Grandmothers: A Learning Institution - Basic Education and Policy ...

ing to children their connectedness withtheir elders, their ancestors, and the earth.He discusses the problems of disconnectedness(with traditional values and ceremonies)and dysfunction in contemporaryNative American families and schools andthe role of wise grandmothers in promotinginterrelatedness and continuity inNative beliefs, values, and practices. It islargely through storytelling that grandmothershelp children connect with Nativepeople’s language, values, and cultural traditions.In various Native American culturesthe vital teaching role of grandmothers isdepicted in a visual image, reproducedeither on paper or in clay, of a large grandmotherwith numerous small children ontop of and around her. This image profoundlyreflects the dual teaching and nurturingrole of grandmothers in NativeAmerican cultures.Similarly, in Sioux culture grandparents playa vital role “as cultural links to the traditionsof the past and as islands of certaintyin ever-changing society.” Native Americaneducationalist Kincheloe (Kincheloe &Kincheloe 1983) describes the importantrole of grandmothers in child developmentfrom the time of birth, as child-care supportfor busy mothers and as educatorson all aspects of life. The authors lamentthe fact that formal schools do not incorporatethe knowledge and wisdom of theelder, traditional Sioux educators. “Theschools must not contribute to Americansociety’s tendency to push olderAmericans into the background” (136).She asserts that most formal teachersignore the fact that grandparents constitutea valuable resource and ensure the“cultural link” in the development of Siouxchildren. She poignantly argues, “Societyitself fails when it isolates the young andthe old from one another” (135).AUSTRALIA AND THE PACIFICIn all Aboriginal societies in Australia,respect for the family, tradition, and theelders are important precepts. Within thisframework, senior Aboriginal women areexpected to serve as advisors and guidesfor young women and families (Wilson1999; Koori Elders et al. 1999). As regardsthe health and well-being of women andchildren, senior women are expected toshare their expertise and pass on to themtraditional ways of promoting health andhealing.In The Pacific there has been virtually nopublished research on the role of grandmothersin children’s development, accordingto well-known public health doctors,Biuwaimai (1997) and Kataouanga (1998),public health nutritionist, Susan Parkinson(2003), and community development practitioner,Wanga (2002). On the otherhand, all four of these key informants stateunequivocally that in all Pacific island cultures,older women have played in thepast, and continue to play, a significant roleat the household level in all matters relatedto child health and development.Parkinson states that in both rural, and socalled“urban contexts,” senior women playan important role in childcare, and particularlywith infants (2003). She states that inboth major ethnic groups in Fiji, theIndigenous Fijians, and Indo-Fijians, bothgrannies and aunties in the family areimportant household advisors and teach­GRANDMOTHERS:THE LEARNING INSTITUTION13