2: Learning From the Conquered: Re-Examining the Past Through an Indigenous Lens

Epps and Harper examine how educators may move beyond teaching a history about Indigenous people and toward educating learners through the lived history that includes Indigenous cultures, nations, and people. Applying a disruptive pedagogy in education, the authors propose a realigned counternarrative approach that encourages educators and learners to hone relational themes with Indigenous’ experiences in place of traditional formal education’s “othering” and “naming” of the Indigenous. Within these constructs, the authors review the Indigenous experience of exclusion through inclusion in education and provide pathways to learn from the authentic history that includes Indigenous voices, perspectives, and accountings. Learning from the Conquered: Reexamining the Past Through an Indigenous Lens concludes with a sample lesson guide and suggested engagements that include Indigenous culture, Indigenous perspectives, legislative, executive, and judicial actions, and how early America viewed its westward expansion and the Indigenous.