abstract: This study examines the genesis, practice, and Native experiences of stakeholders with two Arizona kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) statute that mandate instruction of Native American history. The research questions relate to the original intent of the policies, implementation in urban school districts, how Native American parents experienced Native American history in their own education and their aspirations for this type of instruction in their children's education. Lomawaima and McCarty's (2006) safety zone theory was utilized to structure and analyze data. Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies (CIRM) (Brayboy, Gough, Leonard, Roehl, & Solym, 2012; Smith, 2012) was used in this interpretive policy analysis and phenomenological research study. Interviews were conducted with policymakers, a department of education official, urban school district personnel, and Native American parents with children in the pertinent school districts. Data included in-depth interview and legislative committee meeting transcripts, artifacts including bill versions, summaries and fact sheets, school board manuals, and the state social studies standards. The findings indicate that the intent of the statutes was to foster a better understanding among students (and hence, the state's citizenry) leading toward reciprocal government-to-government relationships between tribal nations and non-tribal governments. Teaching sovereignty and self-determination were fundamental. Although the school-based participants had limited knowledge of the policies, the district personnel believed they implemented the mandates because the state social studies standards were utilized to frame instruction. However, the 45 social studies standards related to Native Americans focus on extinct (referred to as historic in the standards) Native societies. The social studies standards ignore contemporary tribal nations and are thus inefficacious in supporting the goal of a better understanding of sovereignty, or in supporting Native American self-determination. The Native parent participants defied stereotypical images; they were involved in their children's educational attainment and were reintroducing cultural and tribal capital. Recommendations include allocating funds to support implementation of the policies at the local school and state levels, establishing culturally responsive curriculum that recognizes and promotes tribal nations and tribal sovereignty, and strengthening relationships between tribal nations, school districts, and the state department of education. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2014

Abstract The purpose of the study was to broaden understanding of structural racism by examining the relationships between Indigenous peoples and nation-states in the context of education and how this affects Indigenous lives. This thesis delves into understanding both the theoretical and methodological contributions that more critical analyses can have on: the role of de-colonial approaches to Indigenous health research methodologies so that the most urgent health inequities are addressed through more rigorous and Indigenous specific research processes; and to improve our understanding of the complex interactions that historical and contemporary legacies of residential schools and boarding schools have on the health and well-being of Indigenous populations in Canada and Finland. The research design was a qualitative multiple case study informed by a public health critical race praxis. The study was completed in two phases; consisting of a literature study using content analysis of Indigenous research ethics protocols and policies, in Canada and the Nordic countries; and, three case studies developed from open ended questions from structured interview research comparing discriminatory experiences and its impact on self-perceived health with participants from Six Nations of the Grand River, Canada (n = 25) and the Sámi in Inari, Finland (n = 20); and their family members. The case studies were analyzed using both Western and Indigenous methodologies. Results of Phase one shows how Indigenous resistance to colonial structures within academia in Canada and Finland has resulted in dialogical processes to create an ethical space for working between the differing worldviews of academia and Indigenous communities with the aim to produce ethically valid knowledge. Phase two results shows that regardless of contextual differences of the experiences in Canada and Finland, the main parallel outcomes are similar, i.e. the teachings of shame received in these educational environments. This produces both vulnerabilities and resiliencies and the negative effects of shame require an ongoing healing journey for both individuals and their families and communities at large. Conclusion: For a more in depth understanding of structural racism and its influence on Indigenous health, investigations require methodological choices by both Western and Indigenous methodologies. / Tiivistelmä Tutkimuksen päämääränä on tuottaa tietoa rakenteellisesta syrjinnästä. Tämä tapahtuu tutkimalla alkuperäiskansojen ja kansallisvaltioiden välisiä suhteita koulujärjestelmissä sekä sitä, miten rakenteellinen syrjintä vaikuttaa alkuperäiskansojen jäsenten elämään. Tutkimuksen kriittinen analyysi tuottaa dekoloniaalisia lähestymistapoja terveystutkimuksen menetelmiin, jolloin tärkeimmät terveyserot paljastuvat alkuperäiskansalähtöisten tutkimusprosessien kautta. Tutkimus pyrkii lisäämään ymmärrystä siitä, millaisia väliaikaisia sekä nykypäivään asti ulottuvia vaikutuksia sisäoppilaitoksilla ja kouluasuntoloilla on ollut Kanadan ja Suomen alkuperäiskansojen jäsenten terveyteen ja hyvinvointiin. Väitöskirjan tutkimusasetelma on laadullinen monitapaustutkimus, jossa sovelletaan Critical Health Praxis (PHCR) -menetelmän viitekehystä. Tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä osassa vertaillaan laadullisen sisällönanalyysin avulla Kanadan ja Pohjoismaiden alkuperäiskansojen tutkimuseettisiä käytäntöjä ja menettelytapoja. Toisessa osassa on kolme tapaustutkimusta, jotka perustuvat strukturoidun kyselytutkimuksen avovastausten syrjintäkokemuksiin ja niiden vaikutuksiin itsekoettuun terveyteen Kanadan ensimmäisten kansojen jäsenillä (Six Nations of the Grand River, n = 25) sekä Suomen saamelaisilla (Inarin kunta, n = 20). Tapaustutkimuksissa sovelletaan alkuperäiskansalähtöisiä ja länsimaisia tutkimusmenetelmiä. Tulokset osoittavat, että alkuperäiskansojen vastustus kolonialistisia akateemisia rakenteita kohtaan Suomessa ja Kanadassa on synnyttänyt dialogisia prosesseja, joiden avulla voidaan luoda eettistä tilaa tiede- ja alkuperäiskansayhteisöjen maailmankuvien yhteensovittamiseksi ja eettisesti hyväksyttävän tiedon tuottamiseksi. Toisen vaiheen tulokset osoittavat, että vaikka Kanadan sisäoppilaitosten ja Suomen kouluasuntoloiden yhteiskunnalliset lähtökohdat ja käytännön toteutustavat eroavat toisistaan, lopputulos on samansuuntainen: kouluympäristön aiheuttama häpeä, joka tuottaa sekä haavoittuvuutta että resilienssiä. Kielteisten kokemusten työstäminen vaatii pitkää, parantavaa prosessia, joka koskee niin yksilöitä, perheitä kuin yhteisöjäkin. Johtopäätöksenä todetaan, että tarvitaan sekä länsimaisia että alkuperäiskansalähtöisiä tutkimusmenetelmiä, jos halutaan ymmärtää syvällisesti rakenteellista syrjintää ja sen vaikutuksia alkuperäiskansojen terveyteen ja hyvinvointiin.

