Liberating Sovereign Potential Through (Re)Placing: Revisiting an Education Capacity-Building Model for Native Nations

• In Event: (Re)Placing Rural Education: Unpacking Place at the Intersections of Rural and Indigenous Education

Abstract

This conceptual paper is a part of the ongoing development of a “working” capacity building model for Native nations in education. Originally published in the Journal of School Leadership in 2020 (Author), this working model is intended to help educational leaders working in or around Native communities conceptualize a systems level leadership framework which builds educational capacities of Native nations to be more involved in the education of their citizens. Conceptually, the model rests on the assumption that the sovereignty of the 570+ Native nations in the US offers vast potential (i.e., sovereign potential), yet the status quo power dynamics found in and across our systems has limited the educational leaders of Native nations’ abilities to realize that potential. When working to cultivate equitable education systems for the 21st century, there is a need to (re)center our thinking around the priorities of Native nations so that we might find ways to better respond to the needs of our native students - a demographic the US educational system continues to fail.

Specifically, this model calls for leaders to a) assess the educational landscape and identify community assets, b) foster professional growth across systems, and c) engage in systems development and alignment. This model has not yet been explicitly connected with place-based scholarship in rural and/or Indigenous education. Therefore, this paper works to connect this model with the relevant scholarship on place, and place-based education in a manner that places Indigenous cultures and languages, as well as intellectual and political sovereignty of Native nations, front and center when defining place.

Author

• Alex Red Corn, Kansas State University