This study explores the role of the Yaqui storyteller and the themes of death and beauty in Yaqui stories. Memory and voice bind together the past and present experience of the Yaqui. Theirs is an oral tradition filled with the tragedy and conquests of war, deportation, fragmentation and endurance, of love, witchcraft and cruelty, magic and ceremony. Ancestors are evoked as their adventures are recounted. The eight sacred towns, Ume Wohnaiki Pweplum, are transported, through stories, from the Rio Yaqui in Sonora, Mexico to the barrios and villages of southern Arizona, and a link is maintained between ancient origins and new beginnings. The history of the people, the Yoeme, is preserved, continued, and reinvented through stories.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This is an ethnographic study conducted in a first grade classroom where the learning environment was structured by a teacher using a whole language philosophy. The focus of the study was on the instructional and social organization of the classroom and how they influenced the literacy learning of Yaqui Indian students. This classroom was selected because it was reputed as providing an effective learning environment. The study was developed to investigate the discontinuity and mismatch theory. This theory suggests that the interactional styles, ways of learning, and experiences of Indian children in the home/community may not match those typically used in schools. These cultural differences may affect their learning in the classroom. Data was gathered through being a participant observer in the classroom during three school years; formal and informal interviews with the teacher, students, parents of the Yaqui students, and staff members; examination of school documents and records; a teacher-researcher dialogue journal; and the attendance of events in the school and community. The findings are presented through a description and interpretation of events in the classroom. They are based on the understanding of how one teacher organized the learning environment to accommodate the Yaqui students' experiences and cultural background while facilitating literacy learning. The findings incorporate the most recent theories of language organization of instruction, the social organization in the classroom, and the teacher interacted together to create a social context that contributed to the quality of learning and participation in the classroom. This is a case study of a classroom with a relatively unique population of students and a particular teacher. What can be generalized from this study to other classrooms is an understanding of the influence the instructional and social organization has on student learning and a methodology that can be used to study this issue. The learning theories, organization of instruction and social organization described can serve as an example for other teachers and illustrate the power of this methodology.

This ethnographic study examines the unique schooling experiences of Yaqui students in an urban public school setting in Tucson, Arizona. The dissertation focuses on life narratives as a means of understanding how contemporary Yaqui adults view formal education, the struggles they endured to maintain their cultural identity within a mainstream educational environment, and Yaqui-defined factors contributing to the diminished and differential school success experienced by present-day Yaqui youth. The study enlisted 10 Yaqui individuals who resided in Old Pascua at the time of their elementary and secondary schooling, and who represented a range of ages and schooling levels. Old Pascua was chosen because it was established as the first Yaqui community in Tucson and because of Yaqui student attendance in specific schools. Critical theory provides the study's theoretical framework. Such a framework illuminates both the institutional practices and policies which contribute to the limited success of minority students, and the means of transforming those limiting conditions. Yaqui oral narrative accounts serve as the primary documentation and critique of existing educational institutions. The individual and collective struggles revealed in these first-hand accounts, as well as the social, political, and historical factors impacting the lives of Yaqui individuals, are examined. This documentation and a thematic analysis of the accounts suggest several institutionally produced factors that contributed to Yaqui students' lack of school success: the hidden curriculum of school; family support for education; and perceptions related to success. These themes are explored relative to the lives of Yaqui individuals, to research literature, and to critical theory. Finally, participant-generated recommendations for institutional change are discussed. These include changes in school and community relations, relevance of schooling, and economic factors. This study provides insights into the uniqueness of Yaqui school experiences and extends the current body of literature on American Indian/Alaska Native education by considering schooling from a neglected perspective--one informed by Yaqui individuals themselves. By examining the complex array of factors contributing to Yaqui students' diminished school success, the study also joins microethnography, macroethnography, and critical theory in a unified, systemic approach.

This investigation was designed to explore Yaqui Indian perceptions of mental disorder. Since little empirical work has been done regarding mental health issues among the Yaquis, this study attempted to provide exploratory descriptive data in this area. The investigation sought to address the following questions: How do the Yaquis describe someone with "mental problems"? Would they include culturally-specific descriptions? Would the Yaquis be able to classify or categorize "mental problem"? Would they differ from other groups in determining whether specific behavior patterns would be labeled "mental problems"? What kinds of help would be enlisted for persons described as having "mental problems"? A survey of three Tucson area Yaqui communities was undertaken using eight members of the Yaqui Health Program as interviewers. Eighty-one Yaquis (20 males and 61 females) responded to the survey (2.8 percent of the enrolled Yaquis in Pima County). The first part of the survey instrument consisted of eleven open-ended questions asking about mental disorder, its cause and treatments available. Five behavioral vignettes (Star, 1955) were also presented and respondents were asked questions about whether the behaviors described mental problems and what might be the causes of such behaviors. Elicited Yaqui descriptions of persons with mental problems were then given to three groups of five sorters each: Yaquis, low SES Anglos, and psychology M.A.'s. These groups were asked to sort the descriptions based on similarity of problem. The Yaquis were found to be relatively knowledgeable about available mental health services. Very few culturally-specific descriptions or folk beliefs were elicited. Respondents tended to identify social, environmental or psychological factors as causing mental problems. Also, with one exception, the Yaquis were found to be quite similar to other groups in labeling problem behaviors as mental problems. The Yaquis did not appear to classify mental problems in a culturally-specific way. It is suggested that interviewer effects may have contributed to these results and that the Yaquis may not be as assimilated as these results suggest.