Native American Studies In Higher Education

In this collection, Champagne and Stauss demonstrate how the rise of Native studies in American and Canadian universities exists as an extraordinary achievement in higher education. In the face of historically assimilationist agendas and institutional racism, collaborative programs continue to grow and promote the values and goals of sovereign tribal communities. In twelve case studies, the authors provide rich contextual histories of Native programs, discussing successes and failures and battles over curriculum content, funding, student retention, and community collaborations. It will be a valuable resource for Native American leaders, and educators in Native American studies, race and ethnic studies, comparative education, anthropology, higher education administration and educational policy.

Carney reviews the historical development of higher education for the Native American community from the age of discovery to the present. The author has constructed his book chronologically in three eras: the colonial period, featuring several efforts at Indian missions in the colonial colleges; the federal period, when Native American higher education was largely ignored except for sporadic tribal and private efforts; and the self determination period, highlighted by the recent founding of the tribally controlled colleges. Carney also includes a chapter comparing Native American higher education with African-American higher education. The concluding chapter discusses the current status of Native American higher education.

Native American doctoral graduates of American Indian Studies (AIS) at the University of Arizona, the first AIS program in the United States to offer a PhD, gift their stories. The Native PhD recipients share their journeys of pursuing and earning the doctorate, and its impact on their lives and communities.

Many aspects of Native American education have been given extensive attention. There are plentiful works on the boarding school program, the mission school efforts, and other aspects of Indian education. Higher education, however, has received little examination. Select articles, passages, and occasional chapters touch on it, but usually only in respect to specific subjects as an adjunct to education in general. There is no thorough and comprehensive history of Native American higher education in the United States. Native American Higher Education in the United States fills this need, and is now available in paperback. Carney reviews the historical development of higher education for the Native American community from the age of discovery to the present. The author has constructed his book chronologically in three eras: the colonial period, featuring several efforts at Indian missions in the colonial colleges; the federal period, when Native American higher education was largely ignored except for sporadic tribal and private efforts; and the self-determination period, highlighted by the recent founding of the tribally-controlled colleges. Carney also includes a chapter comparing Native American higher education with African-American higher education. The concluding chapter discusses the current status of Native American higher education. Carney's book fills an informational gap while at the same time opening the field of Native American higher education to continuing exploration. It will be valuable reading for educators and historians, and general readers interested in Native American culture.

For the better part of two centuries, between 1720 and 1877, the Blackfoot (Niitsitapi) people controlled a vast region of what is now the U.S. and Canadian Great Plains. As one of the most expansive and powerful Indigenous groups on the continent, they dominated the northern imperial borderlands of North America. The Blackfoot maintained their control even as their homeland became the site of intense competition between white fur traders, frequent warfare between Indigenous nations, and profound ecological transformation. In an era of violent and wrenching change, Blackfoot people relied on their mastery of their homelands' unique geography to maintain their way of life. With extensive archival research from both the United States and Canada, Ryan Hall shows for the first time how the Blackfoot used their borderlands position to create one of North America's most vibrant and lasting Indigenous homelands. This book sheds light on a phase of Native and settler relations that is often elided in conventional interpretations of Western history, and demonstrates how the Blackfoot exercised significant power, resiliency, and persistence in the face of colonial change.

What is at stake when our young people attempt to belong to a college environment that reflects a world that does not want them for who they are? In this compelling book, Navajo scholar Amanda Tachine takes a personal look at 10 Navajo teenagers, following their experiences during their last year in high school and into their first year in college. It is common to think of this life transition as a time for creating new connections to a campus community, but what if there are systemic mechanisms lurking in that community that hurt Native students' chances of earning a degree? Tachine describes these mechanisms as systemic monsters and shows how campus environments can be sites of harm for Indigenous students due to factors that she terms monsters' sense of belonging, namely assimilating, diminishing, harming the worldviews of those not rooted in White supremacy, heteropatriarchy, capitalism, racism, and Indigenous erasure. This book addresses the nature of those monsters and details the Indigenous weapons that students use to defeat them. Rooted in love, life, sacredness, and sovereignty, these weapons reawaken students' presence and power. Book Features: Introduces an Indigenous methodological approach called story rug that demonstrates how research can be expanded to encompass all our senses. Weaves together Navajo youths' stories of struggle and hope in educational settings, making visible systemic monsters and Indigenous weaponry. Draws from Navajo knowledge systems as an analytic tool to connect history to present and future realities. Speaks to the contemporary situation of Native peoples, illuminating the challenges that Native students face in making the transition to college. Examines historical and contemporary realities of Navajo systemic monsters, such as the financial hardship monster, deficit (not enough) monster, failure monster, and (in)visibility monster. Offers insights for higher education institutions that are seeking ways to create belonging for diverse students.

