Academic Family: Reconceptualizing Mentoring for American Indian and Alaska Native Graduate Students

• In Event: Roundtable Session 46
  In Roundtable Session: Relating to Each Other as Family: Indigenous Education Communities

Abstract

This theoretical paper expands upon mainstream mentorship models while considering the Indigenous experience in graduate education. The theoretical framework used in this paper includes critical race theory, tribal critical race theory, red pedagogy, and decolonizing methodologies. The methods used in the development of this manuscript are those that are useful when coupled with Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. The data sources include the literature as it relates to mentoring in higher education, the authors personal experience, and individual conversations with others engaged in higher education. An alternative mentoring model is introduced with the goal of improving American Indian and Alaska Native success. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are considered.

Author

• Sweeney Windchief, Montana State University