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25 ◆

ACHIEVING GENDER EQUITY

FOR AMERICAN INDIANS1 [AQ1]

Anne Calhoun, Mishuana Goeman, and Monica Tsethlikai

derstand issues of gender equity in education, traditional con-

INTRODUCTION
It is customary for many of us, most notably those of us from
the Eastern tribes, to introduce our words in a good way and so
we begin:
We offer these words as representative of our individual thoughts
learned from our grandmothers and grandfathers and from the aca-
demy. Our words do not represent anyone other than ourselves and
do not reflect any understandings of our Nations. We hope that these
words are taken in a good way and that good comes from ideas pre-
sented and lessons learned. We pray that no one is unduly hurt by the
words we have set down on paper.
cepts of gender are first examined. In this section, we choose a
few examples of historic foundations of gender conceptions and
the manners in which these traditions process change of gender
roles overtime. Next, we choose a representative sampling of
current issues facing American Indian students in regards to
gender equity in education. We continue by examining possible
solutions that arise from a confluence of living traditions, inno-
vativeness stemming from the community and native intellec-
tuals, and organizing across communities, boundaries, and bor-
ders. Finally, we examine the implications of our findings for
educational policy.

In this chapter we discuss several issues about which educa-

tors appear to have little or no knowledge. We make this state-
ment based on our personal experiences, observations, and our
knowledge of institutional barriers in educational settings that
remain for American Indian students and which continue for
American Indian scholars (Mihesuah, 2003, American Indian
Quarterly, 17,1–2 for multiple articles). We make this statement
because, unless our readers understand the importance of the
values and views discussed in this chapter, there will be little
hope that education may become a welcoming place for Amer-
ican Indian students and scholars—a place to thrive rather than
merely survive. If we cannot make these accommodations,
what hope is there for our American Indian students’ optimal
achievements toward important roles in both their nations and
larger, mainstream communities? In order to help others un-
TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS OF GENDER
Our community is one family. We are interrelated and rely upon each
family member to play a role in the community. We help others who
are in need to ensure the ability of our community, our family, to remain
strong and adapt to a continually changing environment. The survival of
our community depends upon our traditional perspective [being]
passed from generation to generation to help others in need. We are
one family, one community. Sally Gallegos. (cited in Intertribal Friend-
ship House & Lobo, 2002, p. 116)
While the quote at the beginning of the section may appear
to be quite general, within and between the words lie concepts
that we believe are basic to understanding historical gender as-
signment within many native nations. Even in the face of in-

1
There is much discussion today about how we name ourselves, little of this based on asking tribal members. Most generally, tribal people identify
themselves as a member of a nation followed in some instances by their clan relationships. Currently the “preferred” term used by the Census and
Government documents is “American Indian and Alaska Natives” (Tucker, Kojetin, & Harrison, 1996). A second naming issue is based in the
anti-Indian/anti-sovereignty movements whose members identify themselves as “American Indians” stating that they were born in American and are,
therefore, native to America. These types of rhetorical battles are artifacts of racism, overt and dysconscious, because they are associated with Anglo’s
and academic discussions without reference to what tribal peoples prefer.

521
 522 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI
creased urbanization, such as Sally experiences in her work with
the Pan-Indian Friendship House and United Indian nations,
women and men have retained elements of gender and com-
munity practices. They have done this even though historically
different American Indian tribes identified gender in various
ways (a complete description of those ways would require more
room than allotted in this chapter). What is necessary, however,
is to understand that traditional identity is commonly imbued
with both the spiritual and the everyday. Many creation stories
provide a mobile structure for conceiving of gender roles within
a community framework.
An anonymous Lakota manuscript stated that the beginning
of the Lakota world was Spirit (Inyan). Spirit was lonely and
created a disk to surround Spirit, which was called World (Maka).
Everything was created from these two and everything is part of
and within these two (Francis Waukazoo, personal communica-
[AQ2] tion, July 21, 2003). All living things both reflect and act using
both aspects in developing an identity. Whether that identity be-
comes labeled by Euro-Americans as rock, tree, stream, mammal,
mountain, bird, fish, or human, we all have Inyan and Maka cre-
ating our living identity. In return, all that is recreated by each of
us also comes from and contains these two things.
Such a traditional system of thought that revolves around rit-
uals leaves little room for Euro-American classification systems
that label a living identity as “good” or “bad” or seeks to classify
in hierarchical ways the usefulness of the different living identi-
ties of this world (Waters, 2004). Rather than creation being a
story of recognizing difference, such as in the common Christ-
ian version of creation in Garden of Eden, this Lakota creation
story provides an introduction to the creation of thought and
process involved in the framing of existence, whether it be fe-
male or male, and is only one of many such creation stories that
provide different perspectives in viewing the world.
Historical Foundations of Gender Roles:
Myths and Realities
Much has been written about the historical realities, evolving
roles, and current status of gender in the United States as de-
fined, practiced, and recognized by native nations (Gunn-Allen,
[AQ3] 1992, 2003; Nassaney, 1999; 2004; Richmond, 1988; Shoemaker,
1995; Sleeper-Smith, 2001; Williams & Bendremer, 1997; Wishart,
1995). Because myths regarding American Indian males and fe-
males abound, it is necessary to counter such myth, by making
clear that concepts about gender varied significantly among na-
tions and the record is, at best, murky in the manner in which
gender forms have been discussed in historical and contempo-
rary documents.
Misunderstandings by anthropologists who compiled their
data based on preconceived notions of the “natural” abilities of
women continued long after the anthropological research was
over. Ella Deloria, a Lakota scholar who worked extensively with
Franz Boas, is an important figure who reframed gender prac-
tices within her tribal knowledge. Although criticized as an as-
similationist by many scholars today, her writing continues to be
one source that informs researchers about gender identity in
historical times. She defined the equality of roles when she
wrote that “a woman caring for children and doing all the work
around the house thought herself no worse off than her hus-
band who was compelled to risk his life continuously hunting
and remaining ever on guard against enemy attacks on his fam-
ily” (Deloria, 1944, p. 40). “The sexual division of labor was
strictly upheld, women doing the work of their husbands, or
men doing the work of their wives, prompted ridicule from
other Lakotas” (Deloria, 1932, 63–64). Many contemporary
American Indian women today continue to believe that the very
act of providing life to the community signifies their equality
and power in that community.
The quality of gender is frequently embedded in the lan-
guages of many native nations (Hass, 1964). For example, in
some languages (e.g., Navajo, Blackfeet, Cree, and some other
Plains Nations) there are specific words that define other classi-
fications for gender (Hill, 1938; Jacobs, 1977; Jacobs, Thomas, &
Lang, 1997; Lewis, 1941; Schaeffer, 1965). In other languages,
notably Haudenosaunee languages and Cherokee, gender is of-
ten spatially connected to certain words (e.g., women are asso-
ciated with specific places and men with other places). Perdue
(2003) stated that “being a woman was intrinsically linked to
growing corn, and southern Indians essentially reclassified men
who farmed rather than hunted as women” (p. 64). Similarly, [AQ4]
the Lakota assigned artistic styles by gender so the men and
women were able to work side by side without overlapping one
another while working on hides (Francis Waukazoo, Anony-
mous Lakota Manuscript, July 21, 2003). Nevertheless, there is
also room to change the contextualized places and create a
space for non-gender-specific description. However, just as gen-
der is constructed historically overtime, the methods of lan-
guage adaptation often correlate to the traditional. Language is
a living entity in these communities and adapts to changing
societal modes.
In some Ojibwe bands, boys and young adolescent males
who had not made a special journey (physically and/or psycho-
logically) were considered to be without gender until they had
matured to the point where they understood the concept of in-
terdependence and community, while, for their female rela-
tions, gender assignment was considered automatic (Waters,
2004; Wub, 1995). Among the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota, gender
forms appear to have represented an identity that was a co-
modification of the earthly world and the spiritual world. Some
Lakota youth developed alternative gender identities by means
of vision quests or dreams that signified their natural condition
as mediated by the Spirit world (DeMallie, 1983). DeMallie
(1983) described the gender identity of Lakota/Dakota males as
being zealously guarded by parents and the community. This
guarding maintained the community norm that all men would
eventually marry, and occasionally would have multiple wives,
and have children (Medicine, 1983). If a boy engaged in pursuits
assigned as feminine in nature, he might be ridiculed and
shamed (DeMallie). Young boys were reminded by parents and
elders to guard against such play. According to Bushotter (as
cited in DeMallie), through the intersession of Spirit young men
who continued to practice activities that were assigned to
women took on the role of winkte, or “would be woman.” A
man following this path gained a place within the community
sanctioned by Spirit, but this path was neither comfortable nor
fully acceptable. However, the winkte held some considerable
power resulting from this connection to Spirit. Hassrick (as

cited in DeMallie) noted that the people believed that children
labeled winkte would never suffer illness. The winkte also en-
gaged in predicting the outcome of battles and fought in battles
(Hassrick as cited in DeMallie). The postcontact, contemporary
social confusion of the place of a winkte has been eloquently
described by Deloria: “The people were faced with the prob-
lem of whether men or women should prepare the body for
burial. The final decision was to request an old married couple
to do the work jointly” (1932, p. 46).
For Dakota/Lakota/Nakota women, gender roles developed
in more forms than for men (Medicine, 1983). Like men, women
who developed a non-normative gender role did so because of
intersession with Spirit usually through a series of dreams. Like
the winkte, ninawaki (manly woman) developed specialized
skills that included aggressive behaviors and the ability to fore-
tell future events (Medicine, 1983). A second non-normative
role for women was that of matsaps (crazy women), who en-
gaged in community recognized, if not endorsed, sexual
promiscuity (Medicine, 1983). Matsaps frequently lived in iso-
lation and would not have been unusual for them to wander
away from the protection of the community or be cast off by
husbands as undesirable for their infidelities.
Fidelity in marriage was a most highly prized social norm for
couples as was virginity in girls. Men were expected to have a
“lack of interest” in sexual prowess while women were expected
to be sexually aggressive following marriage (Medicine, 1983). A
third non-normative, but highly prized and accepted role for a
woman was that of ninaki (chief woman) (Medicine, 1983). The
ninaki was considered a person on whom the people could de-
pend as they might depend on a chief. She was a provider of
leadership within the community. This role might also have in-
dicated the role of favorite wife in polygamous marriages of a
few Lakota/Dakota men. Such women played important sacred
and ceremonial roles with their husbands. Finally, the most
highly prized role of a woman was that of the Sun Dance woman,
White Buffalo Calf Woman, whose virginity prior to marriage
was unquestioned and whose abstinence from further marriage
following the death of her first husband was also recognized
(Medicine, 1983). Specific ceremonies honored such women
and announced their status within and to the community. Med-
icine (1983) and DeMallie (1983) both concluded that because
the normative roles for male and female in Lakota/Dakota soci-
ety were so rigid in tasks, demonstration of emotion, roles,
places, and relationships, the additional gender roles allowed
for a more psychologically safe situation that retained the au-
tonomy of the individual and maintained a mutual dependence
upon one another within the community.
Among the Cherokee, the concept of gender roles and rela-
tionships between men and women were dramatically different
being structured by clans. European political and family struc-
ture required nuclear households. Cherokee clans were the ba-
sis of social organization and clan membership was based on
maternal identification. Parenting duties were dispersed in ways
vastly different from today’s nuclear family. Mothers’ sisters
were all considered to be mothers. Grandmothers had the final
say and remained the most honored among women in families,
a tradition that is retained today in many communities. Fathers
did not have privileges or powers over their biological children
but did exercise privilege and power over sisters’ sons (Perdue,
25. Achieving Gender Equity for American Indians • 523
2003). While Cherokee female children were expected to marry [AQ5]
into the clan of their father’s father or mother’s father, they re-
mained identified with their mother’s clan (Gilbert, 1934/1978).
After marriage, new couples resided in a home built by the
wife’s relatives near the wife’s mother’s home. Strict rules gov-
erned marriage between clans. The ultimate goal of these
arrangements was to maintain the balance of political and clan-
based power relations, representation, and social continuity
within the Nation (Gilbert, 1934/1978). The Dawes Allotment,
which characterized the communities into separate male-led nu-
clear households away from clan relatives, the Indian Reorgani-
zation Act, which continued to follow the patriarchal logic which
preceded it, and boarding-school gender education, which re-
volved around ideas of the cult domesticity, are examples of the
way clan systems women’s roles, and women’s positioning—
and thus women’s power within their communities—were dis-
rupted, reshaped, or went underground.
The varieties of representation of gender among American
Indian communities are evolving, recovering, and incorporating
original understandings, and cognizant of the use of discreet, bi-
nary, dualist, logical categories as restrictive when talking about
many American Indian precontact and to some extent postcon-
tact views of gender (Anguksuar, 1997; House, 1997; Medicine,
1997; Tafoya, 1997; Waters, 2004). Gender subjectivity was also
the place created for individuals to move between worlds (i.e.,
as noted in trickster stories) for all beings that from the begin-
ning have been both spirit and earth (Vizenor, 1993). The trick-
ster figure and the movement are necessary for the survival of
the community, signifying change, adaptation, wit, persever-
ance, and survival. The ability of the trickster to move between
gendered worlds is also one of creating a balance after the
chaos. Thus, in precontact times, the term “equity” was not con-
sidered a relevant concept. All that was engendered was con-
sidered to have value necessary to the survival of traditional
communities and all that was engendered was considered nec-
essary for the survival of the people.
The misreading of “equity” and gender roles by early settler-
colonialist continues in the misreading of treaty rights today.
The complex constructions of government, social, and spiritual
elements, which often intersected, overlapped, and supported
each other, relied on complementarity in gender roles. In many
native communities, women had the final say regarding im-
portant issues. For example, the Clan Mothers in the Hau-
denosaunee Confederation comprised of the Six Nations, tradi-
tionally and some contemporaneously, chose the representative
of their clan who spoke on their behalf in longhouse councils.
They also had, and in some cases still have, the power to strip
the representative of power if he did not act in a proper way.
The power of women emanated from their important commu-
nity work as agriculturalists, mothers, distributors of food, doc-
tors, among other roles—in other words that which enabled
the healthy well being of the community as a whole. Hau-
denosaunee women were crucial to this system of checks and
balances. Similarly, Cherokee women had the final vote over
whether war would be waged because they had the most to lose
from battles. The federal governments’ (Individual European
Nations then United States) misunderstandings of women’s po-
sitions in each of the Nations has played a long-standing func-
tion in the many legal battles between tribes, especially in the
 524 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI

