Hózhóogo Naasháa Doo (In Beauty I Walk): Reflections Along a Critical Indigenous Pedagogical Pathway

• In Event: Place, Pathways, Persistence, and Protection in Schooling

Abstract

Despite Indigenous scholars increasingly articulating a Critical Indigenous Research (CIR) paradigm (Brayboy, 2005; Grande, 2008; Kovach, 2009; Smith, 1999; Wilson, 2008), for many Indigenous scholars trained in Western academic traditions, engaging with and articulating this paradigm shift is often fraught with tension and turmoil. As a Diné scholar, my research process balances such tensions through CIR and the Diné concept, Hózhó. This paper will discuss my reflections along this Indigenous pedagogical pathway—from how it manifested within my dissertation's conceptual framework, to how it continues to illuminate my scholar-practitioner work. This paper shares my CIR pathway with the hope that it brings to light and life a new way of being, a Hózhóogo Iina’ (Beauty Way of Life).

Author

• Nizhoni Chow-Garcia