American house,” and he drew a teepee. And Brenda said, “Do you live in a teepee? And he said, “Well, no, but that's what the teacher wanted me to do.” If a Native child can't find themselves in a song about Native Americans, that's interesting.

Teaching Children About Eight Sovereign Nations in Utah Instead of Five Tribal Groups

Emily Soderborg: This song teaches the five tribal groups; it goes through each of their names. In our work with the eight sovereign nations, we know these groups want to be known as the eight sovereign nations. We are hoping to help perpetuate their identity as eight sovereign nations rather than just the five tribal groups within Utah. Teachers can help with this concept by using the great “Five Tribal Groups, Eight Sovereign Nations” resource that Brenda and Cally have created with UEN as a performance resource instead of this song. I think a lot of times, the reason why teachers want to continue using the “Utah Indians” song is because it's part of a performance. Teachers want something that they can have students do for parents. But if you want songs to sing, we have also been given permission to sing several Native American songs from the specific tribal nations.

Brenda Beyal: I want to talk about how a teacher can approach a team or an administrator who is encouraging them to continue to sing the song. The song “Utah Indians” not only maintains the stereotype of relegating Native Americans to the past, but also the perpetuates Native American stereotypes through the very beat of the song. It has a strong–weak–weak–weak pattern that is often labeled as the “Hollywood beat.” It's the beat that many movies use to depict Native Americans. It’s definitely not a Native American beat. That sometimes feels jarring when you're a Native American and you hear that beat.

Emily Soderborg: That beat is used to create stereotypical Native American music written by people that are not Native American. With a vocalization, it might sound like, HI–yah–yah–yah, HI–yah–yah–yah, HI–yah–yah–yah. This is not anything you're going to find in any Native American music. And I grew up with music like that, and I know now that it is stereotypical. When we know better, we do better—we change.

Knowing Better, Doing Better: Listening to Marginalized Voices

Cally Flox: I think that's a really important point. Brenda generously said at the very beginning of the episode that people thought this song was okay, in the 90’s when this was written, this was how the culture saw things. But I do want to acknowledge that there were people who knew it wasn't okay. There were people who felt marginalized every time the song was sung. So what I'm really grateful for is that as a culture, we've come to a place to start listening to those marginalized voices and saying, “Oh, this makes you uncomfortable. Teach me why.” Now, we can know better and do better. We're not faulting anybody who wrote this beautiful program that's been used in schools for 30 years, one that many children have embraced and loved and grown up doing. We want to acknowledge how important this “This is the Place” program has been in the development of many children learning the history of our state. We're trying to say, “Yeah, this is a great program. Now, how can we make it better based on some of the understandings that we have right now? How can we be sensitive to this particular marginalized group, bring them into the present, and strengthen our communities today?”

Indigenous Experience is an Essential Part of Utah History

Brenda Beyal: I love that this teacher is asking this question because they want to be inclusive. Someone may say, “Well, let's just not do anything with Native Americans.” It’s impossible to talk about the history of Utah without talking about indigenous people within the state. If you're nervous, and you just say, “Well, let's just not do anything,” then you're creating a greater void in all children's narrative of how Utah became a state. Another point that one could bring up in seeing the need for the song to be replaced is that some of the lyrics use the terms “Great Spirit” and some lyrics say that Native Americans worshiped wind, fire, and water and different entities. As a Native American, I've never worshipped those elements. I may have a strong relationship or see reciprocity with those elements, but I've never worshiped them. Those lyrics can be confusing to not only Native children, but also to all children alike. Using the idea of a “Great Spirit,” we have in my Navajo culture, we have the Holy Ones. So, that can also be a sticking point.

Heather Francis: It's not just stereotypical, but it's homogenizing. These are not Navajo-specific lyrics, not specific to the Paiute tribe. Since it's not tribe-specific, it's homogenizing, or saying all Native Americans worship this way.

Emily Soderborg: I like to think about the way we use the term Native American: I like to connect it with the term European. Think about Europe, and all the different languages, all the different cultures that are found in Europe. So if you say, “Oh, someone is European,” you know that a French person is not the same as a German person, that they are going to have different backgrounds, different cultures, ways of living. So when we say Native American, that is very similar to saying, European. In the United States, there are 574 federally-recognized tribes with different languages, different cultures, different ways of doing things. So if we homogenize them all into one group saying, “Oh, they all do things the exact same way,” it's like saying, “People in Europe are all exactly the same, their languages are all the same, the way they do things are all the same.” Because Native Americans span more than just one continent—there are indigenous people all over—looking at it that way helps us understand the harm that can be caused by homogenizing.

Brenda Beyal: Although there are 574 federally-recognized sovereign nations, many more sovereign nations exist that only carry state recognition and not federal recognition. Additionally, there are many who aren't recognized at all, who continue to hold on to their culture and their tribal ways. 574 is just the starting point. There are so many more nations out there.

Rewriting the “Utah Indians” Song

Cally Flox: Teachers, we are so grateful for these questions and your desire to improve the accuracy and authenticity of the work that you do in your classrooms. When we contacted the publisher of the “This is the Place” music and program, that publisher said, “You know, I don't have the resources right now to rewrite that song, but I'm certainly happy if somebody else wants to rewrite it.” He certainly acknowledged that he, too, wants to be supportive. We have had conversations with the Utah Division of Arts and Museums, as well as with the Utah State Board of Education and discussed who would be willing to rewrite this song. I can't wait to see which artist, or maybe a team of Native American artists, will step forward to write a new song for this wonderful program that people like to use.