Indigenous research methodologies encourage indigenous scholars and allies to re-make research. Deliberately positioning academic inquiry as part of a research design, research can sustain and renew a community’s ability to engage their political priorities while fostering a transition back to community-based knowledge production. In this dissertation, I report on two research projects I was involved in that were led by Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations. Both projects examine Tla-o-qui-aht knowledge systems and values in relation to other lifeforms like salmon. I document how the Tla-o-qui-aht community and I, as a researcher, navigated a series of existing institutional and community-based ethical processes together and were able to create new ones to guide our research as well as research in the future. These processes included: creating a Tla-o-qui-aht Research Liaison position, establishing a Traditional Resource Committee for the review of all research involving Tla-o-qui-aht, and relocating the researcher to the community. The practices emerging from these processes reoriented Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations’ research accountabilities toward their ḥaw̓iiḥ (hereditary chiefs) and ḥatkm̓iiḥ (high-ranking women) as part of their regeneration of their relationships with the ḥaḥuułi (chiefly territories). This praxis of indigenous research in Tla-o-qui-aht ḥaḥuułi, that is, ensuring that practice is informed by community knowledge, demonstrates the importance of placing research leadership in the community. By situating leadership and researcher in community the ontologies of Tla-o-qui-aht knowledge systems emerged as a way to describe dissonance, recentre lived values and imagine possible futures of abundance. The use of filming as research method, centring Ciiqciqasa (speaking Nuučaan̓ułʔath), digitization of community records, and analysis of existing community records of ḥaaḥuupa (teaching, storytelling) were directed by Tla-o-qui-aht and reflect how academic research can serve community renewal. / Graduate / 2023-05-31

No description available.

This dissertation considers the political behaviour of youth in Whitefish River First Nation. This small Ojibway community located near Sudbury, Ontario is used as a case study to inquire into the political experiences, attitudes and behaviour of youth. Rooted in Community-Based Research and Indigenous Research Principles, conversations were carried out in a circle-method referred to as Discussion Circles to assess the political behaviour of youth between the ages of 16 and 25. While this study is heavily qualitative-focused, it includes some quantitative components. These include a youth political participation questionnaire and electoral participation data for Whitefish River First nation in federal, provincial and band elections. Results demonstrate that the youth have a unique experience of politics defined by their identities, community and relationships. Their political behaviour is complex and nuanced. While they may not participate in conventional political activities, they are heavily involved in activities that are rooted in their culture and traditions. The community overall is democratically healthy and tends to participate widely in federal and provincial elections. Youth are for the most part satisfied with their lives in the community, but there are significant challenges due to the consequences of colonialism. Many of these implications affect their political behaviour. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