Indigenous students remain one of the least represented populations in higher education. They continue to account for only one percent of the total post-secondary student population, and this lack of representation is felt in multiple ways beyond enrollment. Less research money is spent studying Indigenous students, and their interests are often left out of projects that otherwise purport to address diversity in higher education. Recently, Native scholars have started to reclaim research through the development of their own research methodologies and paradigms that are based in tribal knowledge systems and values, and that allow inherent Indigenous knowledge and lived experiences to strengthen the research. Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education highlights the current scholarship emerging from these scholars of higher education. From understanding how Native American students make their way through school, to tracking tribal college and university transfer students, this book allows Native scholars to take center stage, and shines the light squarely on those least represented among us.

The Native American Higher Education Initiative (NAHEI), a W.W. Kellogg Foundation project, has supported the development and growth of centers of excellence at Tribal Colleges and Universities across the United States. These are centers of new thinking about learning and teaching, modeling alternative forms of educational leadership, and constructing new systems of post-secondary learning at Tribal Colleges and Universities. This book translates the knowledge gained through the NAHEI programs into a form that can be adapted by a broad audience, including practitioners in pre-K through post-secondary education, educational administrators, educational policymakers, scholars, and philanthropic foundations, to improve the learning and life experience of native (and non-native) learners.

"The White Man does not understand the Indian for the reason that he does not understand America. He is too far removed from its formative process. The roots of the tree of his life have not yet grasped rock and soil." The words of Lakota writer Luther Standing Bear foretold the current debate on the value of Native American studies in higher education. Studying Native America addresses for the first time in a comprehensive way the place of this critical discipline in the university curriculum. Leading scholars in anthropology, demography, English and literature, history, law, social work, linguistics, public health, psychology, and sociology have come together to explore what Native American studies has been, what it is, and what it may be in the future. The book's thirteen contributors and editor Russell Thornton, stress the frequent incompatibility of traditional academic teaching methods with the social and cultural concerns that gave rise to the field of Native American studies. Beginning with the intellectual and institutional history of Native American studies, the book examines its literature, language, historical narratives, and anthropology. The volume discusses the effects on Native American studies of law and constitutionalism; cosmology, epistemology, and religion; identity; demography; colonialism and post-colonialism; science and technology; and repatriation of human remains and cultural objects. Contributors to Studying Native America include Raymond J. DeMallie, Bonnie Duran, Eduardo Duran, Raymond D. Fogelson, Clara Sue Kidwell, Kerwin Lee Klein, Melissa L. Meyer, John H. Moore, Peter Nabokov, Katheryn Shanley, C. Matthew Snipp, Rennard Strickland, Russell Thornton, J. Randolph Valentine, Robert Allen Warrior, Richard White, and Maria Yellowhorse-Braveheart. The book is sponsored in part by the Social Science Research Council.

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013While the success of higher education and student affairs is predicated on understanding the students we serve, the reality is, where the Native American population is concerned, that this knowledge is generally lacking. This lack may be attributed to this population’s invisibility within the academy – it is often excluded from institutional data and reporting, and frequently noted as not statistically significant – and its relegation to what is referred to as the “American Indian research asterisk.”The purpose of this book is to move beyond the asterisk in an effort to better understand Native students, challenge the status quo, and provide an informed base for leaders in student and academic affairs, and administrators concerned with the success of students on their campuses.The authors of this book share their understanding of Native epistemologies, culture, and social structures, offering student affairs professionals and institutions a richer array of options, resources, and culturally-relevant and inclusive models to better serve this population. The book begins by providing insights into Native student experiences, presenting the first-year experience from a Native perspective, illustrating the role of a Native living/learning community in student retention, and discussing the importance of incorporating culture into student programming for Native students as well as the role of Native fraternities and sororities.The authors then consider administrative issues, such as the importance of outreach to tribal nations, the role of Tribal Colleges and Universities and opportunities for collaborations, and the development of Native American Student Services Units..The book concludes with recommendations for how institutions can better serve Native students in graduate programs, the role that Indigenous faculty play in student success, and how professional associations can assist student affairs professionals with fulfilling their role of supporting the success of Native American students, staff, and faculty. This book moves beyond the asterisk to provide important insights from Native American higher education leaders and non-Native practitioners who have made Native students a priority in their work.While predominantly addressed to the student affairs profession – providing an understanding of the needs of the Native students it serves, describing the multi-faceted and unique issues, characteristics and experiences of this population, and sharing proven approaches to developing appropriate services – it also covers issues of broader administrative concern, such as collaboration with tribal colleges; as well academic issues, such as graduate and professional education. The book covers new material, as well as expanding on topics previously addressed in the literature, including Native American Greek organizations, incorporating Native culture into student programming, and the role of Native American Special Advisors. The contributors are themselves products of colleges and universities where Native students are too often invisible, and who succeeded despite the odds. Their insights and the examples they provide add richness to this book. It will provide a catalyst for new higher education practices that lead to direct, and increased support for, Native Americans and others who are working to remove the Native American asterisk from research and practice.