Eastern part of the United States. (Green, 1983; Hunt, 1980;
Jaimes & Halsey, 1992; Kickingbird & Kickingbird, 1987).
While women of color interceded in feminism by providing
theories focusing on gender construction and postulating that
there are many differences, such as berdaches in the Southwest2
[AQ6] or the Diné names for several gender categories based on a va-
riety of situations, these classifications are not agreed upon by
all American Indian scholars. For many current American Indian
scholars the term two-spirit people is used to designate indi-
viduals whose gender becomes problematized by Euro-American
assimilationist views ( Jacobs et al., 1997). Even the differences
of discussion and speculation of native scholars most likely does
not capture the full precontact concepts related to the diver-
sity of representation of gender across tribes.
Differences in what constitutes subjectivity have often made
the interpretation of the division power in terms of male/female
difficult, and perhaps incomprehensible to individuals and
groups outside that cultural milieu. Further complicating the
process of using gender as a research focus is the fact that gen-
der, like racial identity, is not constructed within an isolated
community or social context. Identities, both racialized and en-
gendered, are informed by a multitude of cultural influences.
Western forms of construction, changing work environments,
and social and historical circumstances have affected the way
communities have developed. The desire and necessity of racial
catgorization to sustain the United States as a nation attempts to
create a homogenous Indian. Gender suffers similarly, in that
uncomplicated distinctions made between male/female pro-
mote a certain type of research that obscures national specifici-
ties. Ironically, the binaries of the pastoral, idealized Indian and
the passive, drudge squaws are extreme, much like the binaries
positioned around race (Waters, 2004). Indeed, the connection
of gender binaries to racial binaries actually results in gender
research that overlooks complexities of identity formation for
native women. The overtones of the princess/squaw or noble
warrior/enemy savage dichotomy seep into the ways that schol-
arship is produced and, similar to the racial dichotomies, are
detrimental to native people.
We have constructed this discussion of gender to present the
reader with knowledge that relates historical and contempo-
rary concepts of gender and identity in American Indian stu-
dents. Misguided conceptions of gender within native commu-
nities will not work to overcome disparities or inequities for
American Indians in institutional settings. The primacy o of re-
taining the individual’s autonomy within a complete and func-
tional community requires the respect of each person within
that community regardless of how the Euro-American world
prescribes gender relations. Each living entity represents both
the spiritual and the earth, and gender is embedded in that un-
derstanding regardless of biology.
WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?
Issue 1: Colonization
Gender definitions dramatically changed because of contact
with European ideas and values, which were either adapted or
imposed upon native people (Albers & Medicine, 1983; Briggs,
1974; Cruickshank, 1971; Green, 1983; LaFlesch, 1912; Schlegel,
1973). Prior to contact, gender identities in many tribes were
envisioned as role related. Gender assignment supported the
division of labor that existed for the greater good of the com-
munity or as social contracts that maintained the balance of
power among clans or bands. Men and women in most tribes
maintained a separate-but-equal status. With the introduction of
Euro-American concepts of gender, relationships between
American Indian men and women and their communities dras-
tically changed (Anderson, 1990; Downs, 1972; Mead, 1932; Perry,
1979; Qoyawayma, 1977; Richards, 1957). Such change has re-
sulted in the breakdown of the formerly positive interdepen-
dency of American Indian men and women (Caffrey, 2000;
Lewis, 1976; Smithson, 1959; Swader & Myers, 1977) produc-
ing dire consequences for women and men.
Current American Indian gender roles appear to be primarily
embedded in the colonized model of bifurcation of gender and
separation of gender by biological constraints rather than by
roles within the community.3 White federal policy viewed Indian [AQ7]
women as either debased by Indian men and tribal society or
as the primary instigators for retaining culture. For example, fed-
eral policy stated:
Co-education of the sexes is the surest and perhaps only way in which
the Indian women can be lifted out of that position of servility and
degradation which most of them now occupy, on to a plane where their

2
For an example of gender and sexuality construction, please see Will Roscoe’s discussion of sexuality in Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders
in Native North America, 2000, and Jacobs, Thomas, and Lang’s edited work Two Spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and
Spirituality, 1997. Both interrogate how gender construction and sexual norms in Native communities differed from western constructions and what
that meant in terms of community structures. Yet, many Native scholars also feel these terms or identities have been appropriated for political pur-
poses and individual agendas. The topic of gender and sexuality is one relatively understudied and where I purpose that the specificity of argu-
ments regarding third genders is most important. See also Patricia Albers and Beatrice Medicine’s (1983). The Hidden Half is one good source for in-
formation on Lakota girlhood and womanhood.
3
This is evident in the news statement that the Navajo Nation is considering a resolution that describes marriage as a union between a man and a
woman. “Larry Anderson Sr. was quoted, ‘Navajo Nation laws are outdated and need to be updated. That’s why I’m asking for an amendment that
states it is unlawful to have a marriage between two (same) sexes.’Iin that same article, ‘Wesley K. Thomas . . . said “same-sex relations among Navajo
and other native peoples did not become an issue until Christian values were forced upon tribes 150 years ago. This (proposed) legislation is a ro-
mantic image that Anderson is trying to instill.” (Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal, 1/18/2005, p. D3). The content and arguments in this dis-
cussion are resonating across Indian Country as Tribes begin to consider within their sovereign territories issues similar to those facing the state
and federal sovereign governments. Deconstructing assimilationist information and colonized frameworks in order to recreate “traditional” values
will become the responsibility of each of the individual Nations not necessarily of the American Indian academics who write about these issues,
although, we would like to engage in the conversation.

husbands and the men generally will treat them with the same gallantry
and respect which is accorded to their more favored white sisters.
(Morgan, 1889)
The transition from traditional roles to colonized roles
within many American Indian nations was slow but insidious
(Balsam, Huang, Fieland, Simoni, & Walters, 2004). The reason
that girls were equally represented at American Indian board-
ing schools was that policymakers knew that destroying girls’
Native languages and cultures would effectively destroy the
cultures and traditions of all native nations. The Canadian fed-
eral government, following the policy and practice of the fed-
eral government of the United States, likewise described the
situation as:
The federal government, aware that “women embod[y] the culture and
language of any nation and [that] once she is gone that Nation has no
chance to survive.” This calculated destruction cut to the heart of
women’s role as keepers of the culture. ( Jamieson, as cited in Jolly,
2000; p. 101)
Colonization changed concepts of gender within American
Indian Nations in many ways. Shanley (as cited in Smith, 2003)
described the colonization process as one that led to the deter-
mination of American Indian Nations as a people who have a
“permanent ‘present’ absence” within the federal, state, and so-
cial systems in North America. Contemporary America denies or
narrowly categorizes the existence of American Indians in mul-
tiple ways. One of the most insidious forms of denial is the fed-
eral control of American Indian National identity. Thousands of
American Indians who are not enrolled in federally recognized
tribes are further marginalized (Arv Bragi, 2005). The next most
dangerous form of denial of existence is the psychologically po-
sitioned colonized mindset that has been recreated within na-
tions and American Indians as individuals through schooling
and social shame—we become our own oppressors as we op-
press our people and ourselves for financial gain and power.
White policies, education, religion, and media have essential-
[AQ8] ized and mythologized American Indians as “outsiders” within
the lands that originally were given to them by Creator.
The most common myth in literature about, but sometimes not by,
American Indians, portrays men as weak either because of their inability
to control their personal habits (e.g., drinking, gambling, and drugs) or
their psychological states (e.g., rage, anger, and depression). Portrayals
of the latter can be seen in many of the sports mascots or in the use of
James Earle Fraser’s (1930), “The End of the Trail.” Portrayals of the for-
mer are evident in the number of reports of stops and arrests of Ameri-
can Indians by policing forces as they “target” the illegal drug trade, the
homeless, and the impaired driver (Voss, 2003). Profiling on the part of
law enforcement is ubiquitous within and around American Indian com-
munities. American Indians in Minnesota are three times more likely to
be arrested than Whites, accounting for as much as 63% of arrests in one
county while American Indians make up only 15% of the population
( Johnson & Heilman, 2001; http://www2.mnbar.org/benchandbar/).
Racial profiling has been a hot issue in Minnesota and across the nation
in recent months. While certainly deserving of this attention, racial pro-
filing is only one aspect of a much larger issue: the disproportionate
number of African Americans, Latinos, American Indians, and other mi-
norities who are arrested, convicted, and imprisoned by our criminal
[AQ9] justice system. (p. 1)
25. Achieving Gender Equity for American Indians • 525
Ross (1998) detailed the lives of American Indian women in
Montana who represent one third of the prison population
while American Indians are only 2% of the population, and
American Indian men represent 18.4% of prisoners (data.opi
.state.mt.us/bills/2003/billhtml/HB0026.htm n.d.). Andrea Smith
(2005) reported that Indian women, like their male peers, “are
overrepresented in prisons and jails” citing that Indian women
in South Dakota “make up 8 percent of the women’s popula-
tion, but 35 percent of the state’s women’s prison population”
(p. 149). Walker (2003) reported that American Indian males in [AQ10]
South Dakota are 57 more times likely to be convicted than
White males (http://www.dlncoalition.org/dln_issues/2003feb13
.htm n.d.), which of course affects entire communities.
These observations stand in stark contrast to research that
indicated American Indian youth were less likely to commit the
most severe crimes in comparison to all other ethnic groups
(Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003). Finally, Indian women en-
dure violence from intimate partners at rates that are nearly
three times that of White or Hispanic women (Bletzer & Koss,
2004; Brave Heart, 1999a; Oetzel & Duran, 2004). However, the
totality of the problem of violence can only be understood in a
context that acknowledges 70% of the violence perpetrated
against American Indians is by non-Indian individuals or groups.
Genocide and continual violence is real and a continuing reality
in Indian country (Manson, Beals, Klein, Croy, & AI-SUOEROFO
team, 2005; Zvolensky, McNeil, Porter, & Stewart, 2001).
Issue 2: Dysconscious Racism
The roots of dysconscious racism as a construct lie in Said’s
(1979) discussion of the mythical and romantic qualities of the
oriental. In attempting to romanticize the other, European au-
thors formulated stereotypical descriptions of members from
Eurasian and Middle Eastern societies to promote western Eu-
ropean hegemony. The need for Europeans to see through ro-
mantic eyes the value of the outsider strengthened the encod-
ing of a stereopathic view of American Indian imagery.
King (1991) first introduced the term “dysconscious racism”
in her diagnostic article regarding the lack of training that pre-
service teachers receive in schools and colleges of education.
She defined that term as “a form of racism that tacitly accepts
dominant white norms and privileges. It is not the absence of
consciousness (that is, unconsciousness) but an impaired con-
sciousness or distorted way of thinking about race as compared
to, for example, critical consciousness” (1991, p. 135). King sug-
gested that preservice teachers do not see people of color as
representing individuals with unique identities and destinies
but rather as groups having monolithic identities that perpetu-
ate stereotypical outcomes. Representations of this type are fre-
quently found in sports mascots, children’s literature, and me-
dia portrayals. People are literally oblivious to racism because it
is so ubiquitous. Stated explicitly, just because more people be-
lieve something and act accordingly does not make the belief
or act ethical. Racism is perpetuated within schools as it is
within society; those who witness acts and remain silent give
tacit support for racist behavior to continue (Kailin, 1999).
Dysconscious racism exists in how institutions define indi-
vidual contributions. For American Indian faculty, service to
526 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI
one’s community is considered undesirable when it takes one
away from one’s work as teacher/researcher. One faculty mem-
ber stated, “People ask me why I speak English so well. . . .
They’ve already superimposed on me that I don’t belong here
. . . I used to think it was a harmless little question but now I feel
that the message that I’ve received is that I don’t belong, I don’t
look like I belong” (Turner & Myers, 2000, p. 100). Schools and
colleges of education, in these descriptions, spend the most
time perpetuating the stereotypy of race than other schools and
colleges at the same institutions (Turner & Myers). By assent-
ing to accept the status quo, by believing the concept that
“color-blind” schooling is best, and by using “learning styles” as
learning stigmas, schools and colleges continue to train teachers
to make assimilative assumptions regarding race and gender
(Markus, Steele, & Steele, 2001).
Steele and colleagues’ work on stereotype threat indicates
the detriments of dysconcious racism to the success of all stu-
dents (Aronson & Steele, 2004; Aronson, Lustina, Good, Keough,
Steele, & Brown, 1999; Aronson, Steele, Salina, & Lustina, 1998;
Markus, Steele, & Steele, 2001; Cohen & Steele, 2002; Pronin,
Steele, & Ross, 2004; Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999; Steele,
1997; Steele & Aronson, 1994, 1995). According to Steele, race
becomes a factor in regard to student expectations and the stu-
dent’s awareness of such expectations. The perception of reser-
vation schools as ill equipped, for instance, might create in
teachers a negative perception that the student in turn believes,
leading to a belief that may account for lowered scores in testing
that might not have been there before. We present this more be-
nign and well-intentioned example, but more often than not,
the base of the stereotype threat is embedded in much harsher
racist realities that Indian students face.
Issue 3: Gender, Ontology, and Language
When I, Anne Calhoun, think about what it means to work
within a philosophical ontology as an Indian woman, I focus on
ways of being. This phrase will, understandably, make no sense
to the nonindigenous reader who is thinking through western
paradigms of ontology. I use this phrase as a way to fix my rela-
tionships, my place, and my actions in the community for which
I bear responsibility and from which I gain autonomy. Such ways
of being stand in direct juxtaposition to the Euro-American or
western notions about ways of knowing (Waters, 2004) (for
other views of indigenous philosophy and language please see:
Turner, 2006). In an American Indian way of thinking, concepts
about how we understand, learn, know, and exist overlap and in-
terrelate with one another. Herein is the primary component
of the problem that nonindigenous cultures have in under-
standing indigenous thought. This problem is central to un-
derstanding how gender is constructed in languages (Waters).
Anishinabe-Temagami scholar, Dale Turner asserted that the
conversation must happen between indigenous and nonindige-
nous people to reach a political understanding that fits our con-
temporary realities. He advocated developing an indigenous
philosophy that moves away from asserting essential differences
and toward developing languages upon which to gain political
positioning. Turner asserted, “Aboriginal intellectuals must de-
velop a community of practitioners within the existing dominant
legal and political intellectual communities, while remaining an
essential part of a thriving indigenous intellectual community”
(Turner, 2005, p. 90). [AQ11]
Waters (2004) described Western ontology as binary, dis-
creet, dualist logic, while American Indian ontology is a nonbi-
nary, complementary, and nondualist logic. Western dualism re-
quires organization within a hierarchical scheme that assigns
value to each of the pairs, for example “male” stands in opposition
to “female” (Waters). Because of this binary, discreet, hierarchi-
cal ordering, Western thought has never been able to escape the
“–isms” that plague society today: racism (the discreet, binary,
dualist contrast of skin color); sexism (the discreet, binary, du-
alist contrast of gender); or ageism (the discreet, binary, dualist
contrast of age) as examples (Waters). Urrieta (2003) gave a good
example of dualist logic when he stated that:
After a bloody invasion that decimated over 25 million people in Central
Mexico (Anzaldua, 1987; Stannard, 1992; Wright, 1992), a genocide not
talked about nearly as much as the Holocaust is, Spain established for
New Spain a new social order Gallegos, 1992). The Spanish new social
order instituted a highly structured system of castes/castas that divided
people and imposed on them over two hundred hierarchical identity
labels (MacLachlan & Rodriguez, 1990). Being White, Spanish, wealthy,
and Roman Catholic by birth was the top caste. It was a different ap-
proach than that of the English, yet one that further divided people by
Indianess. This, even today in 2003, is known as mejorando la raza, or
betting the race, itself an ideological byproduct of the caste system and
of cosmic race mentality. (Urrieta, 2003, p. 43)
In contrast, American Indian ontology remains strongly em-
bedded in our individual Nations’ epistemologies. Such thought
requires that we understand the world by placing ourselves in
direct relationship with everything else that is Maka and Inyan
(world and spirit). This is the essence of the Lakota words—
mi-ta-ku-ye o-ya-sin—or we are all related understood as “my
relations” (Waters, 2004, p. 101). As American Indians we must
think about ways of being that will connect directly to our rela-
tions as we act, think, and decide the paths that our lives take.
While we have great autonomy for individual forms of expres-
sion, we also have great responsibility for the people. In this way
there is no action, thought, or decision that does not affect all of
our relations. The nature of our relations, their spiritual and
earthly existence (blended identities), and their appropriate ac-
tions, states of being, and affects are embedded in many of our
languages. For these reasons, languages carry cultural informa-
tion necessary for community survival and sound growth. That
cultural information includes equality of gender and a wider
range of gender identity within many tribes even though in ac-
tuality the loss of language has allowed an assimilationist, male-
dominated reality for many American Indian relationships. The
current educational movement to house language immersion
programs within schools and to certify American Indian lan-
guage teachers grows out of the tribally recognized need to
retain/regain identity, but this movement has been endangered
by the recognition by the federal government of English as an
official language.
Even when we use English, the philosophy of our elders in-
forms how we behave as educators and students. Traditional
Indian educational philosophies support thinking and concep-
tualization in a holistic manner so concepts, actions, persons,

