Boarding schools still exist-some, different in form and function, run by Native organizations or nations. Their survival should not be taken as endorsements of the institutions they survived. In other circumstances, Indigenous youth became lifelong friends, resisted and rebelled, and carved out moments of happiness. In the most tragic circumstances, they erased lives. Boarding/residential schools were designed as totalitarian institutions dedicated to erase-and-replace Indigenous lifeways and identities and to create a docile labor force. We consider current debates around Trauma, Healing, and Resilience as well as contemporary Native nations pursuing healing. Survivors’ stories vary widely, from traumatic separation from family and the starkest encounters with physical and sexual abuse to positive experiences and memories. In early decades, health care was spotty while tuberculosis and trachoma were endemic students suffered from homesickness and malnutrition and fell victim to accidents. Varied family backgrounds, age when enrolled, and administrators within different regions, circumstances, and times-these all contribute to a substantial range of experiences. Critical theorization of national agendas, of institutions, and of Indigenous narratives are key. We also include other carceral institutions that shared objectives and methods with boarding/residential schools. Histories of Policy and Institutions includes histories of political ideologies, pedagogical approaches, and institutions, with little or no attention to Indigenous perspectives. Point and counterpoint between settler-colonial and Indigenous perspectives permeate this bibliography. Indigenous experiences take center stage here-see Memoirs and General Overviews-but experiences occur within national agendas of deculturation, dispossession, and training for subservience. Mainstream media characterizations of the “shocking” unknown history of boarding/residential schools reflect what has been suppressed Native people know. The system of colonial schooling of Indigenous peoples is global with a few exceptions, we focus here on the United States and Canada. Attendees? Enrollees? Most heart-wrenching, how do we respectfully distinguish survivors from those who perished? We use a mix of terms, hoping the reader keeps their limitations in mind. Many enrolled adults make “youth(s)” seem inappropriate. Considering the institutions’ carceral nature, we might use “inmates,” but a fair number enrolled voluntarily (although choices were constrained). What word can represent the thousands of Indigenous children, adolescents, and adults enrolled over time in boarding/residential schools in the United States, Canada, and other nations? “Student” and “alumnus” seem disingenuous, given minimal academic instruction and forced enrollment.
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