Native Presence and Sovereignty in College


Book Description

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.




Beyond the Asterisk


Book Description

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.




Protecting the Promise


Book Description

Protecting the Promise is the first book in the Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies Series edited by Django Paris. It features a collection of short stories told in collaboration with five Native families that speak to the everyday aspects of Indigenous educational resurgence rooted in the intergenerational learning that occurs between mothers and their children. The author defines “resurgence” as the ongoing actions that recenter Indigenous realities and knowledges, while simultaneously denouncing and healing from the damaging effects of settler colonial systems. By illuminating the potential of such educational resurgence, the book counters deficit paradigms too often placed on Indigenous communities. It also demonstrates the need to include Indigenous Knowledges within the curriculum for both in-school and out-of-school settings. These engaging narratives reframe Indigenous parents as critical and compassionate educators, cultural brokers, and storytellers who are central partners in the education of their children. Book Features: A window into how and why Indigenous resurgence through (and sometimes in resistance to) education can happen.A narrative style of writing that builds accessible stories that are both relatable and connected to larger social issues.An interdisciplinary approach that has implications for pre- and in-service teachers and school administrators, as well as for the communities from which these stories originated.A teacher-friendly Afterword that offers lesson ideas for the classroom and companion questions to the short stories.




Supporting College Students of Immigrant Origin


Book Description

Over 5 million college students in the United States – nearly one-in-three students currently enrolled – are of immigrant origin, meaning they are either the children of immigrant parents or guardians and/or immigrants themselves. These students accounted for almost 60% of the growth in higher education enrolment in the 21st century. Nevertheless, there is very little research dedicated to this student population's specific experiences of postsecondary education, with similar absences discernible within the realms of higher education policy and practice. Although college campuses are making important progress in building more inclusive spaces, conversations about climate and student care rarely account for the journeys of students of immigrant origin. Featuring 20 chapters written by more than 50 contributors, this book addresses this glaring omission. The authors examine how students of immigrant origin experience the road to, through, and beyond higher education, while, simultaneously, speaking to evidence-based implications for policy, research, and practice.




Developments Beyond the Asterisk


Book Description

This edited volume serves as a follow-up to Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education, focusing on new scholarship, continued conversations, and growth in the field of Indigenous higher education. The landscape of higher education has changed significantly over the past decade; likewise, Indigenous higher education has grown into its own respective field with emerging scholarship that is written for and by Indigenous people. This book focuses on this growth, revisiting relevant topics in Indigenous higher education, while adding new and expanded research and insight from emerging scholars and practitioners, including chapters on Indigenous LGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirt students and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders. The voices of Indigenous scholars who are challenging the status quo in higher education have grown louder, and institutions and organizations have increasingly begun to respond. This volume is essential to continued conversations in Indigenous higher education and invites current, emerging, and future scholars to carry the conversation forward in respectful, responsible, and relational ways.




My Life: Growing Up Native in America


Book Description

A moving collection of twenty powerful essays, poems, and more that capture and celebrate the modern Native American experience, featuring entries by Angeline Boulley, Madison Hammond, Kara Roselle Smith, and many more. With heart, pathos, humor, and insight, twenty renowned writers, performers, athletes, and activists explore what it means to be Native American today. Through a series of essays and poems, these luminaries give voice to their individual experiences while shedding light on the depth and complexity of modern Native American identity, resiliency, and joy. The topics are as fascinating and diverse as the creators. From Mato Wayuhi, award-winning composer of Reservation Dogs, honoring a friend who believed in his talent to New York Times bestselling author Angeline Boulley exploring what it means to feel Native enough, these entries are not only an exploration of community, they are also a call for a more just and equitable world, and a road map toward a brighter future. Edited by IllumiNative, an organization dedicated to amplifying contemporary Native voices, My Life: Growing Up Native in America features contributions from Angeline Boulley, Philip J. Deloria, Eric Gansworth, Kimberly Guerrero, Somah Haaland, Madison Hammond, Nasugraq Rainey Hopson, Trudie Jackson, Princess Daazhraii Johnson, Lady Shug, Ahsaki Baa LaFrance-Chachere, Taietsarón:sere Leclaire, Cece Meadows, Sherri Mitchell, Charlie Amaya Scott, Kara Roselle Smith, Vera Starbard, Dash Turner, Crystal Wahpepah, and Mato Wayuhi.




Conducting Qualitative Research on and with College Students


Book Description

As the demographics of college students in the United States continue to shift, researchers increasingly design studies that offer insight into students enrolled in higher and postsecondary education institutions. This timely book addresses the challenges in appropriately engaging these students in research and how to develop scholarship featuring college student populations. Featuring tangible examples and strategies, this text breaks down the central tensions and opportunities that exist when designing qualitative studies that center college students and their development, experiences, and success. Chapters cover topics such as the philosophical underpinnings of qualitative research, study design, methodological approaches, data methods, issues of positionality, data analysis, trustworthiness, and writing up students’ stories. Scholars and practitioners at all career levels will benefit from the chapters describing key considerations that scholars must make when doing research with college students in the contemporary context. Discussing both traditional as well as more contemporary and critical approaches to qualitative research, this book helps students, faculty, and researchers grapple with key considerations of doing research with and on college students in the contemporary context, as well as with tangible ideas of how to better reach the college students that are enrolling in their institutions.




Native American Sovereignty


Book Description

The essays included in this collection help define Native American sovereignty in today's world. They draw upon past legal experiences and project into the future. The collection begins with a brief definition of sovereignty, followed by a consideration of the most important documents that show the relationships between Native American nations and the U.S. government. They continue with a study of how treaties were handled by Congress and the current and future implication of the treaty relationships. The selection concludes with a look at the issue of federal plenary power in terms of treaties and the evolution of American case law.




Political Activism in Colleges and Universities


Book Description

This book explores the dynamics of political activism within colleges and universities. It critically examines the potential for institutional change towards social justice through the themes of identity development, tactics, and institutional responses, highlighting the possibilities of such efforts. With a focus on colleges and universities, the book examines how political activism can be harnessed to challenge existing power structures and promote equity and inclusivity. It presents a range of research that highlights how students, faculty, and administrators have mobilized for change. Chapters delve into the possibilities and limits of political engagement within higher educational institutions, offering valuable insights for understanding the potential of political activism in catalyzing positive change within colleges and universities. By shedding light on these efforts, the book critically examines the role of education in fostering social justice. Political Activism in Colleges and Universities will be an invaluable resource for scholars and practitioners in the fields of education, education policy and leadership, educational research, politics and developmental psychology, while also appealing to anyone interested in the power of collective action to shift policy and practice. This book was originally published as a special issue of Peabody Journal of Education.




Debunking the Grit Narrative in Higher Education


Book Description

Debunking the Grit Narrative in Higher Education examines pressing structural issues currently impacting African American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Latinx, and Native American students accessing college and succeeding in U.S. postsecondary environments. Drawing from asset-based work of critical race education scholars such as Yosso, Ladson-Billings, and contributing author Solórzano, the authors interrogate how systems and structures shape definitions of academic merit and grit, how these systems constrain opportunities to attain access and equitable educational outcomes, and challenge widely held beliefs that Students of Color need grit to succeed in college. Dominant narratives of educational success and failure tend to focus mostly on individual student effort. Contributing authors explore the myriad ways that institutional structures can support Students of Color utilizing their strengths through critical perspectives, asset-based, anti-deficit perspectives to access postsecondary environments and experience success. Scholars, scholar-practitioners, students affairs professionals, and educational leaders will benefit from this timely edited book as they work to transform postsecondary institutions into entities that meet the needs of Students and Communities of Color.