Performing Decolonization: Lessons Learned from Indigenous Youth, Teachers and Leaders’ Engagement with Critical Indigenous Pedagogy

Authors

  • Jeremy Garcia
  • Valerie Shirley

Abstract

This article presents a “cross dialogue” that examines how Indigenous participants in two separate Critical Indigenous Qualitative Research (CIQR) studies responded to the decolonization process and notions of developing a critical Indigenous consciousness. The first CIQR study engaged Hopi/Tewa educators and educational leaders in the process of praxis and dialogue around their decisions regarding the curriculum and pedagogy selected for Hopi/Tewa students (Garcia, 2011). The second CIQR study engaged Diné youth (ages 11-14) in an examination of their identities/subjectivities (Shirley, 2011). With a strong purpose of bringing about empowerment, social change, justice and transformation within, for and by Indigenous communities, each of the studies are framed within critical Indigenous pedagogy (CIP). CIP is grounded in a theoretical framework and pedagogical methods that resist colonization and oppression in the educational context, privilege Indigenous knowledge systems and promote Indigenous sovereignty.

Author Biographies

Jeremy Garcia

Jeremy Garcia, (Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) is an enrolled member of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona. He earned his B.A. in elementary education from Northern Arizona University and has experience as an elementary school teacher on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Reservation. He holds a M.S. degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Michigan State University and his Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies from Purdue University. As Assistant Professor, he teaches in the UWM School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and he also serves as a professor of the Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education. His research interests focus on curriculum, pedagogy, parental involvement and teacher education within the contexts of American Indian tribal education. Garcia continues to support tribal communities and programs on curriculum development that is grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems, such as the Hopi Kuuyi (Water) Curriculum: Kuuyit oovi Suuvotumala and the Hopi Natwani (traditional farming) curriculum.

Valerie Shirley

Valerie Shirley is a member of the Diné Nation. She received her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Purdue University. She also holds a M.S. degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a B.A. degree in elementary education from Arizona State University. Having experience teaching in 2 schools serving Native American students, she is an advocate for centering Indigenous epistemologies in schools serving Indigenous students. Her interests are to continue learning Diné cultural knowledge and to engage teachers and Indigenous youth in community transformation. Her thesis and dissertation projects were guided by and framed within the Diné philosophy. She teaches courses in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

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Published

2013-01-17

Issue

Vol. 28 No. 2 (2012): Journal of Curriculum Theorizing

Section

General Themes

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