Navajo, Cree, and Mohawk

Abstract

Entirely naturally, schools have been at the center of both the learning of the majority language and—more recently—attempting to preserve or revive the ancestral language. The most widely publicized efforts to do so occurred on the Navajo reservation, where until recent decades there was a high rate of illiteracy and of continued use of the Navajo language. Similar efforts have been made in Canada, where the remoteness of Indian bands in the north have to some extent protected the use of Cree and Mohawk.