NPP: Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, Educators, & Scholars (Olympia)

In Native Pathways Program: Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, Seekers, and Thinkers, students will trace the history of cultural education, US government Indian education & schooling, and the ascent of Indigenous Studies. We will look at cultural knowledge keepers before and outside of the concept of Western schooling and examine early knowledge workers who sought to influence formal education such as Sarah Winnemucca and Zitkala Ša. This program will explore historical and contemporary attempts to impose assimilation practices on Native populations based on federal policy and education reorganization, including boarding schools, progressive reforms, and community education in the context of self-determination. By engaging with educational theoretical frameworks, we will imagine the next phase of meaningful education reform in Indian County from an Indigenous/ist perspective. How can the history of imposed schooling be transformed? How can education be made relevant for Native and non-Native students? How can formal education support traditional cultural values? We will read foundational and contemporary Indigenous scholarship as we explore the answers to these questions and build on fundamentals of Native and Critical Indigenous studies. As Indigenous scholar Sandy Grande says, "The hope is to imagine political/pedagogical strategies that go beyond simply resisting settler relations of power and work to re-center formations of knowledge, not contingent on the management or control of imperial interest, but rather enhance well-being." By considering the history and consequences of education, students will think through the theory and practice of schooling--and education more broadly--with an eye towards liberation and sovereignty as epitomized by "survivance" and resistance within the academy.

The Native Pathways Program (NPP) meets on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6-9:30pm at various “site” locations. All site students will meet at the House of Welcome Longhouse on the Olympia campus for one Saturday quarter welcoming and orientation and two full weekend intensives Saturday Orientation: January 10th Weekend 1: February 7 and 8th Weekend 2: March 14 and 15th (Saturdays 10am - 6pm and Sundays 10am - 3pm)

Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:

4 - Native American and Indigenous Studies: Introductory to Advanced

4 - Education: Introductory

4 - Community Studies: Introductory to Intermediate