Scholarship & Research
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Item The current state of Diné bizaad(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2016) Pearson, Fox Chancellor; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Matthew HermanDiné Bizaad, also known as the Navajo language, is the most common Native American language in the United States. In his research for this thesis, Fox Chancellor Pearson seeks to ascertain for himself the current state of Diné Bizaad. Pearson combines his own observations, living and working both on and bordering the Navajo Nation, with input gathered during interviews with Diné people from diverse walks-of-life. Pearson concludes that Diné Bizaad is still alive and well among Diné elders, but it is in rapid decline among the younger generation.Item The Urban Indian community of Minneapolis, Minnesota : an analysis of educational achievements, housing conditions, and health care from the relocation of 1952 to today(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2004) Zimmerman, Leslie Ann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Alexandra New HolyThis thesis critically evaluates the improvements in educational achievements, housing conditions, and health care needs for the urban Indian population of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I specifically focus on the Relocation Policy and how that Policy, instead of assimilating American Indians into mainstream society, became a vehicle for elevating the population of American Indians in Minneapolis to a level of “visibility.” As well, I discuss how this once “invisible” urban community formed an urban coalition, the American Indian Movement (AIM), to actively seek social justices in education, housing, and health care for the urban Indian population of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The intent of the research is to determine whether the extensive funding and programs directed toward the urban Indian population of Minneapolis throughout the last four decades have brought about significant improvements; to determine the degree of, and changes in educational achievements, housing conditions, and health needs of the urban Indian population of Minneapolis, Minnesota. This project is the first evaluation of whether conditions within the urban Indian community of Minneapolis have improved since Relocation. I think this project was needed to critically evaluate a metro area like Minneapolis that has such an extensive history of programs and funding for the urban Indian population.Item Coming-to-know : overcoming a limited understanding of Native American knowledge(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2013) Spang-Willis, Francine Dawn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Matthew HermanThe challenge is the perpetuation of a limited understanding of Native Americans, and the negative impacts it has on Native Americans, non-Native Americans and the American society, as a whole. An autobiographical narrative of my experience preserving and sharing Crow, Northern Cheyenne, and Chippewa Cree knowledge history and culture, from their perspective, through the American Indian Tribal Histories Project (AITHP), and collected documents are used to further understand the themes of the study. The AITHP intent is to preserve, maintain, and share American Indian histories and cultures, or cultural heritage knowledge from an American Indian perspective. The project trained tribal members in preservation-related disciplines, recorded tribal traditions through American Indian perspectives, and maintained flexibility in programmatic design as each tribe was engaged in the project. The Northern Cheyenne Constitution promotes all tribal members enjoying, without hindrance, freedom of worship, conscience, speech, press, assembly, and association as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. However, the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council (NCTC) passed a resolution, which prohibited the Western Heritage Center's AITHP from utilizing its tribal resources, including tribal members sharing their Cheyenne knowledge. Two years later, the NCTC passed another resolution supporting the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and requesting the United Nations to adopt the same Declaration of the Right of Indigenous Peoples. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) came into effect in 2007. The U.S. government showed its support in 2010. Individuals within the current U.S. government, educational, and legal structures, including tribal government structures need to further support Native American peoples' right to self-determination, and empower them to define themselves in ways they deem appropriate. Individuals must actively implement existing structures created to empower Native Americans, including the Northern Cheyenne Constitution (Bill of Rights), United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), Montana's Indian Education For All Act, and the AITHP. By supporting Native Americans' right to self-determine, including Indigenous approaches to define themselves, a limited understanding of them as the Other, and its negative impacts can be overcome.Item Child artisans of the northern plains : woodcarving at Fort Shaw Indian School, 1892-1910(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2011) Scott, Kristi Dawn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter FlemingNumerous contract and federal Indian boarding schools operated on the northern plains during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Though there were thousands of Indian children who attended schools in Montana, boarding school culture there remains very much shrouded in mystery. This thesis illuminates individual biographies that intersect