Surviving a Cultural Genocide: Perspectives of Indigenous Elders on the Transfer of Traditional Values

Abstract

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to examine how Indigenous elders perceive traditional values. This study employed Portraiture, which allowed Indigenous elders to share their stories in a culturally tailored and relational manner. The authors’ captured and present richly detailed stories that describe the intersects between human experiences and sacred beliefs. The scholars eloquently braid the first authors experiences at three (3) traditional Indigenous ceremonies with the words of Indigenous elders to tell a story about overcoming an attempted cultural genocide. The ceremony participation and elder visits helped identify ten traditional values encasing spirituality displayed in the Hoop of Traditional Blackfoot Values presented in the English language and the Blackfoot language.

The Role that Cultural Plays in Fostering Educational Sovereignty for American Indian Youths: A Transformative Mixed Methods Study

“…I, at times, use both the Blackfoot language and the English language. The Blackfoot language is the Native language of the Tribal Nation included in this study and has only existed in written form for about 100-years (Clark & Wylie, 2021).…”

“…Richard Pratt was the architect of the off-reservation Indian boarding school Lomawaima & Ostler, 2018;The Red Man, 1889). He started the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (Wolfe, 2006) in 1879 with financial support from the US government (Clark & Wylie, 2021). Pratt believed that AIs as a race should be massacred (Pratt, 1892) as he built his "assimilation institution" (Brayboy & Lomawaima, 2018, pg.…”

The role of Teachers’ Indigenous Knowledge and Cultural Competencies in Enhancing Students’ Engagement and Learning Outcomes

“…These results are in line with the previous studies that depicted the importance of intercultural competencies of the teachers to help students belonging to different cultures to learn various subjects more effectively (Hordijk et al, 2019;Wilson et al, 2017). Because literature studies are closely linked with the cultural values of a particular society (Clark & Wylie, 2021;Yamamori, 2019), when teachers with the required knowledge of that society and local area teach literature to their students by giving examples of cultural histories and characteristics, they are more influential in enhancing students learning outcomes.…”

Perspectives of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists on the Influence of School Connectedness on American Indian Youths

“…AI children were forced into boarding schools (Kirmayer et al, 2014;Ross, 2016) to control their social, academic, cultural, and physical development Reyhner & Eder, 2017). The architects of boarding schools punished AI children for speaking their traditional languages (Kimmerer, 2013; Running Bear et al, 2018) and denied them opportunities to participate in their cultural or spiritual practices (Clark & Wylie, 2021). Many AI children went years without visiting their homelands or their families (Adams, 2020;Reyhner, 2018), were physically and sexually abused (Charbonneau-Dahlen et al, 2016;Running Bear et al, 2018), and many died (Adams, 2020;Fear-Segal & Rose, 2016).…”

“…Scholars claim that AI schoolchildren are experiencing contemporary elements of historical trauma with the loss of their Elders to COVID-19 (O'Keefe et al, 2021;Tsethlikai et al, 2020). AI Elders are the keepers of sacred knowledge (Robbins et al, 2006) and possess the right to transfer cultural knowledge (Clark & Wylie, 2021). Cultural knowledge is critical to helping youths develop cultural resiliency (Burnette & Figley, 2017;Heavy Runner & Marshall, 2003) to triumph over adversity (Tsethlikai et al, 2020).…”