Abstract
This chapter examines unique challenges in the way of Native American educational success as well as solutions to overcoming. The chapter addresses why intergenerational trauma matters, the impacts of public policy on Native American people such as the Native American Languages Act of 1990, and the importance of Native American people being connected to the land, protecting traditions, language, and their ancestors. The purpose of this literature review is to shed light on Native American educational barriers and to critique existing literature. Areas analyzed include the trend of low rates of educational attainment among Native Americans, the history of abuse towards Indigenous people and other minorities, the impact on individuals, and solutions for the future. There is a need for Native American students to stay connected to cultural tradition, cultural relevancy in education, role models for Native American people, and an importance of Native American students staying connected to family.
TopBackground
Native American people’s connection to land, spirit, their ancestors, and our Creator is at the very core of understanding this chapter and in understanding the unique obstacles in the way of Native American people receiving a western education. A person should not separate the past from having relevance to Native American people, as for many Native American people the concept of seven generations is a notion in which all of our actions are to be done with recognition to seven generations to our past and simultaneously have actions be done for seven generations into our future. Chief Oren Lyons who is Faith keeper of the Onondaga Nation stated when making decisions it is best not to make decisions for yourself, or even for your family, but to make decisions while keeping in mind how this will impact generations to come (Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health, 2020). A linear, Gregorian calendar of time is not always aligned with a Native American construct of time, where time and events are connected in the past, present and future simultaneously. To discount events which occurred to Native Americans in the past is to invalidate their experiences as human beings.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Seven Generations: A Native American notion of belief in which all our decisions and actions are done with recognition to seven generations in the past and for seven generations in the future.
Intergenerational Trauma: Inherited post-traumatic-stress-disorder caused by abuse and trauma and passed down through generations.
Blood Memories: A term coined by Kiowa author N. Scott Momaday, where memories are passed down genetically to the next generations.
Carlisle Indian Boarding School: Located in Pennsylvania, Carlisle’s motto was to “kill the Indian, save the man” and was used as an archetype for hundreds of other Indian boarding schools.
Cultural Relevancy: A concept in which beliefs and practices by a group of people are recognized as having importance in education.
Genocide: The purposeful destruction of a group of people and their culture by another group of people.
Cultural Tradition: Practices, beliefs and customs practiced by a group of people which have been passed down from previous generations.
Indigenous: As a clarification of terms, the word Native American will be used interchangeably with American Indian, Indian, Indigenous, Aboriginal, First Nations, and Native, depending on how it was used by researchers in the literature.