<p> On March 10, 1957, the United States Army Corps of Engineers completed The Dalles Dam and inundated Celilo Falls, the oldest continuously inhabited site in North America and a cultural and economic hub for Indigenous people. In the negotiation of treaties between the United States, nearly one hundred years earlier, Indigenous leaders reserved access to Columbia River fishing sites as they ceded territory and retained smaller reservations. In the years before the dam&rsquo;s completion, leaders, many of who were the descendants of earlier treaty signatories, attempted to stop the dam and protect both fishing sites from the encroachment of state and federal regulations and archaeological sites from destruction. This study traces the work of Wilson Charley, a Native fisherman, a member of the Yakama Nation&rsquo;s Tribal Council, and great-grandson of one of the 1855 treaty signatories. More broadly, this study places Indigenous actors on a twentieth-century Columbia River while demonstrating that they played active roles in the protest and management of areas affected by The Dalles Dam. </p><p> Using previously untapped archival sources&mdash;a substantial cache of letters&mdash;my analysis illustrates that Charley articulated multiple strategies to fight The Dalles Dam and regulations to curtail Native&rsquo;s treaty fishing rights. Aiming to protect the 1855 treaty and stop The Dalles Dam, Charley created Native-centered regulatory agencies. He worked directly with politicians and supported political candidates, like Richard Neuberger, that favored Native concerns. He attempted to build partnerships with archaeologists and landscape preservationists concerned about losing the area&rsquo;s rich cultural sites. Even after the dam&rsquo;s completion, he conceptualized multiple tribal economic development plans that would allow for Natives&rsquo; cultural and economic survival. </p><p> Given the national rise of technological optimism and the willingness for the federal government to terminate its relationship with federally recognized tribes, Charley realized that taking the 1855 treaty to court was too risky for the political climate of the 1950s. Instead, he framed his strategies in the language of twentieth-century conservation, specifically to garner support from a national audience of non-natives interested in protecting landscapes from industrial development. While many of these non-native partners ultimately failed him, his strategies are noteworthy for three reasons. First, he cast the fight to uphold Native treaty rights in terms that were relevant to non-natives, demonstrating his complex understanding of the times in which he lived. Second, his strategies continued an ongoing struggle for Natives to fish at their treaty-protected sites, thereby documenting an overlooked period between the fishing rights cases of the turn of the twentieth century and the 1960s and 1970s. Charley left a lasting legacy that scholars have not recognized because many of his visionary ideas came to fruition decades later. Finally, my analysis of Charley&rsquo;s letters also documents personal details that afford readers the unique perspective of one Indigenous person navigated through a tumultuous period in the Pacific Northwest and Native American history.</p>

Erin is returning to her childhood home on a Native reservation in New Mexico. She hopes to see her father one more time before he dies, but she has other motives as well. Her relationships with her family, and with her lover Maddie come under pressure through this change in her life. Between the looming dream of reuniting with her father, and coming to terms with the new stage in her life Erin is learning how to accept herself and others.

Songs of the Wind is a five-movement composition for reader, chamber choir, and chamber orchestra. The work is approximately twenty-five minutes in duration. The title describes the programmatic nature of the piece, which depicts an animistic ritual invoking the wind as a deity. The texts are drawn from translations of American Indian poetry as well as original poems by the American Indian scholar Hartley Alexander.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / This exploratory case study examined family-school-community engagement in a small New England school district and town that is home to a federally recognized Indigenous Tribe that has inhabited the area for 12,000 years and whose children represent the largest group of racially minoritized students in the public schools. Using Indigenous protocols and methodologies that included relational accountability, individual semi-structured conversations, talking circles, and participant observation, this study explored the ways that Indigenous families and community members as well as district educators conceptualized and practiced family-school-community engagement and whether or not their conceptualizations and practices were aligned and culturally sustaining/revitalizing. Family-school-community engagement has been touted in research literature as a remedy to the problem of low achievement that prevails in many schools serving minoritized students, including Indigenous students. However, a more pertinent reason to study this topic is due to “ongoing legacies of colonization, ethnocide, and linguicide” committed against Indigenous families and their children by colonial governments and their educational institutions (Brayboy, 2005; Grande, 2015; McCarty & Lee, 2014, p. 103). This study was thus conducted and data were analyzed using a decolonizing lens and culturally responsive leadership (Johnson, 2014), culturally sustaining pedagogy (Paris & Alim, 2014), and culturally sustaining/revitalizing pedagogy (McCarty & Lee, 2014) as theoretical frameworks. Findings revealed distinctions in the priorities and engagement practices of educators versus Tribal members. While educators conceptualized and reported to practice an open-door model of engagement in which families have a plethora of opportunities to get involved in the schools, Indigenous parents and community leaders engaged as ardent advocates for the equitable treatment of their children and for the expansion of language and culture-based programming for tribal students in educational spaces within and outside of the public-school system. Also, Educators and Tribal members alike acknowledged that district staff lack cultural awareness and sensitivity and needed to be better educated. These findings and others offer important implications for local Indigenous communities and school districts serving Indigenous families. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Lisa Patel / The participatory project described here is framed by the theories of Tribal Critical Race Theory and Red Pedagogy and describes a series of focus groups that included six Mashpee Wampanoag community members who used cultural values that they identified themselves to outline the educational needs of their Tribal youth in order to contribute to the process of developing a culturally-based strategic plan to serve Tribal students. The project was an act of self-determination for the participants who chose to commit to the work of making positive changes for the future of their community in a way that only they could as insiders in their community. Participants compiled a list of skills they felt were necessary to the health and success of their young people, separated into categories of "life skills," "academic skills" and "traditional skills." Also discussed are issues of insider research in Tribal communities, Indigenous connections land, Tribal identity, and aboriginal rights. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