This research examines Native Performance Culture (NPC), a unique practice in Native theatre that returns Aboriginal people to the sources of Aboriginal knowledge, and interrupts the colonial fragmenting processes. By looking at the experiences of six collaborators involved in a specific art project, the artist-researcher shares her journey of healing through the arts, while interweaving the voices of artistic collaborators Monique Mojica, Floyd Favel, and Erika Iserhoff. This study takes a decolonizing framework, and places NPC as a form of Indigenous research while illuminating the methodological discourses of NPC, which are rooted in an inter-dialogue between self-in-relation to family, community, land, and embodied legacies. Finally, this research looks at the ways that artists work with Aboriginal communities and with Aboriginal knowledge, and makes recommendations to improve collaborative approaches.

No description available.

Historically, most research on Indigenous peoples has been framed by Western empirical positivism which fundamentally conflicts with Indigenous circular ways of knowing. Current research governing bodies, scholars, and Indigenous communities have generated new theories and guidelines for research structures that support respectful and meaningful practices with Indigenous peoples. Participatory action research (PAR) attempts to address the unequal power structures inherent in research relationships: participants set the agenda for the research and are co-researchers in the project. In this study, I placed PAR theory into action to problematize research practices and to generate new discourses for research within an Indigenous context. The Lil’wat Nation and I collaborated on a PAR project in 2006-2007 that led to the formation of the Lil’wat Girls’ and Women’s Affirmation Group. Through the process of reflection-in-action we identified several opportunities for growth as we examined PAR theory in practice. Using decolonizing research methods and a metaphor of the Lil’wat s7istken (pit house), the model of practice wove between three distinct worlds with divergent protocols and pedagogies: the worlds of the Lil’wat, academia, and the researcher’s racialized lived experiences. This model of practice aimed to disrupt the essentialized dichotomies of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relationships and to problematize research practices for the academic and research communities to consider for their practice. The findings exposed several lessons at sites of praxis pertaining to the intersection of PAR theory and practice: definition of the community; ethics in the community; racialized researcher space; and PAR incongruence. The model was intended not as a “how to” manual, but as an entry point for discussions to advance respectful decolonizing research practices.

This research examines Native Performance Culture (NPC), a unique practice in Native theatre that returns Aboriginal people to the sources of Aboriginal knowledge, and interrupts the colonial fragmenting processes. By looking at the experiences of six collaborators involved in a specific art project, the artist-researcher shares her journey of healing through the arts, while interweaving the voices of artistic collaborators Monique Mojica, Floyd Favel, and Erika Iserhoff. This study takes a decolonizing framework, and places NPC as a form of Indigenous research while illuminating the methodological discourses of NPC, which are rooted in an inter-dialogue between self-in-relation to family, community, land, and embodied legacies. Finally, this research looks at the ways that artists work with Aboriginal communities and with Aboriginal knowledge, and makes recommendations to improve collaborative approaches.

As the number of Indigenous children and youth in the care of Manitoba child welfare steadily increases, so do the questions and public debates. The loss of children from Indigenous communities due to residential schools and later on, to child welfare, has been occurring for well over a century and Indigenous people have been continuously grieving and protesting this forced removal of their children. In 1999, when the Manitoba government announced their intention to work with Indigenous peoples to expand off-reserve child welfare jurisdiction for First Nations, establish a provincial Métis mandate and restructure the existing child care system through legislative and other changes, Indigenous people across the province celebrated it as an opportunity for meaningful change for families and communities. The restructuring was to be accomplished through the Aboriginal Justice Initiative-Child Welfare Initiative (AJI-CWI). Undoubtedly, more than a decade later, many changes have been made to the child welfare system but children are still been taken into care at even higher rates than before the changes brought about by the AJI-CWI. In order to develop an understanding of what has occurred as a result of the AJI-CWI process, this study reached out to child welfare workers who had worked in the system before, during and after the process was put in place. Using a storytelling approach based in an Indigenous methodology, twenty-seven child welfare workers shared how they perceived the benefits, the deficits, the need for improvement and how they observed the role of Indigenous culture within the child welfare context. The stories provide a unique insight into how the changes were implemented and how the storytellers experienced the process, as well as their insights into barriers, disappointments, benefits and recommendations for systemic change. / Graduate