and all things in the everyday world may not have distinct and
separate places and roles, but may have roles that overlap or ex-
tend into everyday practices. For example, I recall observing a
Pueblo child in second grade struggling to read aloud in her
classroom of all Pueblo children. Within the first few words of
English, three other girls joined her reading in a unison voice so
intertwined that I was not able to differentiate which individual
child was speaking. These young girls demonstrated traditional
understandings that no one learns alone and no one will be al-
lowed to fail, suffer embarrassment, or be shamed. They also
demonstrated the strict division of work based on gender that is
commonly found among Pueblo communities and in other
communities; a division that is valued equally for the survival
of all the people.
The complexity of our languages illustrates these ways of be-
ing (relating). Most American Indian languages are dependent
upon understanding the context (place, space, and relation-
ships) in which a speaker makes statements. Some languages,
such as Cherokee and Navajo are considered to be verb-laden.
Verb forms in such languages change depending on the nature
of the object to which one is referring and its distance from the
subject. In other American Indian languages nouns and adjec-
tives encode information on number, gender, and relationship,
In Lakota, traditionally holding very rigid roles of separation be-
tween genders, women and men use different forms of words
based on their gender and relationships. Many indigenous lan-
guages also encode information about the nature and charac-
teristics of the object; the speaker must know whether an object
is animate or engendered, or if it has a specific age or use in the
community along with many other concepts attached to objects
and subjects. Also, in some American Indian languages there are
few indicators of gender, so comprehending the speaker’s
meaning requires the highest degree of contextualization.
Within all Indian languages, the relationships among the peo-
ple, their land, and the identities within their communities are
crucial to understanding and learning the culture.
As American Indians, our community (whether community
be defined as the nation, relatives from other nations, or Amer-
ican Indian students on one campus) defines our identities. His-
torically, this connectedness was sometimes less dependent on
birth relatives than it was on clan or band relationships, which
existed as an intensive network of clan or band and blood rela-
tives. Consequently, family within American Indian communities
can be defined in broader ways as encompassing multiple re-
lated individuals tracking back several generations (Albers &
Medicine, 1983).
Issue 4: Traditional Indigenous Educational Philosophy:
Non-Gendered and Community Identities
Western educational philosophy focuses on “I” as the center of
importance rather than “society” or “we” in the outcome of ed-
ucation (Deloria, & Wildcat, 2001). The roots of the “I” reflected
only males, as education was seen as wasted on women. In
many Western paradigms, children’s minds are described as hav-
ing “blank slates” (i.e., tabula rasa, John Locke, cited in Pinker,
2002) while in contrast, many indigenous communities ascribe
to their children the characteristics of having knowledge
25. Achieving Gender Equity for American Indians • 527
through close contact and discourse with spirit who gives help
to their communities. American Indian educational psychology
holds that our children have knowledge from the beginning of
their lives, sometimes over many generations (Cajete, 1999).
So the level of respect that an American Indian adult has for
children is expected to be much higher than the level of respect
actually practiced in most school settings.
Oral literacy, the transmission of knowledge through stories,
visual literacy, the presentation of results through visual media,
and splatial literacy, the use of space and place to encode his-
tory, were the primary forms of literacy in traditional American
Indian education (Calhoun & Annett, 2003). Events exempli-
fied by pictographic, logographic, or systems of drawing/paint-
ing at a specific place are explained through story and refer-
ences to space and place (Basso, 1996). Literacy forms as
demonstrations of respect, ways of knowing, and formal or in-
formal communications have been practiced within American
Indian communities for millennia. Adults were teachers whose
lesson planning centered primarily on observation of the nat-
ural inclinations and curiosities of individual children (Cajete,
1999; Calhoun & Annett, 2003). In historical, and some con-
temporary indigenous communities, learning designed to pro-
vide for the future of our communities was accomplished by
skillfully matching a child’s natural skills, inclinations, and cu-
riosities with an adult whose vocation in the community most
closely requires those skills, inclinations, and curiosities. The
classroom is life’s environment, with learning provided by older,
expert practitioners to younger novice practitioners. In con-
temporary Western thought, Chi’s research in the area of Expert-
Novice knowledge construction and Vygotskian ideas of work-
ing within a child’s zone of proximal development bear the most
resemblance to traditional educational practice (see Chi, Farr, &
Glaser, 1988; Daniels, 1996 for reviews). This approach to learn- [AQ12]
ing also superficially resembles some of the concepts currently
employed in adult-learning theory or andragogy (Knowles, 1980;
1992). This practice did not exclude or confine children to spe-
cific tasks based on biological sex.
Issue 5: Educational Psychology,
Curriculum & Public Media
American Indian Education: A Brief History
In the 18th century after contact with Europeans, a few
American Indians, primarily those from tribes on or near the
East Coast, were able to attend schools with their Euro-American
peers. Some graduated from colleges in the East, and a few grad-
uated with advanced or professional degrees (Mihesuah, 1998).
In the 19th century as Euro-American pressures for more land
coupled with federal policies developed during Jefferson’s ad-
ministration and continued into the era of the doctrine of Man-
ifest Destiny, the idea of American Indians attending school took
on a different, more sinister, purpose. Between 1830 and 1880,
hundreds of thousands of American Indians were removed from
their traditional lands and settled in reservations or camps west
of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Many tribes from the east-
ern part of the new country were taken into Jackson’s “Indian
Territory,” which later became the state of Oklahoma. Death
528 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI
rates on these trips were high, ranging from 25% to 70% of na-
tions dying from accidents, disease brought on by exposure and
inadequate nutrition, and murder by neglect (being left behind
without help), or intentional acts.
Pratt, the founder of Carlisle Indian School, introduced the
curriculum for future Indian boarding schools, which he based
on the type of curriculum and boarding situation practiced
within institutions for the incarceration of young males and ado-
lescent males from other ethnic groups. Pratt described these
circumstances as necessary because:
It is found that the different classes of industrial reformatories have
worked upon his plan for many years and it is found to be the one sal-
vation, not only for Indian children, but for white as well. It is impossible
to train a pauper or a criminal, or a child of any kind, which has existed
under evil influences, and then return him to the same low surround-
ings without his being drawn back to the old status of life. (Blackmar,
1892, pp. 821–822)
Prior to the development of boarding schools by the federal
government, formal Western-style education was locally avail-
able to American Indian children or had been developed and run
by individual tribes themselves. The Cherokee Nation created
200 K-8 day schools for students who intended to make farming
or some mechanical vocation their goal and two seminary
schools (grades 9–12) for students who sought to enter colleges
in the East (Mihesuah, 1998). These schools offered an interest-
ing and informative contrast with the federal Indian education
policies related to the appropriate curriculum of the times.
In 1851, nearly 40 years prior to the opening of Carlisle, the
first boarding school, the Cherokee Nation, then recently re-
organized in Oklahoma, opened two seminary schools divided
by gender. The curriculum was organized following the Mount
Holyoke Seminary curriculum; a classical curriculum of college-
preparatory schools of the 19th century (Mihesuah, 1998).
Coursework in algebra, geometry, Greek and Latin, intellectual
theology, physiology, and the reading of great European and
Ancient philosophers was included. With a Western curriculum,
English-only speaking student body, and students who were pri-
marily mixed bloods from better-off families, the schools opened
as the pride of the Cherokee Nation (Mihesuah, p. 1). During its
existence nearly 3,000 women enrolled in the female seminary
for at least one semester, and factors in their success in graduat-
ing or failure to graduate frequently were based in socioeco-
nomic and mixed-blood politics of the nation during the last half
of the 19th century (Mihesuah). The curriculum for both semi-
naries (male and female) was the same. The only difference be-
tween the female and male seminary life was that male seminar-
ians were allowed considerably more freedom to pursue outside
interests, such as hunting, farming, or other work with or with-
out their families (Mihesuah). It was not until the interference
of the federal government in the late 1890s that the female sem-
inary included any classes in vocational areas such as “home
management” (Mihesuah). This stands in extreme contrast with
the curriculum of the newly opened boarding school on Chilocco
Creek (Lomawaima, 1994). Chilocco, like many boarding schools
of its time, was mired in the philosophies of the cult of domes-
ticity, bounded in prescribed gender concepts.
The Cherokee had chosen a classical curriculum for students
who had aspired to attain professional careers; whereas the Fed-
eral government assumed that American Indians were not ca-
pable of education that taught them more than a trade. “The
Department of the Interior’s annual report for 1899, comment-
ing on the Seminary for females, stated that instead of ‘being
taught the domestic arts [girls] are given. . . . Latin and mathe-
matics while branches of domestic economy are neglected. The
dignity of work receives no attention at their hands.” (Mihesuah,
1998, p. 60). Federal pressure resulted in the addition of course-
work meeting these expectations, but in actuality, “the girls at-
tending the seminary learned to make their beds and dust with
only a few girls learning to be seamstresses” (Mihesuah, 1998,
p. 61). Heavier housekeeping chores were allocated to hired
employees or indigent students. While the seminaries did not
“include any discussion of Cherokee culture the teachers did
discuss the topic of Cherokee politics so that students were in-
formed of current situations” (p. 56). The seminaries operated [AQ13]
until 1909 when, with the collusion of statehood, they were fi-
nally abandoned due to the resulting financial losses of the na-
tion. The Cherokee Nation’s educational curriculum and its ap-
plication of that curriculum in Cherokee founded, funded, and
staffed schools, providing the educational rigor that allowed
some Cherokee youth to go on to attain professional degrees.
For the majority of American Indian children, the U.S. federal
policies for Indian education dehumanized and traumatized stu-
dents while inculcating them into foreign traditions. This con-
trast between what a tribe chooses as curriculum and content
(self-determination) and what occurs when self-determination
is absent represented the consequences that come from the ac-
tions of an American Indian tribe’s sovereignty for the good of
its people.
In contrast, in the latter half of the 19th century the federal,
publicly stated purpose for schooling for American Indians was
“to remove the Indian and save the child” using a vocational re-
habilitation curriculum that immersed students in Euro-American
values systems (Pratt as cited in Adams). In 1879, the first board-
ing school for American Indian children, Carlisle, was opened.
The opening of Carlisle came as a result of seemingly “failed”
policies of education prior to this time (Adams). A series of ex-
periments with schooling that was closer to or on reservations
had been attempted, but governing bodies described these ef-
forts as failures because of the close proximity to homes where
children could retain their ties to their culture despite exposure
to proper Western education (Adams). As more than 200 board-
ing schools opened across the United States, children, some as
young as five, were taken from their parents’ homes and sent
to schools that were often very far away. Children were fre-
quently taken against the parents’ and child’s will by systemati-
cally refusing provisions promised to members of tribes until
children were handed over. Families were essentially starved
into submission (Adams).
The historical conditions at boarding schools are now noto-
rious for their cruelty to students and their families. One par-
ticular issue, at the heart of developing gender equity, was the
sexual and physical abuse of both girls and boys at many of the
boarding schools, which continues to affect Indian communities
to this day. Under the current United Nations’ definition of hu-
man rights, conditions in most boarding schools of the 19th and
early 20th centuries would be in violation of basic human rights,
with their practices amounting to genocide (United Nations,

