Cherokee Worldview and Growth Mind-Set

• In Event: 28.090 - MTCC Roundtable Session Nine
  In Roundtable Session: 28.090-7 - International Indigenous Narratives of Liberating Literacy and Nation-Building

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explain how Cherokee Worldview concepts of Tohi Gadugi and Duyukdv, communicated through Cherokee Stories that can be shared with children and youth, are very similar to the messages a popular psychology idea, Growth Mindset, is sending to educators and students in K-12 schooling. This paper hopes to demonstrate that Cherokee ways of thinking about learning predate this Western “idea” of Growth Mindset by examining stories that have been told for generations within Cherokee households. This paper recommends that when adopting Growth Mindset, or other similar programs, into K-12 schools with high Cherokee or Indigenous populations it is imperative that cultural connections become a part of the adoption framework.

Author

• Carrie Ann Rogers, Western Carolina University