Resistance Theory and the Transculturation Hypothesis

4explanations.Cultural Discontinuity HypothesisEmerging from the early work of anthropologists such as Franz Boas and BronislawMalinowski and finding refinement among individuals like Dell Hymes (1974), thecultural discontinuity hypothesis is certainly the more popular of the two theoreticalorientations on cultural conflict found in the American Indian education literature. Thisframework emphasizes the differing and opposing micro-level cultural elements (i.e.,communication styles, social values, interpersonal behaviors) that ultimately impacteducational performance.The disjunction between non-Indian cultural expectations institutionalized inAmerican higher education and American Indian cultural traditions and ways initiallyplaces many American Indian students at a disadvantage in college (Deloria, 1978;Garcia & Goldenstein Ahler, 1992; Garrett, 1995; Pottinger, 1989; and Swisher &Deyhle, 1989). In fact, Jon Reyhner (1992) contends that micro-level culturaldiscontinuities are probably the leading cause for high American Indian educationalattrition rates. In scathing criticism, leading American Indian scholar Vine Deloria(1990) put the matter very bluntly:[Previous American Indian educational effort] resembles indoctrination more than it doesforms of teaching because it insists on implanting a particular body of knowledge and aspecific view of the world, which often does not correspond to the life experiences that[Native] people have or might be expected to encounter. (p. 16)4