Author of the Month - April
Joyce Little White Man has a very special book published with Waldorf Publications, and we are honored to feature her with this book as April’s Author of the Month!
Anpetu Wåste took eight years to assemble and complete, and its results have already proven valuable to members of the Lakota tribe as a tool for promoting the Lakota language. Like many indigenous languages, it is classified as “moribund,” meaning that when elders in tribal communities begin their spiritual journey, the language will go with them. Fewer and fewer Lakota people are raised with Lakota as their native tongue. Native speakers are invaluable for comprehending the language. This decline in the language has worldwide implications because, in Native American traditions, it is understood that the Great Spirit can comprehend these languages in ways that are impossible with other languages. The spiritual component in the language is rich and meaningful.
Joyce is an elder in the Lakota community. She currently teaches kindergarten at the Lakota Waldorf School and has taught first and second grades, as well as the Lakota language, in all grades there. She is a native speaker and raised her family speaking Lakota as the primary language in their home. The book took as long as it did because of the care taken in assembling the available translations and obtaining approval of the stories from Native speakers. Though the hope is that it will help restore the language, it also aims to help Waldorf teachers everywhere relate the history of Native Americans in the United States and Canada as accurately as possible, avoiding the more Disney-like renditions that often creep into our imaginations about these noble people!
Joyce Little White Man’s son, Jeremy American Horse, drew all the illustrations for the book and drew the cover image for Anpetu Wåste. Waldorf Publications is lucky to have him as the illustrator of such an important book!
Joyce works closely with her partner, Didier Dupont, an adept Lakota speaker, tribal member, and pipe carrier. They translate carefully over time to convey the deepest possible meaning of the words. Like the music of the Lakota, there are tones not recognized in Western music — half tones and quarter tones — that are integral to Native American music. Lakota music and the language contain nuances not found in English or other Romance languages.
Anpetu Wåste contains verses from the kindergarten, translated with a pronunciation guide — so teachers might pick one or two verses and practice saying them in Lakota as closely as possible. This gives children something authentic to experience. The stories are from the Lakota mythology, stories of the creation of the world, given to us by Tabor White Buffalo as he told them to kindergarteners at the Lakota Waldorf School. One longer story is based on a real experience of the importance of caring for the rituals used in making food, as gifts from the White Buffalo Calf Woman. This honored spiritual being gave the seven sacred rituals to the Lakota people. She also gave them the Buffalo (four-legged brothers and sisters) to clothe, house, and feed the people. Using the buffalo is a matter of serious recognition of the depth and breadth of the gift they represent from the spiritual world. The practices surrounding this fact inform everything done with the buffalo; every part is used without waste. Even the hooves are made into rattles for little ones.
Joyce was one who, when a grant made it possible for AWSNA (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America) to go to the Lakota Waldorf School and train teachers to be able to teach in the school with some understanding of Waldorf pedagogy, Joyce was the first to recognize the value of the Waldorf school approach among the group originally trained by AWSNA representatives.
In 1993, after a long search for an educational approach that would serve Lakota youngsters, including their own children, tribal members discovered the value of the Waldorf approach and the Lakota’s similar worldview, which resonated with the imaginative elements of the Waldorf curriculum and practices. With the loss of some founding members and through some pauses, Isabel Stadnick, the current administrator at the Lakota Waldorf School, has ensured the survival of the school. Joyce has dedicated her life’s work to the Lakota language and to Waldorf education. It is appropriate to honor Joyce for her steadfast efforts to bring joy and meaning, through the Lakota language and traditions, to all children (and adults).
