Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: My presentation will examine Zitkala-Sa’s American Indian Stories in the context of Progressive efforts to reform education—to make education more child-centered. Zitkala-Sa’s stories contributed to the evolving construction of the child among Progressive educational theorists and psychologists (most importantly, John Dewey and G. Stanley Hall) as a creature of innately good instincts. It was the job of education, on this account, to foster what was “in” the child rather than impose institutional knowledge from above. American Indian Stories addresses most directly arguments about how to educate Indians, and, indeed, whether or not Indians were subjects capable of being educated. But American Indian Stories also effectively mirrors the larger debates surrounding efforts to make education more Progressive, more child-centered.
The Native American occupied a unique position in Progressive efforts to reform education because, in the case of the native, theories of education most explicitly coincided with theories of assimilation: educating natives was tantamount (at least in the eyes of educators like Richard Henry Pratt) to transforming them into Americans. That the Indian was often figured as a child only further consolidated the BIA position that natives needed guidance.
Examining Zitkala-Sa’s work in the context of Progressive education helps us see how the evolving identity of the Indian worked on the margins to influence debates on education and how debates over identity were, in turn, shaped by the Progressive rhetoric of education. My argument is two-fold. First, the work of Zitkala-Sa represents a powerful response to a complicated set of forces working to at once assimilate the native into mainstream culture and valorize the native as an emblem of pre-modern authenticity. By staging the problem of her identity as a problem of education, Zitkala-sa effectively situates her autobiography within the prevailing discourse on education.
In the second half of my presentation, I will look to the works of John Dewey and G. Stanley Hall. Both men represent striking examples of Progressives whose theories of educational reform rested on often unstated assumptions about culture and identity. Those assumptions can be unearthed, most interestingly, in Dewey’s passing (marginal) references to Indians or “primitives” and in Hall’s recapitulation theory. My thesis is that Dewey and Hall’s child-centered pedagogy rested on the image of the child as native.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: Since the translation of many of Alfarabi’s works from Arabic to English, there has been a lot of interest in studying his philosophy. Many scholars such as Mahdi, Butterworth, Fakhri and Galston have written books about Alfarabi and his works. Most of these scholars have focused on Alfarabi’s virtuous city and his philosophy on Plato and Aristotle. However, there has not been enough attention and scrutiny devoted to Alfarabi’s concept of happiness. Some scholars such as Ali Abu Melhem didn’t perceive the concept of happiness as a major theme in Alfarabi’s works. In his introduction to the Attainment of Happiness, by Alfarabi, Abu Melhem, clarifies that Alfarabi did not write the title of the book. He states that the subject of the book is not happiness because Alfarabi mentioned happiness only briefly. According to Abu Melhem, the subject and the purpose of the book is to introduce the different kinds of sciences, their importance and the way of attaining them (6). Likewise, Muhsin Mahdi, a renowned Alfarabi scholar who translated several of his books to English, did not discuss in detail Alfarabi’s concept of happiness. In his introduction to The Attainment of Happiness, Mahdi states that Alfarabi’s main argument is the relationship between philosophy and religion (6). In fact happiness was not only the main subject of The Attainment of Happiness but it was also discussed in several other major works including Opinions of the People of the Virtuous City, The Civil Politics and The Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Alfarabi’s happiness was a major topic in Majid Fakhry’s book Al-Farabi. Fakhry acknowledges the importance of happiness to Al-Farabi’s philosophy, “Al-Farabi dwells on this divine or semi-divine goal of happiness in a number of works.” (93). Likewise, Mariam Galston acknowledges the importance of happiness in Alfarabi’s works by devoting a chapter in her book Politics and Excellence to the “problem of happiness” as she calls it. She examines the nature of happiness according to Alfarabi and whether it is considered a theoretical activity, political activity or both (Galston 55).
In this paper I will examine the concept of happiness and its importance in Alfarabi’s major works, taking into consideration the influence of Islam and Greek philosophy on Alfarabi’s philosophy. The paper will also discuss the similarities between Eric Voegelin’s philosophy and Alfarabi’s philosophy as they relate to happiness. The purpose of this paper is to remove the dust from Alfarabi’s concept of happiness and return the brilliance to it.