<p> The purpose of this arts-based, and Indigenous research study was to explore how Native Americans understand &lsquo;place-based imagery&rsquo; through an Indigenous art making and storytelling experience in order to illuminate perspectives and experiences of a &lsquo;sense of place&rsquo;. Storywork, an Indigenous research method directed the culturally grounded research project. The Native American moccasin was the symbolic cultural catalyst used to create a multimedia art piece to express and reflect traditional cultural knowledge rooted within this symbol. Native Americans representing five federally recognized tribes participated in the study. As a result of a pilot study, a definition of place-based imagery was developed. Place-based imagery is making or creating meaning of symbols, shapes, colors and designs, related to P-People, L-Land, A-Ancestry, C-Culture, E-Experiences that may foster, awaken and/or deepen one&rsquo;s connection and understanding of self and a sense of place. </p><p> The research findings were examined and derived using an Indigenous paradigm. A culturally based understanding of a &lsquo;sense of place&rsquo; was developed from the stories and imagery. Perspectives relating to unwavering support, interconnection of culture and land, intergenerational knowledge transfer, deepened cultural knowledge, balance, and an understanding of a felt sense of place, emerged as a result of the moccasin making and storytelling experience. Secondly, an approach was developed using &lsquo;response art&rsquo; as a technique that may be used to mitigate secondary trauma. The study showed that Expressive Arts is an effective intervention used with Native Americans to inspire strength based cultural stories and images that encouraged self-understanding. </p><p>

<p> Health disparities and substance misuse are increasingly prevalent, costly, and deadly in Indian Country. Although women historically held positions of influence in pre-colonial Tribal societies and shared in optimum health, their current health is relegated to some of the worst outcomes across all racial groups in the United States. Women of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) have some of the highest prevalence estimates in physical inactivity and excessive drinking in the United States. Building on the Indigenous Stress Coping model of indigenous health, &ldquo;Our Vision of Health for Future Generations&rdquo; explores the intersection of a historical event, the Trail of Tears, and its lasting impact on the contemporary health outcomes in tribal members. This inquiry is positioned within the Yappall&iacute; Choctaw Road to Health project that explores these broader issues. This culturally-centered study explores proximal and settings-based/intermediary motivations of twenty-three women who completed the Yappall&iacute; project, walked the Trail of Tears, and developed a <i>holitobit ibbak fohki</i> &ldquo;sacred giving&rdquo; community health event. Analysis was conducted using the Listening Guide method, that highlighted the contrapuntal voices of embodiment, motivation, challenges, and transformation. Participants shared stories in relation to both their individual health concerns (proximal), and deep love and commitment for the health of their family, community and for future generations (intermediary). This study provides another framework for the development of indigenized research, by using in-depth interviews, <i>haklo</i> &ldquo;listen deeply&rdquo; as a form of indigenous storywork that is centering of the experiences of marginalized people, and reflexivity as <i>anukfilli</i> &ldquo;Deep Reflection&rdquo;.</p><p>

<p> This research replicated Dunlap, dePerczel, Clarke, Wilson, Wright, and White&rsquo;s (1994) single-subject ABAB reversal design using choice/no choice conditions with a 3 year-old Native American boy exposed to trauma. The IV consisted of the child being able to select books to be read during story time vs. no choice. The dependent variables consisted of 2 target behaviors impeding his learning in his Head Start classroom: disruptive and aggressive behaviors. Rate of Behavior 1 during Baseline 2 was 10% higher than during Intervention 1, and considerably higher than Baseline 1. During Intervention 2, rate of Behavior 1 was 10% lower than during Baseline 2, but 24% higher than Baseline 1. Therefore, Behavior 1 responded as expected to the 3 final experimental phases, but was unexpectedly low during Baseline 1 due to uncontrollable, extraneous environmental variables. Rate of Behavior 2 during Intervention 1 was 57% lower than during Baseline 1. During Baseline 2, rate of Behavior 2 was 50% higher than Intervention 1. During Intervention 2, rate of Behavior 2 was 43% below Baseline 1 but 40% higher than Baseline 2. Because occurrence rates for Behavior 2 were low, often 0-3 per session, minor changes in occurrences inflated change percentages. In essence, Behavior 2 improved substantially between Baseline 1 and Intervention 1, then remained stable at low rates across the remaining study phases. During Intervention 2, half the sessions had 0 occurrence rates for Behavior 2, spiking in the final 2 sessions due to an uncontrollable extraneous variable. Overall results appear promising. Future research, with greater observation times and control of extraneous variables, is needed to fully demonstrate intervention effectiveness with young Native American children exposed to trauma. </p><p>

