Abstract
Wétiko is a Cree term whose literal translation is cannibalism, an act of violent aggression. This term encapsulates the divisive forces that have infected the Americas for over 500 years, resulting in generational cultural trauma, and dehumanization of all who are subjected to its modern manifestations. It is analogous to an oppressive pandemic whose symptoms include racism, xenophobia, self-hatred, and despair. Despite the persistent forces of Wétiko that marginalize descendants of American Indigenous people, Xicanx are emerging in educational leadership roles and in professional positions that require the highest educational degree, the doctorate. The perseverance of these forerunners, which is fueled by a desire to promote equity, testifies to their will to overcome historically grounded subjugating forces. These forces include identity labels in which the Indigenous culture has been erased and extinguished, but is now reclaimed within the identity of the term Xicanx. Xicanx Torchbearer voices provide insight to the challenges they face as they enter, occupy, and engage within spaces in which they were previously excluded. Evident in the narratives of these Xicanx professionals who now hold highly regarded credentials is the resurgence of Indigenous orientations that counter the violence and aggression of Wétiko.
Highlights
This term encapsulates the divisive forces that have infected the Americas for over 500 years, resulting in generational cultural trauma, and dehumanization of all who are subjected to its modern manifestations
As we bear witness to the modern manifestation of Wétiko, educators and scholars can determine the best strategies to address the conditions fueling it while developing the dispositions needed to contain its proliferation
The perseverance of a worldview that provides a different way of being for Europeans fleeing persecution continues to be embodied in those who live and walk amongst us on this continent. This embodied cultural value is exemplified and reflected in an assignment submitted by a graduate student, Ms Amber Bradley, in a university educational leadership doctoral program taught by one of the authors of this paper
Summary
Upon completion of my doctorate degree from the University of San Francisco in 2002, I, the senior co-author, was told by the spiritual leader and elder of our community, Angelbertha Cobb, that my role and my purpose with this recently conferred degree was to “open doors for others” (personal communication, Spring 2002). The term Xicanx is an attempt to alter the historical labels and names that have been used to erase and subjugate Indigeneity. Xicanx is as inclusive as all other identifiers used within the community In applying this term, we are clear that this is not necessarily the label that has always been historically applied or that some would apply to themselves. The effect of colonization on Indigenous peoples in the Americas has created historical trauma that is handed down from generation to generation (Menakem 2017). The authors of this article conscientiously use the term Xicanx to refer to all other identifiers such as Latinx, as a form of decolonization to acknowledge the Indigenous cultures that have been expunged. In the United States, 2% of the Genealogy 2020, 4, x FOR PEER REVIEW population hold doctorate degrees but Xicanx only 0.6%.
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