Native Presence and Sovereignty in College

I have watched some plays recently at Firehall Theatre. I saw Women of the Fur Trade and enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed Eugina, and in particular, her portrayal of a woman who had freedom of mobility and who participated in the public sphere of the economy. It has a study guide as well. Even if I am not teaching a text, I like to look at study guides just to check out the pedagogy. 

If one wanted to extend their learning, they could read Daniel Voth's essay "Descendants of the Original Lords of Soil": Indignation, Disobedience, and Women Who Jig on Sundays in the book Indigenous Resurgence in an Age of Reconciliation. In the essay, he basically argues that Metis people are Indigenous through women. 

I also watched Inner Elder. I totally confess that I did not know much about the show before going. When she kept saying "alcoholic" again and again and again and again in the first ten minutes, I thought to myself "oh no, what have I gotten myself into?" The second half redeemed itself through comedy... although, as an Indigenous person I always get a little miffed when an Indigenous person on stage (whether it be pro-d or performing arts) does a direct address to the white audience. What am I - chopped liver? That being said, definitely an inspiring tale of how one person overcame a very challenging childhood in order to experience success in their field. I think the core concept within the show was that her challenging childhood was something that she tapped into in order to portray her character on Blackstone which led to her receiving a prestigious award. So, taking hardship and turning it into resilience. Without a doubt, the biggest strength of the show was the audience participation portion. I sat in the front row... and I am just really relieved that I was not part of the show, but, I also found it wildly entertaining that she brought people up to be part of the show. I also have to say that I am so impressed when someone can do a sixty minute show on their own. I can't imagine the sheer energy it must take to be the sole performer for an entire hour. 

All and all, very happy that I was able to see both shows, and gratitude to the iconic Firehall for supporting Indigenous theatre. 

Before going to the Firehall we went to Bao Bei for dinner. I love bao. There used to be a store in my neighborhood that sold delicious and affordable bao. It had brown paper on the window, no seats, and the only furniture was a counter where you could get 3 for $10. Sadly, due to gentrification, it is gone now. Bao Bei is a more upscale experience. Their bao, while delicious, are definitely not 3 for $10. They do have Sichuan fried chicken, which has a special oil on it that makes your mouth go numb. If you want to try something totally new, go try their chicken. Trust me - it's an experience. 

I recently read Native Presence and Sovereignty in College: Sustaining Indigenous Weapons to Defeat Systemic Monsters by Amanda R. Tachine. It's part of the Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy series by Teachers' College Press. I first heard of culturally sustaining pedagogy in the introduction to Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education: Mapping the Long View by Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Eve Tuck, and K. Wayne Yang. I vaguely understand culturally sustaining pedagogies to be a close relative to culturally responsive pedagogy/culturally relevant pedagogy, with a key difference being that teachers of Indigenous students work in a context where sometimes they are teaching within the context of knowledge(s) which exist within their teaching communities and student body, but which are not brought into the curriculum and classroom due to explicit prohibitions around who can hold knowledge. Thus, while the educator delivers formal education, they also engage practices which respect and do not undermine knowledge systems which exist outside of formal education, and which resist being subsumed into formal education. I could be wrong about that. Maybe I should do a separate inquiry into the term to ensure that I am understanding it correctly. I should add the book "Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies" to my reading list. 

Anyhow, I loved the structure of this book. It used the Navajo concept of monsters to frame the challenges that Navajo students encounter in their pursuit of post-secondary education. The author interviewed first year Navajo students about their lives, and it was a student who initially engaged this cultural concept of a monster. The author then expanded on the concept, using monster to describe systemic barriers to Indigenous student success. Monsters include things like financial barriers and classroom practices which undermine Indigenous students' sense of belonging in post-secondary. There were a number of gripping anecdotes within the book. For example, one of the students recalls receiving letters about scholarships, and going to the park to open the letters with their friends who also got letters. The students who did receive scholarships had a bittersweet experience, because they were also comforting their friends who did not receive scholarships (p. 42). I think that the research had the perfect number of participants, because there were enough to provide a range of perspectives, but few enough that I felt like I got to know some of the participants through the author's descriptions of them and through the many interview excerpts included throughout the book. The monsters concept comes from the Navajo twin story, in which there are twins who fight monsters. So, the author talks about how Indigenous students use various weapons in order to succeed in post-secondary. The weapons are not violence. They are "action and processual oriented and involved remembering, repositioning, and resurging against systems of domination." (p. 13). I love this framing of the twin story and its concept of monsters in order to interpret and represent the participants' experiences in post-secondary. I think that it is a strengths based approach. Within this framing, the author spent a lot of time integrating concepts from Indigenous scholarship, such as resurgence and survivance, while also critically examining the legal and historical context of the education of Navajo students in the US. The book is an excellent example of the way that storytelling tradition is not just a recital of stories, rather, the storytelling tradition also involves bringing the stories to life by engaging them in such a way that they help us to make meaning of the world and find our way in contemporary life. 

The methodological choices were also interesting. Inspired in part by Jo-Ann Archibald, she used a story rug as her method (p. 15). In terms of ethics, she did reach out to the Navajo Nation to ask if they wanted to engage with her research, but they told her that "because this research would occur off of the juridical boundaries of the Navajo Nation, Tribal approval was not warranted." (p. 15). I also note that she writes the book to her children (p. xi) and several times directly addresses her children. I really appreciate that, because oftentimes Indigenous people are not the target audience. Often, books are written with a general audience in mind, or even in order to help non-Indigenous people better understand Indigenous people. I know that type of work is important, but it is also weird to be sidelined within an imaginary audience. So I notice and feel joy whenever a book is written in a way that centers Indigenous readers. 

I also like the way that the book ended - with youth offering some final words, hopes for the future, and prayers. Here are some examples: 

Sam: Strength, energy, and clarity of mind to pursue my dreams and continue on strong with my life. That my path will be cleared of any obstructions and my vision is clear, that I will see what I need to do, how I need to do it, just where the road leads. Really, the biggest prayers, what I need to do to become what I need to be. (p. 184). 

Sarah: Pray for us to be more humble and to remember who we are and where we come from... Help us in that way so we can also help others... Help us keep our minds right. Help us remember our main goals, help us be as leaders, and help us be thankful too and just look back, and this is what we've done and we need to pass it along. Bless us financially so it won't be a burden. Bless our academics. Bless our living situations while we are here. But most of all, like I said mentally, physically and emotionally, bless us in that way to be strong, to keep strong. (p. 182). 

I highly recommend this book for anyone who works with Indigenous students in any capacity. The author also did a book talk which is available on the University of Chicago's Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture's youtube channel. I listened to the book talk after reading the book. I think I would have actually benefitted from listening to it before reading the book, so that I could "hear" the book in the author's voice while reading it. She is a very engaging speaker, and I also like how she said that before she became a researcher, she was a teacher in K-12.