Fostering Tribal-University Partnerships

• In Event: Unsettling Higher Education Contexts: Indigenous Approaches to Building Educational Solidarities and Decolonizing Research Relationships

Abstract

Drawing from a multiple illustrative case-study on the nature of relationships between public universities and American Indian tribes in California, this paper presents a culturally relevant community-campus framework to guide universities in fostering and fortifying partnerships with local Native Nations. Marrying scholarship on Indigenous research partnerships from the fields of science learning, health science, environmental justice, and teacher education with the perspectives of senior university leaders, American Indian staff, and, more importantly, tribal members, I offer ten tenets for enhancing and advancing relationships at the organizational level, including respect, reciprocity, responsibility, relevancy, rapport, and resources. The aim of this framework is to forward educational partnerships between universities and tribes, and by virtue reimagine higher education for Native Nation building.

Author

• Theresa J. Stewart-Ambo, University of California - San Diego