<p> Since the mid-1970s, the indigenous ritual dance known as Danza has had a profound impact on the self-identification and concept of space in Xicana communities, but how is this practice received in the powwow space? My project broadly explores how studentorganized powwows at UC Davis, UC Riverside, and UC San Diego (UCSD), are decolonizing spaces for teaching and learning about Native American identities. Drawing on Beverly Diamond&rsquo;s alliance studies approach (2007), which illuminates the importance of social relationships across space and time, as well as my engagement in these powwows, I trace real and imagined connections between Danza and powwow cultures. Today, powwows are intertribal social events organized by committees and coordinated with their local native communities. Powwows not only have restorative abilities to create community for those who perform, attend, and coordinate them, but they are only a small glimpse of the broader socio-political networks that take place throughout the powwow circuit. By inviting and opening the powwow space to indigeneity across borders, the University of California not only accurately reflects its own native student body who put on the event, but speak to the growing understanding of "Native American" both north and south of the United States border. Ultimately, I argue an alliance studies approach to historical ethnography and community-based methodologies in music research are crucial, especially in the case of indigenous communities, who are committed to the survival and production of cultural knowledge embedded in music and dance practices.</p><p>

Indigenous Australians were also known to use plants for medicinal purposes. For thousands of years, Indigenous Australians have used native plants as a source of medicinal agents. Some tribes living in Central Australia still, to this day, prefer to use traditional medicines in favour of the more common and readily available western medicines. A number of plant species endemic to Australia are listed in various Aboriginal pharmacopoeias, with approximately one-third of those species belonging to two genera, Acacia and Eremophila. Of the 1100 recognised species of Acacia, approximately 900 occur in Australia. At least thirty of these species were utilised by the Indigenous Australians as a source of medicine. Extracts of 8 Acacia species were screened using four frontline bioassays. These were the brine shrimp lethality test, the crown gall tumour assays, the disc diffusion antibiotic assay and the seed germination test to determine if any of the species were biologically active. Of all the species screened, Acacia pruinocarpa showed the most promise. The species demonstrated significant activity at concentrations at low as 3.7ppm, which is well below the standard 400ppm exhibited by potassium dichromate (Sam, 1993). Acacia adsurgens and A. dictophleba were the next two promising species exhibiting activity at concentrations of 16.12ppm and 37ppm respectively. This was a trend that was also observed in the Lettuce seed germination test for allelopathy with these three species showing the most promise. Interestingly the potency of A. pruinocarpa extract decreased significantly when it was re- screened after being put through a polyamide column. It can therefore be suggested that as tannins are removed by the polyamide column, the biological activity exhibited by A. pruinocarpa is a result of the tannin content in the species (2%), although more testing is required. / Both A. pruinocarpa and A. adsurgens showed promise as anti-tumour activity when used in the Crown Gall Tumour Assay (CGTA). Acacia pruinocarpa and A. adsurgens both exhibited significant activity when compared to the control producing inhibition percentages of 31% and 37% respectively. Surprisingly, only one of the Acacia species tested inhibited pathogenic growth when tested on the common pathogens Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogens and Candida albicans. Acacia bivenosa was the only species to exhibit any activity when tested on the pathogens. This activity, however is not considered to be significant, as the species was only active against one of pathogens tested, Staphylococcus aureus. In order to be considered to be significant, a species must be active against two or more pathogens. It is however, worthy of further evaluation. Acacia species are among the large number of plants that have long been regarded sources of biological activity. This study was guided by the indigenous use of Acacia species as sources of medicine, which led to the use of front-line bioassays. All of the species tested exhibited some form of biological activity. Acacia pruinocarpa demonstrated the most promise as a source of novel biologically active compounds exhibiting activity at very low concentrations. Such compounds have not been determined as it was outside the scope of this study to identify the active constituents of this species. However, it has been suggested that tannins are responsible for eliciting some of the activity observed in A. pruinocarpa. All of the species screened in this study are worthy of further evaluation. The bioassays used in this study are good examples of front-line bioassays. All of the tests used in the study fulfil the criterion, which defines a good test.