85 research outputs found
The Making of an Indigenous Language Teacher: Reclaiming our Hopi Heritage of Thinking, Teaching and Learning
No full textThe current political and social environment and the more ominous events unfolding across aboriginal Indigenous homelands—locally, nationally and globally—is what the Hopi people refer to as koyanisqatsi, life out of balance and which has been recounted as recurrent in the history of the human experience. It is a prominent theme in their Emergence story transported across time by each succeeding generation of Hopi through the oral tradition. The Hopi number just over 14,000 of which half maintain a permanent residence on part of their aboriginal homelands in northeastern Arizona and continue to carry out the cultural traditions of their ancestors. Thus the words of dedication, “For the Hopi people who have maintained a firm belief in and adherence to the Hopi way of life in order that succeeding generations of Hopi will remain a distinct people,” (Author 1, 2008, p. 5) represent and represents the Hopi way of life as the resilient and reliable guiding source toward an unknown future. The paramount challenge is for the Hopi people to maintain community cohesiveness and unity, a moral existence in the natural world, and spiritual fulfillment on behalf of all people, all living things—the commitment made with Maasaw, Guardian Spirit of the Hopi Fourth World at the time of Emergence—within the context of a life out of balance. Nevertheless, our individual and collective responses are premised in our sense of accountability to our Creator as stewards of Mother Earth, and responsibility to the next generation to ensure cultural and linguistic survival and continuity (Author 2, 2016). “Very little has been written about how contemporary Native people have come into our Indigenous selves through the work we do. This is particularly true of Indigenous educators” (Cajete, 2015, p.1). In this paper, we share and situate our “stories”—our personal and professional trajectories in two foundational Hopi concepts: itaaqatsimkiwa—our lifeline; itaatumakmakiwa—our lifework, concepts that are understood as “preordained” and “predestined” in leading each of us toward finding our “true vocation” to (p. 1). We engage in an analysis of our experiences as a manifestation of self-empowerment and voice (Ruiz, 1991). It is “the work that we do” which brought us together and nurtures our commitment to attending to our heritage language and culture. Cajete (2015) describes this process of reclaiming an Indigenous heritage of thinking, teaching and learning as the making of an Indigenous teacher. Cajete, G. A. (2015). Indigenous community: Rekindling the teachings of the seventh fire. St. Paul, MN: Living Justice Press. Author 2. (2016). Unpublished Reflection paper. Author 1. (2008). “Becoming ‘fully’ Hopi: The role of the Hopi language in the contemporary lives of Hopi youth—A Hopi case study of language shift and vitality.” Unpublished doctoral dissertation. American Indian Studies Program, University of Arizona, Tucson. Ruiz, R. (1991). Empowering linguistic minority children. In In C.E. Sleeter (Ed.), Empowerment through multicultural education. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press
The operation of biopower and biopolitics in the implementation process of reproductive health policies in Peru
No full textIn present-day societies, human life is often an arena of debate within which claims of morality, knowledge, and truth are contested. The meaning of human life, as well as the right to exert control over the bodies that create this life, are constructed by various discourses. In this process, special attention is paid to human bodies with particular capacities and needs, such as women’s bodies. The reproductive capacity of women’s bodies has long been considered central to defining the meaning of being a woman in Western societies. This gender essentialism related to the maternal role guides some reproductive health policies, which are implemented within a complex architecture of discourses, institutionalized social stratification, biopower and biopolitics. The Peruvian case offers clear examples of this situation.
In Peru, reproductive healthcare policy has been irregularly implemented throughout the last twenty years, mostly due to the strong influence that conservative Catholic groups have been able to exert on the Peruvian Government. The discourse articulated by these groups asserts that human life begins at the moment of conception and is a gift from God; therefore, no one should be permitted to interfere in the processes of human life from conception until death. This sacralisation of human life has been progressively constructed within Catholic doctrine, which today incorporates selective interpretations of scientific knowledge in support of its claims. This discourse about human life directly and adversely affects Peruvian women’s bodies and lives. Due to their reproductive capacity, the conservative Catholic discourse considers women as bearers of human life. However, their decision-making power about the creation of this life is not taken into account in this discourse, especially when this decision-making power is linked to the exertion of sexual and reproductive rights. The influence of conservative Catholic discourse on the implementation process of Peru’s reproductive health policy is thus the central focus of this thesis.
