THIPSINNA DAKHOD WICHOHAN WAKHAN – ‘TURNIP DAKHOTA WAY OF LIFE IS SACRED’: A DAKHOTA MODEL FOR K-12 PEDAGOGY AND CURRICULUM

• Main Author: Escarcega-Growing Thunder, Ramey Leigh
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of Montana 2023
• Subjects: Cultural place-based; Indigenous education; Indigenous pedagogy; Language; Spirit based theory; TribalCrit; Culture; Canada; Nakoda
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12205; https://scholarworks.umt.edu/context/etd/article/13325/viewcontent/growing_thunder.pdf

The term “cultural place-based” is used to ground this research—a specific spiritual place linked to cultural and language-based education within the homelands of the Dakȟóta, Nakoda, and Lakota peoples who inhabit territories in Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Canada: The Native people regard these as their homelands. In the Dakȟóta language, itȟáŋčhaŋ translates to “a leader, boss, person in charge, position of authority, office, management, and political power,” (Lakota Language Consortium, Llc., 2013). The author utilizes the word itȟáŋčhaŋ as the cultural–educational leadership view in creating a cultural place-based model. This research identifies the impact indicators of implementing a culturally place-based education for Native students to benefit academic success and well-being. A longstanding public education problem has not been addressed and changes appropriately implemented, so education fits culturally with Native students (Wilson & Yellow Bird, 2005, p. 14). The methodology in this thesis is qualitative (Creswell, 2013), utilizing narrative storytelling through interviews, and the use of other historical and relevant artifacts, along with a literature review to explore the research question of how placed-based cultural education can increase student learning. Bryan Brayboy's theoretical framework in “TribalCrit in Critical Race Theory” provides three tenets framing this research: (1) Indigenous people desire to obtain and forge tribal sovereignty, tribal autonomy, self-determination, and self-identification; (2) culture, knowledge, and power concepts create new meaning when examined through an Indigenous lens; and (3) Tribal philosophies beliefs, customs, traditions, and visions for the future are central to understanding the lived realities of Indigenous peoples (Brayboy, 2005, p. 430). Fourteen (14) participants were interviewed, and their oral Tribal history contributed to developing the Tribal cultural placebased model. The methodology was completed through: (1) interviews with ...