Indigenous Education and Empowerment

Indigenous people have often been confronted with education systems that ignore their cultural and historical perspectives. This insightful volume contributes to our understanding of indigenous empowerment through education, and creates a new foundation for implementing specialized indigenous/minority education worldwide, engaging the simultaneous projects of cultural preservation and social integration. A vital work for scholars in Native American studies, ethnic studies, and education.

Indigenous people have often been confronted with education systems that ignore their cultural and historical perspectives. Largely unsuccessful projects of assimilation have been the predominant outcome of indigenous communities' encounters with state schools, as many indigenous students fail to conform to mainstream cultural norms. This insightful volume is an important contribution to our understanding of indigenous empowerment through education. The contributors to this volume work in the fields of education, social development and community empowerment among indigenous communities around the world. Their essays create a new foundation for implementing specialized indigenous/minority education worldwide, and engage the simultaneous projects of cultural preservation and social integration. This work will be vital for scholars in Native American studies, ethnic studies, and education.

1 Acknowledgments 2 Introduction: Seeking Common Ground Through Education: An Introduction 3 1. Athabaskan Education: The Case of Denendeh Past, Present and Future 4 2. Four Directions for Indian Education 5 3. Deconstructing Captivities: Indigenous Women Reshaping Education and Justice 6 4. Decolonizing Athabaskan Education: Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Denendeh 7 5. Hear the silenced voices and make that relationship: Issues of Relational Ethics in Aboriginal contexts 8 6. Identity Formation among Indigenous Youth in Majority-Controlled Schools: Palestinian Arabs in Israel 9 7. Education, Culture and Nation Building: Development of the Tribal Learning Community and Educational Exchange 10 8. TalanoaMalie: Social and Educational Empowerment for Tongans by Tongans in the 'Pasifika' Education Proposal 11 9. Articulating Indigenous People' Culture in Education 12 Index 13 About the Authors