Lesson Plans with Authentic, Tribe-Approved Songs for the Classroom

Cally Flox: Teachers, we have some additional song suggestions to offer you.

Emily Soderborg: The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation has given permission for students in Utah to sing two of their songs. (As we are gifted opportunities to sing these songs, we also are given responsibility to sing the songs with the necessary knowledge and respect.)

Neither song should be sung without creating context for the listener. As you're doing performances, it's important to provide context. In the two different lesson plans, we have included a paragraph that provides this context for your students. I'm going to read it for you:

There are many native tribes in the United States with distinct languages and cultures. Within Utah, there are five tribal groups, but more importantly, there are eight federally-recognized sovereign nations. These eight sovereign nations are the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, the Skull Valley Band of Goshute, the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah Ouray reservation, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Paiute Indian tribe of Utah, the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, and the Navajo Nation. The song we are sharing today is specifically from the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone nation and does not represent other Native American groups. We hope Native tribes will respect the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation's choice to share this song from their culture. Not all Northwestern Shoshone songs are appropriate for elementary students to sing. Many of the songs are ceremonial or sung for specific reasons or at specific times. However, Patty Timbimboo Madsen, the Cultural and Natural Resource Manager for the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, has given permission for students to sing this song. She believes that singing this song will help students to better understand how Northwestern Shoshone people see their surrounding environment. This song is traditionally sung while passing time, perhaps when a Shoshone is outside and sees something that brings the song to mind, like the clouds floating or being near the mountains or streams. We express our gratitude that the Northwestern Shoshone have graciously shared this part of their culture with us, and we will do our best to respectfully sing it.

I think as we're singing the songs, it’s important to acknowledge which tribal nation it comes from, that the tribal nation has offered permission for it to be sung—because not all songs should or could be sung by non-Native children, and that we express appreciation for the opportunity to be able to sing it.

Pengwi bai Anoga (Northwestern Shoshone Fish Song)
Damen Doiya

Cally Flox: Now before you give us the third one, is there any chance you would sing for us the first line of each of those?

Emily Soderborg: Yes. Even though I've been given permission to sing it, we do have recordings of Native speakers singing these songs (that you should definitely have students listen to.)

Recording of Helen Timbimboo singing “Damen Doiya”
Recording of Paula Watkins singing "Pengwi Bai Anoga"

Pengwi bai anoga, pengwi bai anoga, penwi bai anoga eh-na

Pengwi = fish
Bai = upon or above
Anoga (said with two different syllabic emphases because it is sung two different ways in the song) = waves
Buhip = green or grass
Eh-na = song word

That's one of the songs, Pengwi Bai Anoga.

We have Damen Doiya.

Damen doiya bai bagina havegin

damme/damen = our
toiya/doiya = mountain
bai = above
bagina = fog/clouds
havegin = lying while moving
na = song word
haiyawainde = the end of the song/the rat's tail broke off

We also have a Navajo song that we have been given permission to sing, which is Shí Naashá.

Shí naashá, shí nashaá, shí naashá biké hózhǫ́ lá, hey ya hey ney ya

Shí = I
naashá = walk
biké = path I follow
hózhǫ́ = beauty way
lá = (emphasizing what was said before)
hey ya hey ney ya = vocables showing the end of the section

Here are links to these lesson plans:

Emily Soderborg: Pronunciation takes practice, but these are all songs that students can sing. The lyrics are repetitive. Every time I've taught them to students, they love them. Students feel drawn to them, and they want to sing them.

Cally Flox: These would have been songs the people sang when the pioneers came, so they are authentic Utah history songs.

Brenda Beyal: Absolutely. They definitely tap into Native people.

Heather Francis: Yes. We have lesson plans that help you create context for students, that give you instructional resources to learn the songs, and the lesson plans include other standards. The content is more than just letting students learn the song. What are some of the other things students learn as they're learning these songs?

Emily Soderborg: The lesson plan is called the Northwestern Shoshone Fish Song, because if we titled it Pengwi bai Anoga people would not understand [what type of song] they're looking through in the lesson plan. [We wanted it to be immediately recognizable that this was a Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation lesson plan.] The Northwestern Shoshone Fish Song lesson plan uses lots of language arts standards: students are writing stories and connecting to a different culture. The lesson plan has social studies standards as well. The I Love the Mountains–Damen Doiya lesson plan includes a compare and contrast exercise, comparing “Damen Doiya” with an English folk song. Students are learning the geography of Utah with the landforms, studying different parts of the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, and the Colorado Plateau. The Shi Naasha lesson plan includes the historical aspect and also ties in health standards, examining how students are responding to their own ability to deal with stress and different things in their lives. In all of these lesson plans, students are writing, reading, and creating lots of connections within themselves and across other content areas.

Cally Flox: You guys have done such a great job on these lesson plans. They are just loaded with many, many layers.

Brenda Beyal: I do have to say that these lessons are tribe approved: they have been shared and planned or collaborated on with each of the tribal nations.

Heather Francis: Watch this UEN video for a hand mnemonic device that helps students remember the five tribal groups, but more importantly, the eight sovereign nations. We have a blog post with information about this fourth grade song specifically, so we'll link that blog post as well. Teacher, this blog post shares important talking points for when you talk to your team or administrator who maybe resistant to changing this song in the program.

You can find all the show notes for this episode and more resources at advancingartsleadership.com.

Native American Curriculum Initiative Mailing List

Don’t forget to peruse the bank of lesson plans produced by the BYU ARTS Partnership in dance, drama, music, visual arts, media arts, and more. Search by grade level, art form or subject area at www.education.byu.edu/arts/lessons.

Native American Curriculum Initiative