Confronting History and State Policy Through Educational Sovereignty, Tribal Critical Race Theory, and Indigenous Communities

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Interracial Solidarity, Educational Possibilities (Table 29)

Abstract

In a 2018 decision, Martinez and Yazzie v. State of New Mexico, the court ruled that the state was violating New Mexico students’ constitutional right to a sufficient education and that the state must invest in the programs and services necessary to close opportunity gaps and fix deep inequities for low-income, Native American, English Language learner students, and students with disabilities. This paper provides an overview of the contentious racial history of curriculum policy and practice from the late 19th to 21st centuries culminating in the political positioning of culturally relevant curriculum in the 2018 ruling. The second part examines responses from Indigenous Peoples to the minimal measures taken by the state to implement the ruling.

Authors

• Glenabah M. Martinez, University of New Mexico

• Leola Paquin, University of New Mexico