Editor's Commentary

Abstract

Editor's Commentary Lloyd L. Lee (bio) Yá'át'ééh! I hope everyone is doing well. Our volume 35 is a combined edition of number 1 and 2 with four articles, one literary essay, one commentary, and six book reviews. In 2022, we resumed the publication of the journal with volume 34, number 1 (spring 2019) and number 2 (fall 2019). We are now in the process of making sure we catch up with editions being released as soon as possible. With this combined volume 35, number 1 and 2 (spring/fall 2020) edition, we anticipate four editions (volume 35 [2020], 36 [2021], 37 [2022], and 38 [2023]) being released in 2023 and early 2024. It is my goal to be caught up by 2024. We know numerous and important articles, essays, commentaries, and reviews will be forthcoming in the editions and we want to make sure Native Nations and Indigenous peoples' sovereignty, integrity, cultures, and identities are protected and sustained. In this thirty-fifth edition, the articles display a variety of topics, an engaging literary essay, a thought-provoking commentary, and some insightful reviews on recent released books. The first article, cowritten by Sarah Hernandez and Kendall Tallmadge and titled "#NativeReads: Outcomes of an Oceti Sakowin Survey and Literary Recovery Model," details an example of how Native Nations and Indigenous peoples can define and articulate their own literary traditions. In the state of South Dakota, new social studies standards have removed references to the Oceti Sakowin ("The Seven Council Fires" or Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota nations). This erasure and attempt to prevent Oceti Sakowin students from learning about [End Page v] their own ways of life and communities and ensuring all of the South Dakota student population remains ignorant is dangerous and troublesome. Hernandez and Tallmadge's article discusses a new educational resource designed and led by the community that represents how Indigenous peoples are empowering and reclaiming control of their own long-standing intellectual traditions to share knowledge and wisdom for future generations. The second article, "'She Likes Fish Camp': Legal History and Alaska Native Subsistence Practices in Diane Lxéis Benson's play River Woman" by Thomas Michael Swensen, examines how state and federal laws focusing on land and subsistence rights in Alaska worked to disempower the character River Woman in the play and Alaska Native peoples overall. The article reviews the legal history that led to land ownership and tenure in Alaska, subsistence rights, the Homestead Act of 1862, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, and US government policies leading to dire consequences for the character River Woman and Alaska Native families. The article also brings to the forefront Alaska Native land dispossession oral narratives. The narratives show the resistance and continuation of River Woman and the Alaska Native peoples. The third article, "'Disability' through Diné Relational Teachings: Diné Educational Pedagogy and The Story of Early Twilight Dawn Boy" by Sandra Yellowhorse, discusses "disability" from an Indigenous perspective. Yellowhorse focuses on Diné relational principles embedded in a Diné educational pedagogy; a distinctive lifeway and model of living for Diné peoples. She retells the story of a Diné narrative to display an understanding of "disability" based on Diné lifeways and intellectual traditions. The narrative is a lens into seeing other ways of being grounded in place, community, and belonging. This sense of knowing and being illustrate Indigenous ways, perspectives, and understandings regarding life. The fourth article, by Heather J. Shotton and Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Minthorn titled "Narratives of Indigenous Women Leaders: Indigenous-Centered Approaches to Leadership," addresses the roles and realities of Indigenous women in leadership. While there is a growing literature about Indigenous women in the twenty-first century, there still remains a need for scholarship that considers the perspectives of Indigenous women and leadership. This article helps to fill the gap and address Indigenous female perspectives on the critical needs of leadership. The literary essay titled "Using Stories to Teach" by Aretha Matt describes her personal experience of using narratives to teach. Her background and experiences have compelled her to teach colleagues and peers about her upbringing and Diné ways to prevent them from developing stereotypical perspectives and other common misconceptions...