1999). Children were shorn and stripped of anything that re-
sembled a cultural remnant. They were required to only speak
English, a language unfamiliar to the majority of them. The cur-
riculum for the schools was designed to promote service-level
employment and, in fact, many students at schools could expect
to attend school in the morning and become a servant within a
household or business for the afternoon and evening (Lo-
mawaima, 1994). Once these students “graduated” from board-
ing school, they were unfit for returning to their reservations
because of language loss, cultural amnesia, and training for jobs
that were not available on their reservations (Lomawaima).
Although the era of boarding schools lasted only about
50 years, it left an indelible mark for two generations who
passed both the abusive experiences and their maladaptive ways
of coping with those experiences to their children and grand-
children. Traditional family and extended relational units were
shattered because generations of children grew up without ex-
periencing traditional parenting skills, which made it difficult for
them to become competent parents in adulthood (Duran &
Duran, 1995). By documenting the devastating past and de-
manding reparations, The Boarding School Healing Project
hopes to reach those elders who were abused and to begin the
intergenerational process of healing. This, hopefully will lead
to making headway into the sexual-abuse epidemic that stems
from this legacy (Smith, 2006). Even into the mid-20th century,
families were subjected to state and federal laws that continued
the destruction of family and extended relations.
Gender inequity for American Indian students began in
boarding schools that valued men’s work and devalued women’s
work. Girls and young women were more carefully watched,
more frequently reprimanded for lapses in “lady-like” behavior
or attention to work centering on cleanliness and caretaking of
household and children (Lomawaima, 1994). Boys and young
men were allowed more freedom in creating their own social
organizations, although such organizations were based on bully-
based tactics more so than on their own traditional hunting and
farming skills. Males were also allowed more freedom to explore
the areas surrounding their schools. At the heart of this type of
curriculum and instructional framework was not only the indi-
viduation of gender roles so that women’s roles became deval-
ued, but also the direct intention to devalue the women them-
selves as a way to destroy the culture. Consequently, during the
era of boarding schools, boys and young men were more likely to
find employment in trade positions than young women were to
find work in noncaretaking roles. American Indian women were
more likely to become teachers, writers, or housewives living
precariously from the work of husbands rather than their own
work, which they previously controlled (Medicine, 1996).
Nineteenth-century federal Indian education policy won out
in the continuation of a vocational rehabilitation curriculum as
boarding schools became American Indian high schools and
technical schools. Whether or not the adoption of assimilation-
ist education on the part of both systems can be concluded to
have been the correct one, the example of ownership of edu-
cation by the Cherokee Nation clearly indicates that when In-
dian Nations had full control of their own schools, the outcomes
were far more humane and inclusive. In the boarding schools,
American Indian children were not separated by gender in aca-
demic tasks (contradicting expected norms in many tribes) but
25. Achieving Gender Equity for American Indians • 529
gender assignment of learning vocational roles was aligned to
the contemporary expectations of White males and females
from lower classes. Learning a trade was assigned by gender and
intended to devalue the work done by individuals in placing stu-
dents within a hierarchical realm of work expectations. Accord-
ing to many accounts, the staff at boarding schools felt that
American Indian children had too high a sense of self-worth,
this line of thinking was especially prominent in American
Indian girls.
American Indian Girls and Boys Entering Public Schools
Relocation in the 1950s resulted in many families being up-
rooted to major urban areas frequently severing ties with grand-
parents, elders, aunts, and uncles who had served as important
cultural educators for young children on reservations (Inter-
tribal Friendship House & Lobo, S., 2002). While the 1970s
brought about a wave of regulations against earlier boarding
school abuses, Indian students enrolled in public and private
schools still endured public humiliations as classroom manage-
ment, inappropriate instructional and cultural behaviors of
teachers, and barrages of “lies” in textbooks, instructional ma-
terials, and classroom discussion (Council on Interracial Books
for Children, 1977; Slapin & Seale, 1998; 2005). This is especially
heinous because, without much effort, multiple histories could
be incorporated into textbooks (i.e., for accurate biographies
see, Crow, Dog, 1991; Fowler, 1978; Giese, 1974; Green, 1964;
LaFleshe, 1912; McClary, 1962; Witt, 1976). It is clear by looking
at the dates for these writings that accurate and reliable infor-
mation about American ???. [AQ14]
The constant media barrage, focusing on negative and dis-
respectful representations of historical or contemporary Amer-
ican Indians, denies students’ recognition of positive accom-
plishment, discourages their achievement through media
stereotypy, and lumps American Indian students into categories
of deficit learners because of their culture and language styles
(Benson, 2001). American Indian students’ dropout rate matches
that of African Americans in most urban areas, and these drop-
out rates are directly related to the school environment ( Jef-
fries, Nix, & Singer, 2002; Waller, Okamoto, Hankerson, Hi-
bbeler, Hibbeler, McIntyre, & McAllen-Walker, 2002). Parents are
viewed in a manner similar to that expressed by Blackmar
(1892) who stated that, “It is not to be supposed that parents
of Indian children are capable of determining whether educa-
tion is good for their children or not” (p. 817). We find this atti-
tude toward parents consistently demonstrated by the manner
in which they are excluded from conferences, IEP meetings,
discussions about referrals to special education, as well as dis-
cussions regarding the type of curriculum and instructional
methodologies that they would like to see included in their chil-
dren’s schools.
Contemporary school districts continue the practice of cul-
tural genocide by admitting far more American Indian students
into special-education programs than is warranted if diagnosti-
cians understood indigenous thought and relationships (Scherba
de Valenzuela, Qi, & Copeland, 2004). By continuing to track
American Indian students out of advanced placement (AP) or
honors courses in high school and gifted programs within ele-
 530 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI
mentary schools (Montgomery, 2001; Scherba de Valenzuela,
et al.) American Indian youth are further marginalization and
lack of social inclusion within schools (Zhang, Katsiyannis, &
Herbst, 2004). There is considerable evidence that strong cul-
tural connectedness of a student and/or programs that result in
helping students and their families reconnect with their culture
have positive outcomes on students’ academic success (Kra-
tochwill, McDonald, Levin, Bear-Tibbetts, & Demaray, 2004;
Kulis, Napoli, & Marsiglia, 2002; Montgomery, Miville, Win-
terowd, Jeffries, & Baysden, 2000; Napoli, Marsiglia, & Kulis,
2003; Westby, Moore, & Roman, 2002). The question of whether
the traditional role of women in carrying on culture may ac-
count for why American Indian women obtain more degrees,
complete school, and obtain employment outside the home re-
[AQ15] mains one for further research. Gender equity in education
would work to admit more Indian students overall, but also
would seek to mitigate the lack of men enrolled in higher edu-
cation. This research is needed and would help tease apart the
role of gender inequity and cultural expectation that exists in
schools today. Faculty and administration know little about the
intergenerational trauma or cultural values of American Indian
families and do not understand parents’ views of their roles with
schools nor students’ career desires (Anguiano, 2004; Brave-
Heart & DrBruyn, 1998; Turner & Lapan, 2003).
Elementary and Secondary Schooling
Current Academic Achievement
Across testing years of 1992, 1998, and 2002, American Indian/
Alaskan Native 8th-grade students improved their test scores
from 1998 to 2002; however the 1992 scores were similar when
compared to the 2002 scores (National Center for Educational
Statistics, 2005). Fourth-grade American Indian/Alaskan Natives
showed no significant change in test scores across all three com-
parisons even between genders while their White, Black, and
Hispanic peers showed gains across at least two of the three
years (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2005). While
there are subtle differences in the relative strength of tests
scores compared across ethnic groups, it is apparent that Amer-
ican Indian/Alaskan Native 4th- and 8th-grade students are not
faring well under the current educational regime (National Cen-
ter for Educational Statistics, 2005). This may point to larger
differences in three areas; (a) in the quality of schools which
individuals attend; (b) the quality of instruction in individual
classrooms; (c) structural inequities within districts that pro-
mote structural inequities within classrooms (i.e., continually
hiring non-Native administrators/teachers for all American In-
dian schools), and/or (d) the inability of the tests being used to
adequately measure the knowledge of students in ethnic groups
whose cultural values and heritage languages which stand in
stark contrast to White middle-class students knowledge bases.
In support of the third hypothesis, an item analysis of one stan-
dardized test administered to elementary students in all His-
panic and all American Indian schools showed that the reliabil-
ity of individual subtests were far below the accepted reliability
required for the creation of valid tests (Calhoun, unpublished
manuscript a). It is incumbent upon test developers, in this era
of accountability, that tests have adequate psychometric prop-
erties when including students from non-White ethnic groups.
Rampey, Lutkus, and Weiner (2006) described the latest re-
sults for American Indian/Native Alaskan (AINA) fourth and
eighth graders’ educational rankings in reading and math. The
findings are not unlike those reported above. While their report
does attempt to take into account the economic context for stu-
dents, using free-or reduced-lunch counts, this use of a single
indicator of poverty and the decontextualization of the results
limiting the report to educational rankings further problematize
educational conditions for American Indian/Alaskan Native Stu-
dents. For reasons that are complex and multivariate in nature,
states’ educational rankings are highly correlated with the num-
ber of American Indian students (r  .378, p  .01), and being
Indian is the only ethnicity of those reported that predicts states’
ranks beyond funding mechanisms (B  21.438, t 2, 48  2.69,
p  01) (National Center for Education Statistics, 2005). The di-
rection of this correlation is such that the more American Indian
students attending schools in a state the more likely that state is
to be ranked in the lower half of the academic achievement-
based rankings (National Education Association, 2003).
However, this isolated fact is conflated by several factors and
has little to do with the nature of American Indians becoming ed-
ucated. Contributing factors are most likely poverty and its defi-
nition; American Indian land not on the tax roles therefore not in
the education coffers; Bureau of Land Management land (na-
tional parks and forests) in the state and not taxed for education;
and the amount of land considered rural or uninhabited versus a
heavier population that increases the tax base for school appro-
priations. These issues that attempt to attribute low achievement
in states with higher American Indian populations need to be ad-
dressed in formulae. Researcher attempts to estimate educa-
tional ranking by over-sampling in states with high AINA popu-
lations do not take into account the statistical findings regarding
educational rankings. In six of the seven states used for over-sam-
pling, the 2005 NEA educational ranking of those states was in
the lower half of all states (National Education Association, Fall,
2005). This may indicate that instructional and academic settings
for these students are considered less desirable than for students
from more highly ranked states. In addition, those same states
are ranked within the lower half of states’ poverty sampling as
measured by percent of families living under the poverty level
(U.S. Census, 2006). Interestingly enough, the state with the
largest percent of AINA students, Alaska, also has the highest
education ranking and the lowest percentile of families living in
poverty. Studies of the situation for students in Alaska might
shed some light on practices needed in the other six states with
large AINA student populations.
Finally, while this report and others attempt to gain some
impression of the educational status of AINA students, even
with over-sampling techniques the reported populations in
both reading and math represent only .02% of the total popu-
lation tested while the population of American Indians is cur-
rently at 1.5% of the total population of the United States (Cen-
sus, 2000). While it is necessary for statistical theory, it is not
sufficient for understanding the real educational status of AINA
students. A true sampling would include AINA students who
are matched on SES with White students. While this may ap-
pear to be an impossible task, it is not as impossible as our

