Over 150 attend Teaching Indigenous Studies Webinar

On Tuesday, March 30, the ARTLC's webinar on "Teaching Indigenous Studies" engaged a diverse crowd of more than 160 teachers, students, educators, administrators and others.

Beth Regan, former Tolland High School teacher and current Vice Chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribal Council of Elders, discussed how students are taught that native people are a thing of the past—rather than "breathing, living" nations with evolving stories in the present. 

This contributes to a lack of understanding of coloniality and native life and struggle in contemporary times. Sandy Grande, a professor of political science and Native American and Indigenous studies at the University of Connecticut, teased out some of these complexities. She explained that while native peoples are racialized in American society, they are citizens of their own sovereign nations. “The struggle of indigenous peoples, historically and currently, is about recognition of their national sovereignty,” she said, as opposed to other racialized groups’ struggle for “inclusion and enfranchisement.” She also notes that relationship to land is a core part of indigenous identity, as well as a central desire of colonialism, and explored the consequences. 

Regan emphasized that improving education around indigenous studies requires a comprehensive overhaul of curriculum and pedagogy.

"This is not just about adding something to an existing curriculum," she said. "It's about restructuring, interrogating all of it, across every area and every subject.”

endawnis Spears, a co-founder of Akomawt Education Initiative, noted that one small step is avoiding using “Native American” as a catch-all phrase, a phrase that “refer[s] to an incredible diverse constellation of cultures, languages, epistemologies, cosmologies.” Instead, she said, “Take every opportunity possible to use specific terms to refer to specific native peoples.”

Beyond content and choosing materials, Grande said, teachers should think about what kinds of questions they ask of the materials they have. She used an example of rice to illustrate this. A“banking” model might ask, what is rice, how does it grow; a “multicultural” model might ask, what are the different types of rice, how do different cultures consume rice; a “social justice oriented” model might ask who has rice and bring up questions of equity and access; and finally, a “decolonial” model might ask, what is the life of rice, and “what kinds of relationships does rice need in and of itself to grow and have a healthy life?” This model begins with the perspective of “rice itself having its own life and value outside of human consumption.”

Shaquanna Sebastian and Phyllip Thomas, students and members of the Mashantucket Pequot tribal Youth Council, spoke on their work serving the 14-24 year olds on the reservation, and how their school—just down the road from the reservation—never even mentioned the name of their tribe. They emphasized the need for revamped teaching on indigenous studies, and for emotion and affect to be brought into the classroom for a “real and open” approach that facilitates what Regan calls an “open and inclusive” curriculum. “My history has been aligned with yours since day one, and you've only taught your side,” Thomas said.

Access the Teaching Indigenous Studies Resource Guide here.

Written by the ARTLC Team