This critical participatory ethnographic study examines the negotiation of civic identity by urban Indigenous students in public high school social studies classes, a Native youth council, and the civic environment of a school in Washington State, where the Since Time Immemorial curriculum is mandated in social studies classes. Using Safety Zone and Tribal Critical Race theories to understand the experiences of students, stories from observations, participant interviews, and focus groups are employed as data. This study found that connections between students’ land/s and Nation/s, participation in service and activism with other Nation/s, a caring teacher, family civic connections, curricula that centers American Indian history and current events, and school were vital to these negotiations. These spaces were zones of sovereignty (Lomawaima & McCarty, 2014) forwarding survivance and self-determination for students. Student understanding of the Indigenous civic constructs of sovereignty, self-determination, dual citizenship and an understanding of federal Indian policy are explored as sites where they created and sustained their own civic identities inside and outside of school.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:28259738 |
| Date | 01 January 2021 |
| Creators | Talbert, Rachel |
| Publisher | The George Washington University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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