racialized stereotypes assume. Since researchers assume that
income and educational ranking play a role in student out-
comes, it seems obvious that these variables should be consid-
ered statistically in the analyses.
From the point of view of Western educators, the self-image
of American Indian students remains problematic. Western
schooling appears not to help American Indian students per-
form better on standardized tests of reading, mathematics, and
science. Racist interpersonal relationship experiences exist
within schools but are not related to academic instruction. Fre-
quently euphemized as school climate, racism has been singled
out as one reason for underachievement among students of
color (Bulach & Malone, 1994; Cotton, 1996; Haynes, Emmons,
& Ben-Avie, 1997; Saint Denis & Schick, 2003). Some research
on the Euro-American concept of self-image indicated that
American Indian students suffer inequitably from self-image
problems (i.e., body image; weight-control) (Becker, Franko,
Speck, & Herzog, 2003; Fulkerson & French, 2003; Lynch, Ep-
pers, & Sherrodd, 2004; Parker, 2004). However, it can be argued
that these conditions are the consequences of the racism ex-
pressed within academic settings as well as communities, not
simply deficits of the student. Stories of the type of racism that
continues are illustrated by the comments of an individual
whose position within a school district was to implement the
state’s version of No Child Left Behind. Within the district, half
of the elementary school students are made up of Indian chil-
dren from local reservations. At the end of the 2005–2006 school
year, the individual responsible for implementing reading pro-
grams stated semi-publicly that the children from the reserva-
tion were fine except they all belonged in special education.
Rather than place the blame on the procedures of the imple-
mentation, the reading program, the law, or external and com-
plex relationships, she chose a simplistic reason embedded in
racist ideology. A second incident was witnessed by the first au-
thor while she was working within the implementation of No
Child Left Behind. She observed instances of utterances to
teachers and children from other school personnel that can
only be considered racist in their basis. For example, in one
school it appeared to be the common thread of thought that, In-
dian children were “angels with their wings clipped” and that
the purpose of the teachers was to allow them to fly despite this
deficit. Fayden (2005) detailed further incidences of dyscon-
scious and conscious racism on the part of individuals and in-
stitutions related to these two stories.
[AQ16] Finally, Beauvais (2006) reported that seven young males
enrolled at Rose Bud reservation have met untimely deaths
prompting “council representative Marion Young-One Star to
call a meeting at the tribal council chambers” to discuss the mat-
ter. These deaths are reportedly attributed to suicide or unex-
plained consequences—code words for murder by persons
knowable but not spoken of publicly in Indian country (i.e.
state-sanctioned genocide). These stories relate the instances of
racism in just two areas, but there is no reason to assume that
these stories and worse are not replicated daily in the lives of
many Indian children. With the current climate in border towns,
on reservations, and in schools, it is not surprising that some
Indian scholars feel that the only solution for improving the
educational of AI/NA students will be the recognition of radical
cultural differences within school districts as one solution for
25. Achieving Gender Equity for American Indians • 531
current problems inherent in the Euro-American educational
system (Larocque, 2000, 2002; Schick & St. Denis, 2005; St. Denis
& Schick, 2003). The current status quo is insufficient, demor- [AQ17]
alizing, and physically threatening.
A Local Look at Barriers to College Completion
In an analysis of 10 years of undergraduate application and
graduation data of American Indian students and non-Hispanic
White students from one university, Calhoun (unpublished
manuscript b) said that the contrast between American Indian
women and non-Hispanic White women was not as extreme
and both groups of women appear to consistently be graduat-
ing at higher proportions than their male counterparts. In com-
parisons of high-school credits taken, high-school grade per-
formance averages, entrance-exam scores, referrals to remedial
programs in English, Math, and Reading, first and second se-
mester college GPAs and proportion of graduation completion,
the means for each of these variables for American Indian men
differed significantly from the means obtained by non-Hispanic
White men. Although the literature is replete with evidence of
resistance to remedial and special courses that are frequently
required for American Indian students, American Indian stu-
dents are nonetheless referred to remedial classes in reading
and English at significantly higher rates than non-Hispanic
White students.
Despite the barriers discussed for one institution, nation-
ally, American Indian students are increasing their enrollment
faster than the total college enrollment rate (Syverson, 2004).
Additionally, not all American Indians enter remedial college
courses. Many nations with stronger economic underpinnings
have managed to send their students to private or more presti-
gious public high schools enabling their students to enter more
prestigious universities. Even when American Indians attend
prestigious colleges and universities, they frequently attempt
to blend into the mainstream or separate themselves from ac-
tivities that would allow them to enter fully into the academic
and social activities at those institutions (Brayboy, 2004). Lack
of such social support, whether from marginalization or self-
imposition, is one of several indicators of academic persis-
tence among college students (Gloria & Robinson, 2001; Jack-
son, Smith, & Hill, 2003; Williams, 2000). In addition, it appears
that mainstream colleges might consider adopting some as-
pects of curriculum and instructional methodology from tribal
colleges and universities where success rates are noticeably
higher (Rousey & Longie, 2001; Shirley, 2004). American Indian
women graduate in higher numbers than their male peers, and
this trend continues into undergraduate degrees awarded (Cen-
sus, 2000). American Indian men appear to experience racism [AQ18]
and trauma differently than do their female peers (Brave Heart,
1999b). The affects of intergenerational trauma result in inap-
propriate interactions and relationships in marriages (Duran &
Duran, 1995) and creates a space in the Indian social fabric for
American Indian women to complete high school and attend
college. Still, many American Indian female students are also
burdened by obligations for being responsible parents, bread-
winners, and daughters as they work through the academy
(Aronson, 2004).
532 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI
WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS?
While sovereignty is alive and invested in the reality of every living thing
for Native folks, Europeans relegated sovereignty to only one realm of
life and existence: authority, supremacy and dominion. In the Indige-
nous realm, sovereignty encompasses responsibility, reciprocity, the
land, life and much more. Ingrid Washinawatok (1999) (Menominee)
Solution 1: Speaking Truth to Power
Specific institutional and individual attitudes need to change in
mainstream America if the current trend toward anti-Indianism
is to be halted (Cook-Lynn, 2001; Harvard Project for American
Indian Economic Development, 2004). These attitudes include,
but are not limited to, the following: (a) the assumption on the
part of non-Indian institutions and individuals that it is ethical
and right for them to claim “ownership” of stories, language,
cultural knowledge, artifacts and/or assumptions of belonging
that are American Indian (Brown, 2001; Cook-Lynn, 2001;
Vizenor, 2000); the assumption on the part of non-Indian indi-
viduals and institutions that they have the responsibility or right
to “fix” the Indian problem (Harvard Project for American In-
dian Economic Development, 2004; Smith, 1999); and the over-
whelming use of Indian (mis)representations in the media
based, first seen in the 16th century, such stereotypes assault
the psychological well being of our people and may play a
strong role in the unwillingness of some youth to engage in
learning (Munson, 1998; Urrieta, 2003).
Myths of Indians abound in the media and academia mak-
ing it is difficult for Indian scholars to publish solid evidence and
empirically based studies of gender when the findings of such
studies deny the greater audience their infatuation with these
myths. Two myths that discourage gender studies are (a) that In-
dian societies are ideal in a pastoral sense—in other words, is-
sues based on gender do not exist in egalitarian Indian societies;
(b) that they are so dominated by men that women’s voices are
completely overridden in nationalistic endeavors (Goeman,
2003). Its opposite counterpart depicts the savagery, of the vio-
lent, drunk Indian man, which equally poses a threat to ad-
dressing the problems found in Indian communities. To Indian
people who have strived for so long to be considered “human,”
addressing problems that result from violence, economic
poverty, and intellectual tyranny are vital to survival. After all,
much effort has been made to move away from the idea that
Indians are “problems,” a stereotype originating in the 19th cen-
tury and still believed in the twentieth century. Both stances
have significant negative impact in creating a gender-equitable
environment. While the first may seem like a gesture toward an
egalitarian society, it ends up obscuring many important factors
of specific tribes’ lives; gender greatly influences how tribes
conceive themselves as communities. The position of relativism
impacts gender studies especially where it intersects with Amer-
ican Indian cultures; its search for ancestral roots that posit a dif-
ferent trajectory of society other than the patriarchal west still
romanticizes in detrimental ways. By romanticizing American In-
dians’ communities and lives, real problems are obscured, such
as sexual abuse, spousal abuse, diabetes, and substance abuse.
To counter such images, educators need to think carefully about
what materials they include for classroom use (Slapin & Seale,
1998, 2005).
Further societal-based issues related to racism, both overt
and covert, include the need to eradicate racism demonstrated
by the lack of equal opportunity to obtain housing by American
Indians (U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,
2006); the issue of continued police-department profiling of [AQ19]
American Indian young adults and adults; the issue of continued
disregard of law on the part of social-service agencies that al-
low American Indian children to be adopted by non-American
Indian families at rates higher than those for any other group
of children; and the issue of equal access to enter businesses,
both explicitly and implicitly displayed, by American Indian
people (Civil Rights.org, n.d.). To this day, some businesses,
agencies, and parks continue to display “No Indians or Animals
Allowed” signs in their windows. Such discrimination would not
be tolerated toward other groups. If readers find such condi-
tions deplorable, perhaps their sense of decency will energize
an examination of their own actions and the actions of their
communities regarding American Indians.
Schools and colleges need to recognize their role in contin-
uing racism that creates gender inequity within the classroom
and curriculum of their programs. These conditions exacerbate
the continuing gaps in learning, which can only be filled by
highly qualified teachers. Teachers entering the profession have,
for the most part, a solid and well-grounded education but lit-
tle knowledge of the communities from which their students
come and even less knowledge about how to teach for individ-
ual and community empowerment. Sufficient scientifically
based methods courses abound in an environment that is ster-
ilized of controversy. What is lacking are courses that require
hard thinking, reflection, and sharing of historical grief and in-
tergenerational trauma found within American Indian commu-
nities and understandings of how such trauma explicitly affects
the performance of our children. Learning methods of teaching,
scientific or not, do little to inform a teacher about how to lift
the spirits of her or his students, so that the earthly realities of
these students’ lives may be more positively impacted (Brave
Heart, 1999b).
Solution 2: The Federal Government of the United States
Must Comply with Treaties of Former Presidents with
the Governments of Each of the 800  Sovereign
Nations within the Boundaries of the United States.
Historical View
Tribes first and foremost recognized and asserted their sov-
ereignty long before Europeans established a governmental sys-
tem in North America. They recognized their own and each
other’s right to territory, cultural well being, spirituality, and
composition of its citizenry. The misrecognition that men were
invested with the ability to make decisions for the entire com-
munity built a treaty process that was gender biased in its earli-
est stages. Furthermore, although the Constitution recognized
tribes as sovereign, early clashes with the Euro-American in-
vaders resulted in the nature of that sovereignty becoming em-
bedded in concepts related to dependency on the federal gov-

