A Beautiful Struggle: Two Diné Female Perspectives on the Administration of Diversity in Higher Education

• In Event: 63.085 - MTCC Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: 63.085-10 - Decolonizing and Indigenizing the Academy to Honor Indigenous Approaches to Education

Abstract

What are the experiences of Native women serving as administrators of diversity in higher education? How do their cultural perspectives contribute to those experiences? The intent of this paper is to explore how the authors—two Diné women—navigated the challenges and opportunities of integrating principles of Hózhó (a Diné understanding of harmony) and K’é (a Diné concept of kinship) into the administration of diversity efforts at mainstream institutions of higher education. Using Indigenous storywork as a methodology, the authors analyze how their worldview identities assumed a new and empowered form, as they engaged administrative work from Diné female understandings of Hózhó and K’é.

Authors

• Charlotte Elizabeth Davidson, Independent Scholar

• Nizhoni Chow-Garcia, California State University - Monterey Bay