The analysis offered in this thesis is informed by a feminist critical discourse analysis of Peruvian politics, policy and law relating to three key issues: coercive sterilisation of indigenous Peruvian women during the regime of Fujimori (1996-2000), the ongoing lack of access to safe and legal abortion, and the 2009 Constitutional Court ban on the distribution of free emergency contraception within the public health sector. My analysis reveals that the Catholic interest in, and influence on, reproductive health policy was largely stimulated by Fujimori’s policy of coercive sterilization, which was in turn prompted by a eugenic discourse that conservative Catholic groups, among others within Peruvian civil society, actively denounced. This opposition consolidated the influence of conservative Catholic discourse within the political domain. Further, I suggest that the actions of the State, increasingly influenced by Catholic interests, can best be understood in terms of Foucault’s concept of biopower, with reproductive health policy being the primary tool used to effect the State’s biopolitical agenda. As I illustrate, the influence of Catholic discourse on reproductive policy and practice is most clearly evident in the ongoing impediments placed in the way of women trying to access therapeutic abortions, and the prohibition of the free distribution of the emergency contraceptive pill via the public health system. Even in the face of local and international condemnation, the State persists in its non-compliance with the provisions of international human rights agreements, a failure which I suggest can only be understood by acknowledging the defining influence of Catholic discourse and interests within Peru’s political domain.
The significance of this thesis thus lies in its analysis of the discourses and political machinations that restrict the exertion of Peruvian women’s sexual and reproductive rights. These constraints are achieved through the operation of biopower enacted through the implementation of various reproductive health policies. This situation, I suggest, confines women via a constructed “naturalness” that reproduces essentialist notions of gender. As the case studies presented in this thesis demonstrate, a vital component of this discursive essentialisation of the maternal role is the identification of women as reproductive bodies that can be regulated and managed in accordance with the interests and discursive affiliations of the State, as opposed to individual citizens with autonomous decision-making power over their bodies and their own lives
INVESTIGATING DIGITAL STORYTELLING AS AN ASSESSMENT PRACTICE IN STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS
No full textRights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Downloaded 9-Apr-2016 03:37:45 Link to ite
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The Indigenous Revolt in Education: Indigenous Feat - A Scholar's Pace
No full textWe are going to run a marathon, together. No matter your fitness level or ability, we will start and finish the race, together. NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND. Together, we are preparing, participating in, and completing a marathon, which is 26.2 miles in distance. Our marathon includes many stories from Indigenous people that transcend time, space, and place. As Indigenous storytelling is circular and fluid, so is the movement of this collective narrative.
Since before the record of time, Indigenous people and communities have a deep connection to the tradition of running. Indigenous people were the first runners in the land we now know as the United States of America. Our narrative as Indigenous runners is threaded together in extraordinary ways. Privileging Indigenous-based frameworks of Tribal Critical Race Theory (TribalCrit) (Brayboy, 2005) and the spider web (Dozier, Enos, 2017), the purpose of this body of work is to understand how ten American Indians – students, staff, and faculty – conceptualize their collective and individual self-determination in higher education, and how they used running to navigate the academy (academic institutions).
Rooted in Indigenous methodologies and ways of knowing, my approach to making meaning (Absolon, 2011) of stories honors Indigenous ways of knowing and incorporates original storytelling and filmmaking methods. Thus, creating new methods to make meaning of stories. Given this written body of work compliments my original 65-minute documentary film, Indigenous Feat – A Scholar’s Pace (Cheromiah, 2020), this dissertation is an example of creating a new modality for Indigenous and non-Indigenous-focused re-search . The findings revealed running has deep meanings to each runner individually and collectively. Five major themes and 13 sub-themes emerged, which include: Mile Marker A: Ceremony and the Running Tradition, Mile Marker B: Collective and Individual Self-Determination, Mile Marker C: Connection to the Land and Mother Earth, Mile Marker D: Health Benefits from an Indigenous Perspective, and Mile Marker E: Navigating the Academy – Running as Sovereignty.
