Matching Items (3)
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Description
Indigenous students have not been achieving their educational goals similar to other racial and ethnic groups. In 2008 Native American students completed a bachelor's degree at a rate of 38.3% the lowest rate of all racial and ethnic groups and lower than the national average of 57.2%. The high attrition

Indigenous students have not been achieving their educational goals similar to other racial and ethnic groups. In 2008 Native American students completed a bachelor's degree at a rate of 38.3% the lowest rate of all racial and ethnic groups and lower than the national average of 57.2%. The high attrition rate of Native students in post-secondary education, nationally, suggests that on-going colonization may be to blame. Much of the research exploring retention strategies found culturally sensitive institutions, family and peer support, supportive relationships with faculty and staff, skill development, and financial aid knowledge were consistent factors for student retention. No studies have examined the effects of cultural workshops as decolonizing practices, however. This action research examined the influence of a series of cultural workshops to address Native student and college community needs. Employing a mixed-methods design, this project framed the cultural workshops within decolonization and historical trauma. Five student participants attended five cultural workshops and completed questionnaires to offer insight into their college behaviors while journals were used to learn about their experiences within the workshops. The results of this study are consistent with the literature. There was no change in relationships as a result of the intervention, but relationships with faculty and staff that mimicked family were reported as important for student success. Participating students were at early stages in the decolonization process but were further along when they had experiences in college with American Indian Studies or faculty. Students felt that colonizing practices at the college must be challenged and Indigenous traditional practices must be integrated to create a culturally competent institution. Additional sessions are recommended to increase data collection and allow participants to develop and share their rich feedback with the college.
ContributorsScott, Mona (Mona C.) (Author) / Rotheram-Fuller, Erin (Thesis advisor) / Vicenti Carpio, Myla (Committee member) / Harper-Marinick, Maria (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
In 2005 the Navajo Nation Tribal Council passed the Navajo Sovereignty in Education Act (NSEA). The NSEA has been herald as a decisive new direction in Diné education with implications for Diné language and cultural revitalization. However, research has assumed the NSEA will lead to decolonizing efforts such as language

In 2005 the Navajo Nation Tribal Council passed the Navajo Sovereignty in Education Act (NSEA). The NSEA has been herald as a decisive new direction in Diné education with implications for Diné language and cultural revitalization. However, research has assumed the NSEA will lead to decolonizing efforts such as language revitalization and has yet to critically analyze how the NSEA is decolonizing or maintains settler colonial educational structures. In order to critically investigate the NSEA this thesis develops a framework of educational elimination through a literature review on the history of United States settler colonial elimination of Indigeneity through schooling and a framework of decolonizing education through a review of literature on promising practices in Indigenous education and culturally responsive schooling. The NSEA is analyzed through the decolonizing education framework and educational elimination framework. I argue the NSEA provides potential leverage for both decolonizing educational practices and the continuation of educational elimination.
ContributorsPreston, Waquin (Author) / Vicenti Carpio, Myla (Thesis advisor) / Sumida Huaman, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Tippeconnic III, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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Description
A disconnect exists between the perception of Indigenous women as non-leaders who lack legitimate power, and their persistent actions and beliefs that show an inherent ability to lead families, communities and cultures. Relevant literature on Indigenous women leadership has focused on displacement of women’s power and authority as a consequence

A disconnect exists between the perception of Indigenous women as non-leaders who lack legitimate power, and their persistent actions and beliefs that show an inherent ability to lead families, communities and cultures. Relevant literature on Indigenous women leadership has focused on displacement of women’s power and authority as a consequence of patriarchy and contextualizes the issue within deficit narratives of victimology. These accounts fail to celebrate the survivance of Indigenous women as inherent leaders charged with cultural continuance. Nonetheless, Indigenous women have persisted as leaders within advocacy, indicating a continuance of their inherent tendencies to lead their nations. “Matriarchs in the Making: Investigating the Transmission of Indigenous Resistance Through Indigenous Women’s Leadership in Activism” explores how Indigenous women demonstrate power and leadership via activism to transmit attitudes, actions, and beliefs about Indigenous resistance to Indigenous youth in the United States. A case study of Suzan Shown Harjo, a preeminent advocate for Indian rights will illustrate how Indigenous women engage in leadership within the realms of activism and advocacy. Key tenets of Indigenous feminist theory are used to deconstruct gender binaries that are present in modern tribal leadership and in social movements like the Red Power movement. Storytelling and testimony help to frame how Indigenous women activists like Harjo define and understand their roles as leaders, and how their beliefs about leadership have changed over time and movements. The study concludes with ways that Indigenous women use ancestral knowledge to envision healthy and sustainable futures for their nations. A process of “envisioning” provides guidance for future resistance via activism as guided by Indigenous women leaders. These visions will ultimately give scholars insight in how to best align their research within Indigenous feminist theory, Indigenous futurity, and women’s leadership and activism outside of academia.
ContributorsMarek, Cecilia Ruth (Author) / Riding In, James (Thesis advisor) / Solyom, Jessica (Committee member) / Marley, Tennille (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020