with manual arts training at the Fort Shaw Indian School that operated from 1892-1910. Thirteen sunken-relief wood carvings were created in this central Montana school, and now reside in the Smithsonian's vast repositories. A closer look at circumstances that led to their manifestation at the off-reservation federal institution reveals a complex public history of race, gender and curriculum. These examples, and others, illustrate the great potential of museum artifacts as informative sources that tether us to a not-so-distant past. This significant material warrants inclusion in the patchwork of memories that inform our understandings of boarding school cultures nationally. Further, the artworks featured in this thesis elucidate the work of child artisans on the northern plains who had previously been all but silenced and help us reengage with an era that is significant to our shared regional history.Item Questioning Indian land workshop : a ceremony based approach to learning(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2012) Marian, John Baptist, III; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Matthew Herman.Tafoya suggests, "Stories go in circles." This thesis is the story of learning to implement an indigenous research paradigm in a college classroom then designing the workshop because of the relationships formed together. First the thesis describes preparing for the research ceremony then focusing those relationships through the lens of Research is Ceremony. Followed by summarizing how the workshop functioned as a ceremony. Then characterizing how the four directions guided the evolution of the relational workshop. The research paradigm exemplified by indigenous scholar Shawn Wilson in Research is Ceremony overlaps nicely with adult educational theories that suggest making personal connections to new information is how learning occurs. Indigenous research is a relationship embodied in the elements of ontology, epistemology, methodology and axiology. Ontology and Epistemology together form each individual's worldview. Ontology questions the nature of reality. Epistemology examines how we think about what is real. Methodology and axiology describe how we remain accountable to the relationships forming our reality. Methodology is how we strengthen our relationship to reality. Axiology defines what's worth knowing more about. Through ceremony, researchers respectfully seek knowledge from the Cosmos. The workshop was a ceremony for asking personal questions about Indian land. A reality-based inquiry design rooted in scholarly practice directed by students was planned and implemented in the pilot workshop. In this workshop, the teacher learns alongside the students - acting as a guide for the self-regulated discovery of new knowledge. Respecting the knowledge and process is the ceremony. The relational workshop wheel graphically depicts the five dimensions of the cycle and their interconnectedness. By asking respectful questions of the unknown, the cycle begins. As a researcher and teacher living a congruent lifestyle and preparing the space for the ceremony, academic information and practical experience collide to devise the methodology and axiology for the journey. Bringing together the ingredients opens the space for the ceremony, where students' questions about the land guide the workshop's search. Reflecting on the knowledge gained while leading the ceremony then evolves the workshop into something accessible to responsive educators. The ceremony creates personal accountability to modify the course, and the wheel turns again.Item The Native Education Equity Project : educating for the future(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2004) Mulvaugh, Lucas Wyman; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Wayne SteinFrom the boarding school era to the current high drop-out rates, western-based education systems have a 50% failure rate in its service to the American Indian students of Montana. This thesis takes a critical look at the historical ramifications of Western based education on the Native Peoples of Montana, and the contemporary response from the state to improve Indian Education. The purpose of this thesis is to research current pedagogies being used within public schools with high Indian student populations, to provide recommendations to improve those pedagogies, and to create professional development strategies for teachers who work with Indian students. This thesis uses a collaborative, action-based research model and will provide solutions to current problems involving public Indian Education within Montana. The implementation of The Native Education Equity Project is just one step towards the further development of Indian Education within Montana.Item Your worst nightmare--an Indian with a book : literary empowerment for Native American students in the educational system(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2005) McFadden, Erica Lynn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter FlemingNative American rates of graduation are extremely low in comparison to the rest of the United States public and the classes which are considered "assimilative" classes have among the worst success rates for Native American students. Among these assimilative classes is the field of literature. This thesis explores how literature is assimilative and progresses through how it can be empowering for students. The thesis discusses the importance of incorporating Native American worldviews into the literary classroom and provides specific suggestions for teaching literature to Native Americans to enable it to be empowering rather than assimilative. These new methods of teaching will lead to better success rates among Native American students as well as increased self-esteem and pride in culture.