I invite you to join the ten Indigenous runners and me in this marathon to better understand our journeys as Indigenous people. Although this body of work captures a season of time for the ten runners and me, our journeys are ever-evolving beyond the space shared here. As Indigenous people, We cannot be stereotyped. We move at our own paces as runners and as scholars. We are here for the long run
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Knowledge for College: Examining Multiple Forms of Capital Leveraged Towards Higher Education by Alumni Students from a Low-Income, Rural, Border Community in the Southwest
No full textMost research on low-income, racial minority students' access to higher education has been conducted in urban communities. Little research explores these students' experiences within rural settings. Using Ríos-Aguilar, Kiyama, Gravitt and Moll's framework (2011) that bridges Yosso's (2005) "community cultural wealth" with alternative forms of capital, this case study investigated how three alumni students from a low-income, rural, border community accessed information and resources for college within their school, homes and community. Narratives, one-on-one interviews, and a survey questionnaire helped determine multiple forms of capital participants leveraged towards higher education. Participants' college pursuits and choices were influenced by information from family members, teachers and guidance counselors, community scholarships, and emotional support of family, friends, and community members. Research must continue to follow the experiences of rural, low-income, minority students access to higher education and create better opportunities and connections for them to attend college
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The Circle of Mind and Heart: Integrating Waldorf Education, Indigenous Epistemologies, and Critical Pedagogy
No full textThis dissertation examines the potential congruencies and complementarities of Waldorf education, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP), Culturally Responsive Schooling (CRS), Critical Pedagogy and Native American and Indigenous education. Waldorf education, a German education reform developed in the early 1920s, is a little researched schooling system, and previous research on this reform has examined its impacts within its traditional contexts, namely, private schools. At the same time, significant literature exists which addresses the importance and efficacy of reforms for students of color such as those in CRP, CRS and Critical Pedagogy. There is also a body of work which points to key pedagogical components which support Native American/Indigenous students in school. This dissertation examines the interplay between all three of these complex systems by examining attempts to integrate them in the classroom. By examining Waldorf education initiatives in three distinct contexts, I demonstrate that these reforms can work in concert without diminishing the efficacy of any of them. I explore three distinct contexts of Waldorf education. The first examined the impacts of Waldorf education on students who participated in the reform in a private Waldorf school, who transitioned to more traditional, mainstream classes. I conducted participant-observation of a local Waldorf school and in-depth interviews with 14 alumni to explore the impact of this reform. In the second context, I examined how students responded to the use of Waldorf-inspired methods in a community college course I taught, and I investigated their experiences of the reform. Seven students who participated were interviewed in order to investigate the impact of these reforms on their experience as college students. These interviews were complemented by teacher-research I conducted while teaching this Waldorf-inspired course. Finally, I explored the potential of Waldorf education as a reform for Native American students, examining my own incorporation of this reform with other pedagogical tools, such as CRP, CRS, and other forms of critical pedagogy. Included in this section of research are my reflections on a course I instructed with Waldorf-inspired reforms. I also explored various accounts of Waldorf-education reforms by tribal communities, like the Lakota Waldorf School in South Dakota. Several findings from the research conducted here are encouraging. Students from Waldorf school environments demonstrate critical skills and critique schooling environments, invoking stances familiar to critical pedagogues. Students from a Waldorf-inspired community college course were also critical of the typical schooling experiences they had encountered, and spoke of the enriching feeling in their Waldorf-inspired course. Investigation into the philosophical tenets of Waldorf education and Native American/Indigenous epistemologies shows several examples of overlap and similarity, the most striking being elements of spiritual belief and practice as foundational to Native American/Indigenous well-being, and the ability of Waldorf education to address this. While these fields may appear unrelated, this study explores the praxis of these seemingly disparate bodies of work, by examining their similarities and differences. Ultimately, I argue that these reforms can work in concert to support the academic success of culturally and linguistically diverse students and Native American/Indigenous students in particular. The research in these three contexts demonstrates need for further investigation into Waldorf education and its potential to support students of all backgrounds
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VERSAE: A Method for Developing Sustainable, Affordable and Energy Efficient Net-Zero Housing Linking Back to Vernacular Architecture