ernment. Johnson v. McIntosh (1823) set the present version
of colonial sovereignty in 1823. These European early interpre-
tations of tribal sovereignty defined Indian nations as having
sovereignty due to the concept of “right of occupancy,” which
meant that if their people lived on the land first, a previous
claim existed, and thus they were regarded as having legal au-
thority over their own lands and peoples. In 1832, Worcester v.
Georgia determined that tribes, in this case the Cherokee Na-
tion, had the right to self-government even while retaining a
dependent status on the federal government. While this was the
ruling of the Supreme Court, President Jackson stated that if the
Supreme Court wanted this to be law, then they would have to
enforce it—because he would not. President Jackson’s state-
ment acted as a trigger that allowed the Georgia Militia to go
into Cherokee land, confiscate property, round up citizens, and
send 90% of the Cherokees on six different routes along what
came to be known as nu na hi du na tlo hi lu i: the Trail of
Tears. Indigenous sovereignty’s standing in the courts was fur-
ther weakened in 1886, by the United States v. Kagama, which
stated that the people and lands of tribes are under the control
of the Unites States. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 rec-
ognized and strengthened tribal sovereignty by determining
that sovereignty was not granted by an act of Congress; conse-
quently, tribes had the “inherent powers of a limited sovereignty
which had never been extinguished” (Cohen, 1941, p. 122). De-
spite the interpretations of the U.S. Supreme Court, Indian Law
had become a body of knowledge from which individual states
felt at liberty to “infer” whatever they wished regarding their
treatment of nations.
Self-Determination
The issue of sovereignty cannot help but become a constant
legal concern for Indian people. From the time of the Constitu-
tion to the present, the remarks of the majority of Supreme
Court members resolving individual cases have eroded the abil-
ity of both Indian men and women to become self-sufficient,
self-developing, and self-sustaining. These cases have, in
essence, developed a situation of “ghetto sovereignty” (Vicenti,
2004)—and both women and men occupy this ghetto. Some na-
tions have developed economic stability through casinos and/or
economic development. The stealing of monies from tribes by
states via the arrangement of “compacts” for the state’s com-
promise for casino operations only demonstrates the lack of
knowledge on the part of state officials of the nature and status
of Indian nations’ sovereignty and the duplicity of federal offi-
cials who continue to assist this attack on historical rights. What
is not taken into account is the educational development, lan-
guage renewal, cultural revitalization, prenatal care, health care,
and many other social programs implemented through eco-
nomic successes. Gender equity is increased through self-
determination and full recognition of sovereignty, because a re-
turn to traditional gender concepts requires balance (equity)
of roles (Smith, 2006).
A second important issue for the future is a challenge: to
what extent tribes can control and reverse the negative dam-
age done and being done to their sovereignty by well-organized,
special-interest groups that promote anti-Indianism? Cook-Lynn
25. Achieving Gender Equity for American Indians • 533
(2001) discussed the issues related to the futures of tribes in
these areas. Anti-Indian special-interest groups seek to undo the
weakened but still partially intact forms of recognition of na-
tions by attempting to overturn laws related to the sovereignty
of tribes; they attempt to legally control the actions of individu-
als on tribal land, to control the sale and distribution of their
lands, to control the use of privately owned lands within the
boundaries of their reservations, and to limit the control of
tribes when negotiating with states over criminal and business
issues ( Johasen, 2000). The inequity of women and classes in
the Euro-American legal system is well researched and histori-
cally based; succumbing to this system of authority would not
alleviate gender equity, but would only increase the disparity be-
tween Indian women and Indian men and especially between
Indian and non-Indian (Smith, 2005).
A third important issue for the future is that American Indian
nations need to consider their approach to members who no
longer have residence on traditional land bases. The majority
of young American Indian adults and children no longer live on
their reservations even though they remain enrolled members.
Many of the young people living in urban areas are the third
generation to do so since their grandparents were relocated to
major U.S. urban areas (American Indian Policy Review Com-
mission, 1976; Intertribal Friendship House & Lobo, 2002). A
large body of literature has beel published regarding the effects
of relocation and urban-American Indian life (Guillemin, 1975;
Intertribal Friendship House & Lobo; Miller, 1980; Mooney,
1977), yet, many nations infrequently, if ever, interact with these
young adults and children. Urban Indians, young adults and
children, represent a portion of the future for each nation, that
nation’s human capital. In return, nations represent for urban
Indians a source of connection and a source for learning some
of the social capital denied them by their places of residence.
One nation, among several currently addressing the issue of
urban tribal members, is the Menominee who have created an
official tribal office in Chicago. Many Menominee citizens re-
side in the city in order to find employment. The office allows
both urban and reservation Indians to interact, work, and learn
from one another (Harvard Project on American Indian Eco-
nomic Development, 2004). The Menominee Community Cen-
ter of Chicago is owned by and funded by the Menominee Na-
tion located in Keshena, Wisconsin. Recognizing that urban
Indian communities frequently struggle, the Menominee Nation
sought a way in which to bring its citizens together for finan-
cial, educational, social, and physical support. Founded in 1994,
the Menominee Community Center of Chicago obtained for-
mal tribal support in 1996 (Harvard Project on American Indian
Economic Development). The Menominee constitution re-
quires that two council meetings be held at the center each year,
funds the center with both financial and volunteer support, and
represents the only “officially recognized off-reservation com-
munity” among the 562 federally recognized Indian nations
(Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development).
It is our hope that other nations may wish to address specific
questions that focus on the responsibility of all enrolled mem-
bers to develop a decolonized sense of community, which re-
turns to concepts such as interdependency and includes tribal
members living on and off reservations. Within this framework,
children will receive the most benefit from such connections.
534 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI
Indian girls and boys living in urban centers are more likely to
learn the forms of social and cultural capital, capital that in-
creases gender equity when based on traditional ways of relat-
ing. In this time of cyber communication, interacting with the
children, who are our future, would seem an obvious response
to the need for technical and professional capacity on reserva-
tions, yet little is done to overcome the lack of expertise in these
areas. Access to online communication in education would in-
crease the self-esteem of children as they learn about who they
are through the eyes of their male—and female—relations.
The Constitution of the United States “recognizes three
sovereigns: the United States, the states, and the tribes. Tribes
have their own constitutions, associated institutions, and
government-to-government relationships with the United States,
state, and municipal governments. Tribal sovereignty is mani-
fested in powers of taxation, adjudication of civil disputes and
non-major crimes, management of land and resources, policing
and maintenance of civil order, and provision of basic social ser-
vices and infrastructure” (Harvard Project American Indian Eco-
nomic Development, 2004). To change this arrangement would
require a Constitutional Amendment and this is unlikely to oc-
cur. The apparent lack of knowledge and moral will on the part
of governmental entities appears to lie at the heart of the con-
tentiousness of dealing with issues involving tribal sovereignty.
Solution 3: Enacting Self-Determination and
Federally-Based Sovereignty to Stem Epistemic Violence
There are mixed feelings about how to handle the problem of
violence against women and children. Smith (2005) presented
cogent arguments regarding the development of common vio-
lence. Violence against American Indians was prevalent in the
colonization of the “new world” and was used as a tool for sub-
jugation. Sovereignty existed at both the national and individual
levels before contact with Europeans who used violence, and es-
pecially forms of abuse of human rights, as a tool to control the
colonized. The intent and long-term result of colonization is to
develop a colonized people who oppress themselves and it has
been in this way that violence within tribal communities has be-
come part of the colonized traditions. Smith argued that forms
of violence against individuals within a community would be
eliminated if tribes were allowed to function as truly sovereign
nations by returning to precontact forms of gender equity.
Whatever forms male/female or parent/child relationships took
before contact, those forms were embedded in individual au-
tonomy and equity of personal responsibility and rights. Recov-
ering or implementing these forms of personal sovereignty are
important in alleviating many of the problems students face.
Whether a student lives on his or her reservation or off the
reservation appears to have some impact on risk-taking behav-
iors (Gray & Winterowd, 2002). Of all the students in the United
States, American Indian students score significantly lower on
standardized tests, have significantly higher (alarmingly so)
rates of suicide, higher rates of unemployment, and higher rates
of alcohol and drug dependency (Center for Disease Control,
2001; U.S. Census, 2000; Demmert, 2005; Frank & Lester, 2002;
Indian Nations at Risk, 1991). Indian women die from domestic
violence at nearly three times the rate of any other group (Oetsel
& Duran, 2004; Smith, 2005). The following demonstrate main
areas in which Indian people asserting their sovereignty has led
to healthier, balanced communities.
Health
The lack of support on reservations for positive health out-
comes is implicated in these findings (Thompson, Davis, Git-
telsohn, Going, Becenti, & Metcalfe, 2001). Because most Euro-
American views on these problems are rooted in a deficit
(medical) model that includes a perception of an individual’s
culture as problematic to recovery or prevention (Connors &
Donnellan, 1998; Cross,1998), more tribes are developing pro-
grams of their own to serve tribal members within these groups
(Arquette, et al., 2002; Brave Heart, 1999a; Brave Heart & De
Bruyn, 1998; Brave Heart & Spicer, 1999; Clark & Heavy Runner,
1999; Dalla & Gamble, 1998; Harvard Project for American
Indian Economic Development, 2004; Sixkiller, 2002; Zimmer-
man, Jesus-Ramirez, Washienko, Walter & Dyer, 1998). Tribes
and Indian communities are beginning the long-overdue
process of redefining constructs applied as deficits in order to
develop programs that have positive outcomes for the people
they serve (Simmons, Novins, & Allen, J., 2004). In the field of
health, Indian women are doing much work to bring about
gender equity. The first Indian woman to become a western
medical doctor was Susan La Flesche who graduated from
Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1889. Indian
women have been keeping their communities healthy for gen-
erations. Indian medicinal herbs and solutions have given much
to the western world and yet have not had the recognition. Cur-
rently, many Indian women work in health care as nurses, elderly
caretakers, community health project administrators, doctors,
and administrators.
Education
Because of the Tribally Controlled Schools Act of 1988, many
tribes are exercising their sovereign rights to increase control
over the educational systems serving children living on reser-
vations. Much of the effort results from a common memory of
traumatic educational experiences among American Indians
(Balsam et al., 2004; Brave Heart, 1999b; Duran & Duran, 1995;
Oetzel, & Duran, 2004; Zvolensky, et al., 2001). Post-traumatic
stress disorder is recognized by the American Psychological
Association (2000) in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals
and represents the disorder that is synonymous in Duran and
Duran (1995), Brave Heart (1999a), and Weaver and Brave Heart
(1999) to the terms intergenerational trauma or historical
trauma. There are gender differences in the manner in which
American Indian women and American Indian men evolve
through the healing of historical trauma indicating that men
may require more intense and longer sessions in which to fully
recovery from carrying the grief of the nation (Brave Heart &
De Bruyn, 1998). The history of the federal government’s in-
volvement and implementation of education for American Indian
children is well documented for many appalling forms of trauma-
tization of children and families (Adams, 1995; Attneave & [AQ20]

Dill,1980; Childs, 1998; Duran & Duran, 1995; Noriega, 1992); a
lack of appropriate linguistic and cultural consideration in in-
structional settings (Hunt, 1980; Kidwell, 1979; Metcalf, 1976;
Mooney, 1977); and the inability of the federal government’s
programs and public-school district curricula to meet the needs
of tribes (Braudy, 1975; National Advisory Council on Indian Ed-
ucation, 1993). Teachers and administrators must be told this
history, and the histories of other oppressed peoples, if they are
to be effective educators. Currently, many tribes are choosing to
open, fund, and run their own Head Start preschools and K–12
school systems. This possibility came as a result of P.L. 93-638,
the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of
1975. In addition, tribes have regained the right to determine
the placements of tribal children who are in need of fostering or
adopting (see also the Harvard Project on Economic Develop-
ment, 2004). Since the changes that have taken place over the
last 30 years in American Indian education, many tribes have de-
veloped tribally specific curriculum, standards, and content re-
flecting traditional belief and knowledge that align with state
public-education requirements. Most notable of the earliest of
these was the Rough Rock Demonstration Project (McCarty,
2002). In the beginning of this chapter, we spoke of the gender
balance involved in the traditional values of Indian people, by
beginning to incorporate these points of view, Indian educators
are ensuring a more balanced future for both boys and girls.
In conclusion, education as a path for equity is perhaps one
of the strongest American Dreams to infiltrate American Indian
community values; after all, there has always been a respect for
learning. Tohe (2000) told the story of how Diné women used
the knowledge of their female linage to survive and overcome
the imposed conditions in Indian communities “even though
there is no word for feminism in the Diné language” (p. 105).
Using education as a tool to help your community, rather than
to further yourself as an individual, stems from the earliest his-
torical encounters, and has been debated among Indian peo-
ple for decades. Tohe wrote about crossing into the western that
values women differently; this crossing demonstrates, much like
the trickster crossings discussed earlier, the high value placed
on the honored Diné women versus the shamed and isolated
devaluing of women’s roles in the Western world. In the Diné
world, Tohe (2000) explained “the men in our family under-
stood this, and we all worked together to get the work done . . .
no resentment, no insecurity about male roles” (p. 109). This
survival of many American Indian women has always been as-
sured by the clan system but their economic condition has only
begun to improve over the last 20 years. Many have struggled
to achieve an education that allows the privilege of living in a
very luxurious manner in comparison to our grandmothers.
This is both an achievement and a separation, which we need to
recall each day in order to remember those that gave us life.
Child Welfare
The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (P.L. 85-608) assured that
tribes are now empowered to direct the placement of their chil-
dren. However, this fact is not well understood by many county,
state, and private social-service agencies given the overrepre-
sentation of American Indian children in the social welfare pro-
25. Achieving Gender Equity for American Indians • 535
grams. American Indian children are being fostered and adopted
by non-American Indian families at rates higher than those for
any other ethnic group (Newman, 2004). When raised by non-
American Indian families, American Indian children have less ac-
cess to traditional teachings or innovative teachings employed in
new curriculums. There is irreparable psychic violence commit-
ted in these spaces. The need to encourage the engagement of [AQ21]
American Indian scholars and their participation in the research
being conducted on American Indian education should result
in findings that would clarify much of the confusion and frustra-
tion on the part of White researchers and policymakers regard-
ing how to best improve the academic achievement of Amer-
ican Indian students. These words echo earlier statements by
Robbins and Tippeconnic (1985) and are continued into the con- [AQ22]
tent of Next Steps: Research and Practice to Advance Indian Ed-
ucation (Swisher & Tippeconnic, 1999). This proposed research
agenda would insure that commonly used definitions of learning
behaviors that represent learning in White children are redefined
in terms of what those behaviors look like and how they vary by
nation within American Indian children.
Solution 4: Activism
If there is any one theme that addresses Indian activism from the
start of settler-colonialism in the 1500s to the present, it is that
Indian people continue to fight to maintain their communities.
Many activists have succeeded against attempted eradication of
their cultural beliefs, social structures, governmental operations,
and physical presence in the Americas by using education for
assimilation and other federal genocidal policies. Of course, this
does not mean that colonization and empire building has not
affected lived experiences; rather, it means that these historical
processes and struggles become all the more important in con-
temporary Indian life. Without ongoing activism rooted in these
historical processes and arguments of resistance to imposed cul-
tural, governmental, educational, and social norms, Indian
women would be at an even higher risk for gender inequity. As
mentioned in the previous section, concepts of gender are
rooted and constructed in continually evolving cultures. As
Lakota anthropologist Beatrice Medicine (1997) reminded those
wishing to explore gender or use it as a category of study:
In examining the concept of gender in Native America, the entire range
of categories and behavioral expectations should be studied within their
cultural context. At the same time, one should recall that after centuries
of contact with non-Indians and adaptations to repressive legal actions
and genocidal intrusions . . . the relationship to human actions and gen-
der categories has grown increasingly complex”. (Medicine, 218)
Thus, if gender equity is to be achieved in Indian communi-
ties, the discussion of cultural roles and the larger milieu of ex-
ternal influences must be negotiated; this is rarely a simple
process as Western gender conceptions have been inflicted
upon already existing patterns and varying levels of equity. Gen- [AQ23]
eralizing about ways to promote gender equity within “An”
Indian community that is often thought of as homogenous is in-
effectual; working across diverse nations is necessary and will
provide the most valid outcomes. Furthermore, spatial colo-
536 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI
nization has lead to division of many communities across na-
tional borders, such as United States/Canada and United States/
Mexico. Examining differences in women’s status in communi-
ties caused by relationships to distinct settler-colonial institu-
tions is extremely important. When discussing the role of poli-
tics and activism, one voice cannot speak to all indigenous
women. Rather, the voices of indigenous women, while multi-
vocal and multi-ational, resound in unison. The outcomes of
activism depend on the benefit to the goals of the community
involved. Much activism revolves around negotiating a contin-
uum of culture and living in an ever-changing world. Maintenance
of culture and language is important for very practical reasons
within Indian nations. Cultural competence has been strongly
linked to academic success in schools (Bryant & LaFromboise,
2005). While school administrators may fail to recognize this,
the women of our Indian nations do not. In doing so, these
women remain at the center of the inclusion of culture and lan-
guage programs in mainstream schools.
The breadth of Indian women’s activism began early in the
history of the America’s invasion and continues today. From the
Cherokee’s Beloved Woman of the latter 18th century, Nancy
Ward, to smaller rebellions reflected in the oral histories of
young women at Chilocco Indian boarding school (Lomawaima,
1994), Indian women have fought to retain a sense of tribal
identity and community. Lomawaima stated that the “federal
practice of organizing the obedient individual whereas policy
aimed to disorganize the sovereign tribe” (p. 99). Centuries of
federal Indian policies were derived to complete these goals.
Indian people, in particular women, were not silent and often
played a larger role in the struggle for sovereignty, Indian peo-
plehood, and individual selfhood than has been presented in
public domains of academe, media, or textual materials.
Although many Indian women do not claim feminism
(though many do as well) or invest themselves in mainstream
feminist organization this should not be mistaken as a reckless
disregard for gender issues; in fact, the well-being, health, and
value of women in Indian communities are very important. This
is demonstrated in extremely significant ways in creative work,
activism, and political acts (Smith, 2005). The majority of In-
dian women activists today focus on advocating against the vio-
lence against children and women found in many Indian fami-
lies, whether in reservation or urban communities, yet many are
advocating as scientist, scholars, politicians, and doctors. How-
ever, popular myths of Indian women—such as exotic and an
exceptional model of gender relations that sets up a nonexistent
need in relationship to feminism, the portrayal as victims in the
work of a lot of feminist scholarship, or the complete lack of his-
toricizing Indian-White gendered relationships—abound in
ways that are detrimental to American Indian Studies theoriz-
ing about gender or participation by women. So much so that
young Indian women frequently refuse to discuss issues of gen-
der equity as a serious issue in public forums (Diane Bechtell,
personal communication, September 29, 2005). Like the multi-
ple connotations of sovereignty, feminism means different
things to different women. While nation-states demonstrate sov-
ereignty’s existence by acts of power, control, and political ma-
nipulation, sovereignty as an Indian concept relies on the tradi-
tional responsibilities to the community and individual rights
granted by that community in return (Smith, 2005). When Gov-
ernor Mike Rounds signed into law the current ban against all
abortions, accompanied by remarks about rape being a “simple
matter” by state law maker William Napoli, Cecilia Fire Thun-
der, elected president of Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge
Reservation stated that, “To me, it is now a question of sover-
eignty. I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic
on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine
Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has ab-
solutely no jurisdiction” (Giago, 2006). This act is at once in-
digenous and feminist activism.
Sally Roesch Wagner (1998) stated in an early article on the
subject of activism and women’s rights that, “knowledge of their
lack of rights under English inspired law was pervasive among
these early women (American Indian), as was the awareness of
the prestigious position of Indian women who lived in matrilin-
eal/matrifocal systems” (p. 224). Noted feminist historian Estelle
Freedman (2002) goes so far to say that if the prominent early
feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton “had taken notice” of the 1848
constitution formed by the Seneca that granted both men and
women voting rights than, “the early feminist might have
couched their demands for equality in less universal terms; per-
haps they would have called for a return [italics original] of
women’s power.” Freedman made this statement, but does not
go more in-depth as to why this constitution was formed and
the fact that this “legal” issue was more a fact of documenting a
system that had been in place for thousands of years.
Seneca law was not unique in the fact that it “granted” women
voting power. Rather, it was a matter of course for women to
hold power and a step toward maintaining their own laws and
nationhood threatened by European settlers. Men were not in a
position to grant power, just as the government is not in a posi-
tion to grant sovereignty. While this statement itself has a uni-
versal and appropriating tone about it, it poses the question of
the relationship of early feminist movements to Indian women,
as well as other cultural sources (i.e., African American). The
development of this aspect in the field of women and gender
studies and in women’s rights activism could greatly improve
gender equity for Indian women, as richer and more complex
history is divulged and understood. Indian women have had
a long history of being involved with women’s collaborative
groups. However, with varying waves of feminist scholarship, In-
dian women have been addressed, often in ways that are unpro-
ductive for the indigenous communities. The (mis)use of Indian
women to support, prove, bolster, validate, or add a multicul-
tural component to feminist theory generates great turmoil, and
a reluctance to accept research done from a feminist perspective
(Smith, 2005). In other words, scholarship and organization that
does not recognize Indian treaty rights and sovereignty or self-
determination movements often comes with a dimension of in-
cluding all the right box checking and nods. Simply adding Amer-
ican Indian women to the discussion is not enough; rather, a
serious engagement of civil rights and how they might conflict
with American Indian engagement/or refusal to engage with the
state must be recognized and respected (Koyama, 2003; Richie,
Tsenin, & Widom, 2002).
This example also intimates how powerful a study of gender
equity could be in sovereigntist movements. If we examine pre-
supposition about the foundations of power, then pushing to-
ward agendas with equity for women will become a natural part
of the movement for decolonization. The reality of gender eq-
uity for both women and men and their daughters and sons is

