A New Day Must Begin: Tribal Nation Building and Higher Education

Abstract

The childhood memory remains vivid. Floyd Westerman’s political anthem “Custer Died for Your Sins” blared on the family 8-track, imploring that a new day must begin, as the author’s parents unwound from a long but impactful week. This report is a reflection on past, present, and future, as Bryan Brayboy recounts how his parents worked to bring about that new day. His father helped their tribal nation access quality health care. His mother worked with Native nations and non-Native institutions of higher learning in the name of self-determination through education. “It was quiet. Active. Subtle. Effective. Nation building,” Brayboy writes. “I am a product of my parents. In so many ways. I am my parents.” Nation building is the active fulfillment of the belief that we are responsible to our ancestors and responsible for our descendants. It answers the question: How can I be of service and what can I build? It begins a new day. Bryan Brayboy has spent 25 years researching and writing about the role of higher education as it relates to Indigenous Peoples and shares “principles and ideas crucial to engaging in nation building work from within institutions that have traditionally been antithetical to how we think about knowledge and the ways we do our work.”