Enacted as part of United States government assimilationist policies in the late 1800’s; was the outright kidnapping of Native American children from their families to assimilate and indoctrinate them into ‘white’ society, resulting in intergenerational traumatic experience. The boarding school experience was an instrument of colonization that has long lasting negative impacts on Native American society, culture, families, and overall wellness today.
Published in Chapter:
The Transformational Change Agent Equation: Reziliency of Native American Women in Leadership Roles in Higher Education
Tamara C. Cheshire (Folsom Lake College, USA), Crystal D. Martinez-Alire (Folsom Lake College, USA), Vanessa Esquivido (California State University, Chico, USA), and Molly Springer (California State University, San Bernardino, USA)
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 22
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-7235-1.ch009
Abstract
As Native women professors, counselors, and administrators within higher education, the four authors will focus on transformational change within oppressive environments, addressing institutionalized racism stemming from a colonial history of education. The authors will discuss identified barriers including operating in an oppressive work environment which can sometimes render us invisible and silent for self-preservation, threats to our positions from taking a stand against racial or cultural inequity, and resisting assimilation strategies created by structural racism. It is important to share experiences with working in systematically oppressive environments and the covert ways in which Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) are transformational change agents, leaders against racial and cultural oppression.