rooted in the oppression of colonization that continues to be
imposed by both tribal councils and federal and state entities.
The negative outcomes that range from the violence against In-
dian women specifically and against American Indians as a
group is rooted in the systemic practice of colonization by gov-
erning bodies (Brave Heart, 1999b; Duran & Duran, 1995; Man-
son, et al., 2005; Oetzel & Duran, 2004; Smith, 2005). The nature
of feminism, while delineated in these connotations of sover-
eignty, needs to be clearly stated and understood through the
practices that communities undertake. We as indigenous people
must take it upon ourselves to remove imposed gender con-
structions from our minds, practices, and actions in order to
reclaim a healthy balance and order and to restore our own na-
tions. A necessary aspect of this restoration is an activism that
asserts women’s wellbeing in the community as necessary to as-
serting sovereignty.
Solution 5: Acknowledging that American Indian Scholars
and Authors from Across Disciplines Should Be Given
Precedence in Classroom Work on Indian People
Non-Indians generally ignored work by native men and women, virtually
entirely in favor of the mythologizing found in diaries, missionary ac-
counts, travel tales and popular folklore (songs, stories, etc.), and the
mythology grew without reference to those accounts that eschewed
mythology. (Green, 1983, p. 2)
Through arts and literature, politics, education, and envi-
ronmentalism, Indian women have impacted their communities
in order to provide a better life for their families and friends.
From the beginning of contact, Indian people have picked up
the pen to write against Western impositions of culture and re-
ligion and against the exploitation of Indian people. One of the
earliest women writers was Sarah Winnemucca, whose book Life
among the Piautes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883), outlined
corruption and abuses as a result of the newly forming Federal
Indian policy. Across tribes, women are a vital part of this intel-
lectual history and have used the pen as a powerful tool to as-
sert their rights.
The works of early writers, such as, E. Pauline Johnson,
Mourning Dove, Zitkala Sa (Gertrude Bonin), Ella Cara Deloria,
Susan LaFlesche, Maria Campbell, are awaiting rediscovery. Lit-
erary scholars are just beginning to uncover their rich texts and
intellectual histories. Research into the intellectual history of In-
dian women writers is increasing and a more inclusive history
is unfolding. Indian people interacted in the many circles and
engaged in deciding policies, social structures, and many other
facets of American culture. Gender equity in educational cur-
riculum depends on such research and examinations that pro-
vide complimentary voices to early writers.
Past writers and their contemporaries—inspired by those
early works—illustrated a rich intellectual history of engage-
ment and activism for Indian rights. Rather than draw di-
chotomies based on false concepts of race that have been so-
cially constructed, it is best to discuss the historical, cultural,
and contexts of early Indian activist and their relationship to
each other. All American Indians did not agree on the best way
to handle the onslaught of settlers and were often in disagree-
ment based on differing social, political, cultural, and gender
25. Achieving Gender Equity for American Indians • 537
formations. Creating gender equity in the classroom depends
on basing observations, not on false dichotomies of new racial
categories of White and Indian, but with a commitment to en-
gaging with specific cultures, contexts, and histories.
Contemporary writers continue to put forth diverse ways of
dealing with colonization. Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird (1998) rein-
vented “the Enemies Language” by presenting an anthology on
diverse contemporary Indian women writings. Harjo outlined
the problems and benefits of this process:
We are coming out of one or two centuries of war, a war that hasn’t
ended. Many of us at the end of the century are using the “enemy lan-
guage” with which to tell our truths, to sing, to remember ourselves dur-
ing these troubled times. Some of us speak our native languages as well
as English, and/or Spanish and French. Some speak only English, Span-
ish, or French because of the use of tribal languages was prohibited in
schools and in adoptive homes, or these languages were suppressed to
near extinction by some causality of culture and selfhood. Shame out-
lines the loss. But to speak, at whatever the costs, is to become em-
powered rather than victimized by destruction. (p. 21)
Prominent authors such as Joy Harjo, Louise Erdrich, Leslie
Marmon Silko, Janet Campbell Hale, Roberta Hill, Jeanette Arm-
strong, Wendy Rose, Laura Tohe, Luci Tapahonso, Linda Hogan,
Andrea Smith and many unnamed women authors have created
a greater awareness of Indian issues as much of their work be-
comes widely read, not only nationally, but internationally, and
in many different languages. Though often fictional, the authors
often conduct painstaking historical research and/or draw from
oral stories, or lived experiences. Their works remain unincor-
porated into mainstream classroom material. Respectful teach-
ing that contextualizes learning and uses these text to open
dialogue rather than reaffirm outdated notions of Indians or
reinscribe these images in new-age fantasies, would push gen-
der equity in education forward.
Much in the same way as historical mentoring took place (as
discussed in the previous sections), these Indian women have
also opened up spaces of learning and success, in support of
younger writers just beginning to find their voices. The bur-
geoning of lesser-known writers publishing means a presenta-
tion of diverse cultures, historical situations, and points of view.
This diversity itself is a healthy step toward gender equity as In-
dian women strive to break out of monolithic categories that are
inadequate for understanding gender. Many authors are also
learning or relearning their own languages. Elders, whose lan-
guage was once so forbidden, are teaching the language again.
Organizations have been formed around this very category of
language acquisition, revitalization, and retention. Respecting
and encouraging a diversity of languages is important to the
quest of gender equity because notions of “gender” are closely
tied to the spatial and relational nature of most Indian languages.
In higher education, much work has yet to be done. Indian
women make up a miniscule percent of community college fac-
ulty (even at tribal colleges), a smaller percent of tenure-track
faculty, and under a half-percent (.05%) of tenured faculty. While
the fact that these women are Indian does not guarantee that
the subject of Indian women will be discussed at length, it
would represent a view heretofore ignored. The subject of [AQ24]
Indian women needs to be added to the curriculum and ad-
dressed across fields, such as history, literature, law, and politi-
cal science. Anthropology has perhaps taken up this subject
 538 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI
more than other fields, but for the foremost the discussions are
limited to detailed descriptions and an analysis that addresses
cultural changes, rather than in-depth discussions regarding eq-
uity rights and issues that need to be addressed outside of and
within Indian communities. Exceptions to this are Indian an-
thropologists such as Bea Medicine whose work examined the
very foundations of a discipline based on otherness, which
double binds Indian women. Medicine (1978) examined the
harmful effects of studying the Indian while searching for polit-
[AQ25] ical and community viable ways to engage with academia.
Academia can be further alienating in the discussion and re-
search on Indian women. Past feminist research causes skepti-
cism in communities already skeptical of research endeavors, re-
gardless of discipline, methodology, or race and gender analysis.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s (1999) effort to decolonize research
methods offered insight into this relationship:
At a common sense level research was talked about in terms of its ab-
solute worthlessness to us, the indigenous world, and its absolute use-
fulness to those who wielded it as an instrument. It told us things al-
ready known, suggested things that would not work, and made careers
for people who already had jobs. ‘We are the most researched people
in the world’ is a comment I have heard frequently from several indige-
nous communities. The truth of such a comment is unimportant, what
does need to be taken seriously is the sense of weight and unspoken
cynicism about research that the message conveys. (1999, p. 3).
Most Indian people, regardless of tribe, nation, or education,
remain deeply aware of the devastation resulting from Euro-
American scholarship and education. The history of scholar-
ship and education as imperialist tools has had a profound im-
pact on current communities’ perceptions of research. The
study of gender needs to be done in ways that would benefit
Indian research agendas, which in turn benefit Indian people
rather than in ways that reward the academic researcher. This
is the global message on indigenous methodologies (Smith,
1998). In education research, Swisher (1998) advised that Amer-
ican Indians “should be the ones to write about Indian educa-
tion” (p. 190). The American Indian Science and Engineering
Society (AISES) (Swisher, 1998) stated that:
Just as the exploitation of American Indian land and resources is of value
to corporate America, research and publishing is valuable to non-Indian
scholars. As a result of racism, greed, and distorted perceptions of Native
realities, Indian culture as an economic commodity has been exploited by
the dominant society with considerable damage to Indian people. Tribal
people need to safeguard the borders of their cultural domains against
research and publishing incursions. (as cited in Swisher, 1998, p. 1991)
WHAT ARE THE INSTRUCTIONAL
AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS?
Implication 1: Changes in Curriculum that
Reflect the Real Diversity of Indian Nations
In today’s educational settings, many American Indian commu-
nities may be described as atrisk because of quantifiable levels
of poverty, unemployment, and health-related problems, yet
most retain their connection to place. Many retain languages
that encode ethical and moral behavior, and the very “risk fac-
tors” that non-Indian agencies ascribe to them favor the reten-
tion by the community as a mechanism for survival (Cross,
1998; Duran & Duran, 1995; Johnson, 2003; Mooney, 1977).
Western definitions of notatrisk that are centered on the accu-
mulation of wealth through material goods and money are not
relevant for determining the quality of Indian family life and
student ability (Harvard Project on American Indian Economic
Development 2004; Manson, et al., 2005). Sustainable living
continues to be prevalent in Indian communities despite its
implied devaluation in the poverty policies of the 1960s and
1970s. Part of this is brought about through what Tressa Berman
(2003) called matri-focal women—women who sustain earlier
clan obligations through a sharing of “wealth.” Through recip-
rocal sharing of “wealth” that takes place either informally or
through the ceremonial relations of production, Indian women
circumvent intense poverty and, most importantly, teach ways
to accommodate pubic policy federal impositions, and other
such external factors by turning to their strength within the
community. Children raised in subsistence life styles lead far
healthier and more emotionally rich lives than children in truly
impoverished circumstances. Such children have value and
take part in contributing to the sustainability of the family and
community. Such children are eating traditional foods rather
than “fast foods” and are physically fit from the routines of sus-
tainable living.
Colleges and schools need to be on the cutting edge of social
justice rather than in the entrenched conservatism of retaining
the past. There is a need to imbue educational settings with the
ideal that meeting the many worldviews of our students neither
diminishes quality education nor instruction. Western educators
taking a note from the matri-focal women who exist within
many reservations communities, even the clan mothers (Lobo,
2003) who create community in urban areas, would be a step
in the right direction. This type of thinking lies at the very heart
of the differences between Euro-American educational practice
and American Indian educational thought. While we see the in-
clusion of multiple worldviews as both complementary and
supportive of educational goals, fewer schools of education and [AQ26]
few educational districts pay more than lip service to ideas em-
bedded in the full meanings of diversity and multiculturalism
envisioned by Banks as a transformative curriculum (Banks &
Banks, 1995; Banks, 1997, 2000). More to the point, within Amer-
ican Indian communities numerous educational projects cur-
rently address the deeper meanings for cultural relevancy beyond
multicultural packaging. The Cradleboard Teaching Project
(St. Marie, 1996), Iroquois Corn in a culture-based curricu- [AQ27]
lum (Cornelius, 1999), Indigenous Educational Models for Con-
temporary Practice; In our Mother’s Voice (Ah Nee-Benham &
Cooper, 2000), and Indian Science (Cajete, 1999) stand as testi-
mony to the potential for curriculum development within tra-
ditional values. Indian nations are beginning to see the results of
reclaiming their own educational institutions. The development
of survival schools, tribally run K–2 schools, and tribal colleges
are beginning to produce sustainable leadership as well as a de-
mand that sovereignty be fully and equally recognized by non-
Indian individuals, agencies, and institutions (Harvard Project
on American Indian Economic Development, 2004).