No full textThe intent of this study was to design produce a comprehensible but user-friendly method that would provide a step-by-step process and guide in originating sustainable, affordable and energy efficient net-zero residential housing. The right-step procedure of the VERSAE Method was linked to the traditional vernacular architecture of the Hopi, a Native American people who still reside on part of their aboriginal lands in northeastern Arizona. The process combined traditional strategies identified in local vernacular Hopi architecture with modern strategies to successfully design sustainable, affordable and energy efficient (net-zero) housing specifically for contemporary Hopi housing. The process was documented in the capstone project, "Housing for the Hopi Community: Designing Sustainable, Affordable and Energy Efficient Housing in the Hopi Community, Linking to Cultural Patterns of Sustainability". For this thesis, the VERSAE method and process was replicate to create a sustainable, affordable and net-zero housing prototype for the Omaha Nation located in Nebraska with significantly different climate, environment, local materials and cultural patterns. Both case studies validated the VERSAE method as conductive to sustainable, affordable and energy efficient (net-zero) housing design
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"When We Talk": Okanagan Ways of Speaking of Elders/Fluent Speakers in Social Domains of Language-In-Use Implications for Okanagan Language Revitalization
No full textOkanagan is a Southern Interior Salish language spoken in south-central British Columbia and north central Washington State. Okanagan is considered an endangered language having 132 fluent speakers (Dunlop, Gessner, Herbert & Parker, 2018) remaining. There has not been a body of work done on conversation and discourse patterns by fluent speakers of this language. A descriptive study which focuses on conversation patterns, naturally occurring speech patterns, language use, functions and communication—descriptive features of Okanagan Edler talk-- is the focus of this research. The components of the study will be used in pedagogical materials and for reference by language learners and will be invaluable in the teaching of language, as it would best serve the needs of the language learner in learning the language in context and provide the learner with proper discourse patterns.
I wanted to answer the question "What do language learners need to know about the social use of language in order to use the Okanagan language appropriately and gain fluency?" How do we as Okanagan people use D/discourse? To answer this question, I recorded Elders and fluent speakers to document their language use in conversation with each other.
The data showed that language speakers use language in a variety of genres such as teasing, word play, and metaphor with very descriptive language through the use of morphologically complex words. The data also showed the importance of fluent speakers' ideology of language, language teaching and the need for revitalizing the language and the urgency of developing fluency in the language learners. Elders/fluent speakers’ highly fluent language is important for informing the development of materials for language revitalization within our communities
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First-Year Elementary School Teachers Coping with Strain: A Heuristic Inquiry
No full textThe research presented here is a qualitative heuristic inquiry, sparked and driven by the following research question: How do first-year elementary teachers experience coping with strain? This inquiry investigated the experiences of six first-year elementary school teachers coping with strain working in a southwestern state of the United States. To begin this study, the researcher’s frame of reference and purpose for the inquiry were discussed. Foundational theories were offered as a grounding of the researcher’s frame of reference and provided a starting point for the research. A review of the literature was conducted followed by a discussion behind the choice of heuristic inquiry as the research design. By implementing a heuristic inquiry approach, this study aimed to better understand how first-year teachers were experiencing strain and coping from the teachers themselves. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to induce an awareness of perceptions around the phenomena of being a first-year teacher coping with strain from the teachers. Following the interviews, the researcher spent time processing the data. Written portraits of the participants’ experiences were written and shared with them. After the participants acknowledged the written portraits accurately represented their experiences of being first-year teachers coping with strain, analysis was focused on the interview transcripts to generate categories and themes of experience. This study found three overarching themes operating in the first-year teachers’ experiences of coping with strain. These themes were 1) the teachers being in a position of “newness”, 2) developmental modes of experience, and 3) the use of coping responses in reaction to strain. Implications of the findings were presented. The primary implication of this study was a better understanding and appreciation of what first-year elementary school teachers are experiencing regarding strain and coping. Finally, the researcher offered suggestions of ways stakeholders can be more informed and intentional in providing support to first-year teachers coping with strain
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Mobile Apps and Indigenous Language Learning: New Developments in the Field of Indigenous Language Revitalization
No full textThis study focuses on the theme of technology-based Indigenous language revitalization and maintenance efforts by looking at new developments in mobile technology and how they are used within Indigenous communities for language learning and teaching. I assessed four mobile apps through the use of an evaluation rubric, online user reviews, and developer consultations. The findings from the assessments were then used to determine what essential themes are important when developing an effective and successful language application model (Appendix C), with the intention of developing a user-friendly template for use by other Indigenous communities. Three essential elements were found to be common among the four language applications assessed: (1) successful integration of interactive and digital media that provides a purposeful learning environment for the user; (2) accuracy and testing of both media and the user-interface, and; (3) successful usability and functionality of the mobile platform
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