Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy, Building Our Children to Be Good Relatives

Abstract

Indigenous Motherhood in the Academy, Building Our Children to Be Good Relatives Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Minthorn (bio) INTRODUCTION Motherhood is a term used to describe the ability for a woman figure to take on the role of mother. Mothering on its own is no easy task and requires balance and care. When we examine the added layer of Indigenous identity and motherhood, we become a part of Indigenous motherhood. Holding the sacred role of being an Indigenous mother and then pairing that with a role in the academy combine to create a unique balance of honoring one's identity, which includes the scars of the past and the push against the western culture that pervades higher education institutions. A part of the pushing back includes living our values in the effort to build our children into being good relatives.1 Indigenous communities value relationships as well as the embodiment of our tribal cultures and upbringing. These values are the exact opposite of campus climate and culture at many higher education institutions. In this article, as an Indigenous mother I conceptualize and analyze how Indigenous motherhood is impacted by historical trauma. Then, I move on to how we heal and create a pathway for our children, the seeds of our future. After, I define the concept of Indigenous motherhood and then proceed to discuss Indigenous motherhood in the academy, including ways we can counter the institutional culture while raising children. Finally, I conclude with implications and recommendations. [End Page 62] OVERVIEW OF INDIGENOUS MOTHERHOOD AND THE IMPACT OF HISTORICAL TRAUMA In this section, the following areas are discussed: colonization and settlers, boarding school, loss of parenting and languages, forced sterilization, and loss of community. Each of these forces has contributed directly to impact Indigenous motherhood on a broader level, while some continue to manifest in various ways within institutions of higher education. In the discussion of historical trauma, it is not the focus on the past but the naming of that which came from our oppressors and colonizers to help us learn how to heal. Each of those, which are named, also have profoundly impacted the current state of Indigenous motherhood.2 Colonization and Settlers While colonization within the United States began in the 1400s, for some tribal communities that contact began as late as the 1800s and continues to permeate our systematic structures and ways of living daily, including the notion and value of individualism and capitalism. The first onslaught of colonizers in touching ground in the Americas used the spirit of relationship building, which was an inherent part of the Indigenous/tribal peoples' ways of living, in order to decimate and cause harm to our communities.3 The notion of relationships from this point forward was forever impacted within our tribal communities. Settlers' interactions with the community included the physical violation of many women through the rape or trade of women for something of "value," resulting in the dehumanization of women in our communities.4 Not only were the relationships and role of women impacted, but the core values that had at one time guided our communities and societies have been influenced, to some degree, by western and settler cultural values.5 More than 56 percent of Native American and Alaskan Native women have experienced violence in their lifetimes and one in three will have experienced violence over the course of a year.6 Native women face murder rates at ten times the national average as well. The impact that colonization has had on our communities in all parts of the Americas, and specifically the United States, continues to be felt in my generation, my children's generation, and their children's generation. Boarding Schools The first American Indian boarding school was established by Captain Richard Pratt in 1879 as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.7 This school was one of the first recognized to have forcibly removed Indigenous children from their parents, families, and [End Page 63] communities and assimilated them by cutting their hair, stripping them of their traditional clothing, and "training" them in industrial programs. There were numerous other religious-based, government-supported, or privately owned boarding schools that had attempted...