The final legal challenge for the future focuses on the edu-
cation of American Indian children, youth, and adults. One fo-
cus of conflict revolves around the teaching of Indian language
in public schools—specifically, who teaches the language and
who learns the language. Whether or not tribes will regain the
freedom from the Department of Interior to operate their own
schools as districts within states that receive educational funding
equal to that of other public-school districts in non-reservation
areas is a second issue. The expression of sovereignty in educa-
tional issues will begin to be more broadly discussed as the pres-
sures facing education produced by the effects of No Child Left
Behind begin to be recognized. American Indian parents fre-
quently teach the traditional sense of autonomy that can be said
to resemble “sovereignty of the mind” in that our children, as
well as every individual, have the right and responsibility to
gather the knowledge that best addresses their needs and en-
sures their future. Many times this may be consonant with what
is taught in schools but just as many times the content and cur-
riculum clash with the beliefs and experiences of American In-
dian students (Fryberg & Markus, 2003). The correlation of state
educational ranks with American Indian population estimates
is problematic and needs to be addressed through non-punitive
interventions (NCES, 2005).
Implication 2: Changes in the Curriculum that Includes
the Truth of all Sides Regarding Historical, Cultural,
Educational, and Linguistic Conflicts
Teachers of American Indian children and young adults need to
be aware of the potential fragility of their students in terms both
physical and psychological health (Brave Heart & De Bruyn,
1998; HeavyRunner & DeCelles, 1997). Teachers need to place
themselves in the role of healers when working with American
Indian children, a role that requires them to (a) accept limita-
tions and work with strengths, (b) accept, learn, and interact
with their students’ communities; (c) encourage positive self-
image by making use of appropriate instructional materials that
avoiding stereotypy and mythic representation (Mitchell, &
Beals, 1997; Simmons, Novins, & Allen, 2004).
American Indian children endure an educational process,
whether in public or private schools, that remains primarily as-
similationist in nature and monolithic in character (i.e., English
is the official language, Euro-American history and social stud-
ies the accepted “facts” for their lives). This poses further neg-
ative experiences for children who may be under higher levels
of stress than children from other ethnic groups due to inter-
generational trauma (Balsam, et al., 2004; Brave Heart, 1999b;
Duran & Duran, 1995; Oetzel & Duran, 2004; Smith, A., 2005;
Zvolensky, McNeil, Porter, & Stewart, 2001). Teachers must
work to form history and social-study units that equitably rep-
resent all sides of the clashes of cultures throughout the time-
line from first contact to present day. Furthermore, discussing
of Indian women and their roles and importance to communi-
ties must come to the forefront. Professional organizations and
Indian nations must lobby to have publishers include more cur-
rent research, multiple points of view, and multiple points of in-
formation (i.e., facts that represent the knowledge base of all
children’s ethnic groups) in order for students to construct a
25. Achieving Gender Equity for American Indians • 539
sense of truth that is more complex than the current simplis-
tic view.
Teachers and administrators must create classrooms that
American Indian parents feel comfortable entering. To do this
requires awareness that many American Indian parents may be
reliving their own experiences with school through their chil-
dren’s interactions at school. This movement between person-
alized experience and teacher experience sometimes leads
teachers to believe that parents are not listening to them or may
not be concerned about their child. American Indian parents
care deeply for their children but recognize the assimilationist
pointsofview exist within those schools. Parent and student re-
sistance to these assimilationist mechanisms may take the form
of attendance refusal, participation refusal, or passivity in the
classroom. Put bluntly, American Indian parents and young
adults frequently do not see the need to put energy into efforts
that will not provide them equal opportunity.
Teachers and their professional organizations should take a
firm stance against societal and institutional forms of racism cur-
rently confronted daily by American Indians. Most egregious of
these is the use of American Indian symbols, objects, and peo-
ples as mascots for sports groups and other school-related or-
ganizations (Durham, 1992; Munson, 1998). The constant bar-
rage of negatively presented stereotypes must be indicted as
one of those environmental pressures that are related to the
physical and psychological health outcomes for American
Indian children and young adults. Some of the most egregious
assaults come in the textbooks and trade books that American
Indian children and young adults encounter during their years
of education (Council on Interracial Books for Children, 1977;
Kickingbird & Kickingbird, 1987).
Additional institutional-based forms of racism need to be ad-
dressed. Non-Indian scholars, teachers, agencies and institu-
tions need to understand the issue of sovereignty as it relates
to the teaching of heritage language and cultural knowledge
within schools (Sims, 2003). Second, the issue of representation
of “facts” as “truth” based on Euro-American philosophical tra-
ditions and embedded in school knowledge, routines, and read-
ing; and an awareness of emphasizing multiple “values” systems
within classrooms where multiple ethnic groups are repre-
sented by the students needs to be addressed. Finally, the Har-
vard Project on American Indian Economic Development has
urged that non-Indian entities employ the following guidelines
when seeking to work with American Indian nations: (a) “Ef-
fective programs and policies are self-determined” (p. 23);
(b) “Leadership can emerge from many levels of tribal society”
(p. 25); (c) “‘Buy-in’ on the part of tribal communities and formal
leadership is essential” (p. 25); (d) Effective initiatives become
institutionalized within the tribal community (p. 26); (e) “Effec-
tive initiatives are spiritual in their core” (p. 26, see illustrations
of how this is conceptually different from religious practice);
(f ) “Effective initiatives explicitly draw on and strengthen tribal
cultural practices” (p. 27); (g) “Effective initiatives focus on in-
dividuals and the tribal community” (p. 28); and, (h) “Effective
initiatives explicitly strengthen children’s and families’ social
networks” (p. 28).
Teachers and administrators must know the communities,
both urban and reservation, from which their students come.
They need to become involved in those communities at some
 540 • CALHOUN, GOEMAN, TSETHLIKAI
meaningful level, which does not trespass on tribally recognized
needs (Suina & Smolkin, 1995). Professional organizations and
Indian nations must promote professional-development oppor-
tunities, which offer teachers and administrators the opportunity
to interact with tribal and urban-American Indian communities.
Implication 3: Changes in Teaching Methods
that Are Based on Indian Educational Psychology
Urban American Indian students frequently cite specific cul-
tural, racial, and educational experiences as barriers to com-
pletion of high school or as reasons for dropping out. Fre-
quently students complete their education through GED or
high-school completion courses and programs offered in Ur-
ban American Indian Centers (Sally Gallegos, personal com-
[AQ28] munication, August 29, 2004). Many students come to these
centers with skills that are at or below the 8th -grade level ( Jen-
nifer Elk, personal communication, August 28, 2004). One West
Coast American Indian male stated that the center was “a good
place and they taught me well. It is a good environment and
they give a lot more attention than I got in regular public
school” (Zahnd, 2004; p. 7). An American Indian woman seek-
ing to complete her high-school degree later in life stated that
“it is nice to have [the center] there and feel that you can al-
ways come back. At [the center] people come together. Some
who enter are lost but find their way [back]. I tell people I meet
to go see Rosie at [the center] because it is a good place to be.
It is like a family and it feels like home (Zahnd, 2004; p. 7). For
these students the center provided a more relevant curricu-
lum than their former high schools.
Instruction at one particular American Indian Center was dif-
ferentiated from high-school instruction by several factors.
Teachers emphasized critical analysis of text, which allowed stu-
dents to develop their voices as they sought to interpret and
comprehended text. One particular teacher makes a point of
assessing students before, during, and after her course in order
to better individualize the instruction. Another important aspect
of these courses, cited as positive by American Indian youth and
adults was the culturally relevant content. This is achieved
through the materials, instructional style, and self-directed pro-
jects that produce ethnically relevant literature. Teachers who
focus on the diversity among their students, allow students to
describe and talk about their tribal heritage, and other impor-
tant life experiences had students who reported that they were
more engaged and motivated to learn as a result of these teach-
ing styles (Zahnd, 2004).
Ceremony also plays an important role within teachers’
courses. Ceremony helps remind students and teachers that
each day is new and sacred, that calming one’s self is an impor-
tant aspect of learning, and that focusing the mind helps stu-
dents do their best on assignments and exams (Zahnd, 2004).
Ceremony is not religious practice, but can be equated as prac-
tices like those in public schools like saying the pledge of alle-
giance. Students who have had negative experiences in high
schools need to be renewed and reminded of their value to
their American Indian communities through these types of in-
structional experiences. Empower students and help them set
goals that will allow them to attain jobs. Cultural empowerment
is not found in the curriculum, materials, or teaching styles of
most mainstream public or private high schools. Quite the op-
posite is true as American Indian students are assaulted by a
continuous chorus of history misrepresented from what they
know from their ancestor’s experiences and stories, by the
stereotypy in sports, not allowing traditional regalia or mean-
ingful pieces of regalia to be worn during instruction or at high-
school graduations (Martinez, 2003). Other institutional forms
of racism continue to oppress American Indian students driving
them to think less of themselves and their people and pushing
them out the door at the earliest opportunity.
Students frequently report several experiences in high
schools or mainstream programs that eventuate in their quitting
or being pushed out. One student’s response is somewhat rep-
resentative of the problem. “I was messing up in school. I
messed up and something happened, and so I didn’t feel wel-
come there. I was kicked out so quick [even though] I was hop-
ing to get my GED” (Zahnd, 2004; p. 13). Another student de-
fined how s/he came to enter the courses offered at the center.
“I felt it was my time and I needed to learn and be part of the
new world, including the computer world. I was interested in
overcoming my joblessness and having only crummy jobs, and
I knew I could get more experience in creative fields. It is my re-
sponsibility and I told myself that I need to overcome barriers
and to manage to make it here” (Zahnd, 2004; p. 14).
Implication 4: Changes in Research Theory and Practice
Even before Swisher’s (1998) essay established the inherent
right of Indians to write about Indian education, the need for
truly informed research that went beyond the superficial exam-
inations of American Indian students’ learning styles, brain be-
haviors, and cultural competencies was apparent. European and
Euro-American researchers were making very good progress in
publishing research that retained the mythic views of American
Indians, whether as naïve (infer incompetent) souls who needed
saving by the grace of an informed teacher who would teach to
a student’s learning style or as carriers of a culture and language
that are dying, insufficient for “intelligent” conversation of mod-
ern concepts, and representative of barriers to learning (for re-
view see Lipka & Ilutsik, 1995) American Indian students have
been as much harmed as helped by research that applies con-
cepts defined by mainstream experience, worldview, and lan-
guage to traits observed in students not raised with the same
denotations for those concepts. Linda Smith’s Indigenous
Methodologies (1999) is an incredibly popular text used across
anthropology, history, education, American Indian studies,
cross-cultural studies, and women’s studies courses as much for
its discussion of research methodology as its commentary on in-
digenous world view. In setting for a series of 32 research pro-
jects that were developed by indigenous researchers using their
“native” world views, Smith has created the basis for turning the
hierarchical organization of mainstream research on its side . . .
leveling the presumed differences between “researcher” and
“researchee.” Andrea Smith’s Conquest (2005) also detailed
projects embedded in and developed through an indigenous
world view that allows for the true voice of community to meet
its own needs.

There is a need for such research to continue, widen, and
be supported by local communities. There is a need for Amer-
ican Indian scholars and citizens to work with their communities
in conducting research in a respectful manner and in a way that
benefits the community as much as it benefits the researcher. To
this point, many Indian nations have created formal and infor-
mal Internal Review Boards (IRBs) and policies that are far more
stringent than those found in most universities. Even if the IRB
process is an informal one, no researcher may do research
within the jurisdiction of a Indian nation without first visiting
with the tribal council and verifying that the research being pro-
posed is one that the nation sees as desirable. These processes
and policies developed because European and Euro-American
researchers failed to develop a sense of ethics when it came to
doing research in Indian communities. That need persists today.
SUMMARY
We have addressed the historical and contemporary frames of
reference used by American Indians to define identity, role, and
gender. We have focused our effort in an explanation of Amer-
ican Indian philosophical thought and the juxtaposition of spir-
itual and earthly identity in life. We have stressed that attempts
to discuss the indigenous ways of being as Western ways of
[AQ29] thinking create images that underrepresent the variety and vi-
vacity of diversity among Indian nations both historically and
contemporaneously. We have shown that, despite tremendous
difficulty in overcoming their educational backgrounds, limita-
tions for publication, and constant disparagement on the part of
Euro-American publicists, agents, and academics, American In-
dian women have continued a long tradition of acting up, speak-
ing out, and resisting the constant pressures to become invisi-
ble. In doing so, we also speak for many of our American Indian
male colleagues and urge them to act up, speak out, and resist
as warriors for the seventh generation. We recognize that the
differences between us are based on ways of thinking within the
institutions in which we work, and we see these as antithetical
to healthy physiological and psychological outcomes for Indian
nations. The dialogue between both genders in academe is as
necessary as it is in our communities.
Indian women—and increasingly men—who are concerned
with gender equity issues, also focus their concerns on their fa-
thers, uncles, and sons, as the impact of education, imprison-
ment, and suicide affects the entire community There is a recog-
nition that one life is a thread in a much larger fabric necessary to
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