Indigenous Studies Speaks to American Sociology: The Need for Individual and Social Transformations of Indigenous Education in the USA

Michelle Jacob

doi:10.3390/socsci7010001

Michelle Jacob

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7010001

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Abstract

Despite legislation to increase educational success for racial and ethnic minorities in the USA, educational disparities persist. I examine this trend among Indigenous peoples in the state of Oregon, but extend it to education systems across the USA. In Oregon, American Indians have the poorest educational attainment of all racial and ethnic groups; only 55% of American Indians graduate on time. I examine this problem from a critical sociological perspective, answering the call for sociology to end its “complicity in the elimination of the native”. I argue education systems are extensions of settler colonial logics and power structures. I propose educational transformations built upon Indigenous cultural teachings, advocating that we follow an Indigenous educational framework that has as its foundation: (1) Indigenous elders’ instructions that education should teach us to be “real human beings”; (2) Indigenous teachings that invite us to engage in reflexivity to understand the “spirit” of our work; and (3) my own Yakama teachings on utilizing a decolonizing praxis within educational institutions. I conclude that American sociology needs to draw from Indigenous Studies scholarship to better understand and address the education inequalities facing Indigenous peoples in the USA.

Highlights

Despite legislation to increase educational success for racial and ethnic minorities in the UnitedStates of America (U.S.), educational disparities persist
I examine this trend among Indigenous peoples in the state of Oregon, but extend it to education systems across the U.S In my paper, I focus on Indigenous peoples who are recognized as members of Tribes who have sovereign status and political rights
Tribal legal and political rights are rooted in the inherent sovereign status that each Tribe has, and is affirmed by the U.S Constitution and in U.S Supreme Court rulings, as noted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, “When the governmental authority of tribes was first challenged in the 1830’s, U.S Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall articulated the fundamental principle that has guided the evolution of federal Indian law to the present: That tribes possess a nationhood status and retain inherent powers of self-government”

Summary

Introduction

Despite legislation to increase educational success for racial and ethnic minorities in the UnitedStates of America (U.S.), educational disparities persist. I examine this trend among Indigenous peoples in the state of Oregon, but extend it to education systems across the U.S In my paper, I focus on Indigenous peoples who are recognized as members of Tribes who have sovereign status and political rights. Tribal legal and political rights are rooted in the inherent sovereign status that each Tribe has, and is affirmed by the U.S Constitution and in U.S Supreme Court rulings, as noted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, “When the governmental authority of tribes was first challenged in the 1830’s, U.S Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall articulated the fundamental principle that has guided the evolution of federal Indian law to the present: That tribes possess a nationhood status and retain inherent powers of self-government” My paper focuses largely on Tribes in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S My home

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