Teaching from the Land: Indigenous Educators and the Transformation of Teacher Leadership

• In Event: Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual iPresentation Only: Division K - Section 02: Teacher Agency, Activism, and Leadership Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

This study highlights the leadership, activism, and agency of 11 Indigenous educators in tribal and non-tribal schools who reclaim education as a site of sovereignty, healing, and justice. Using Indigenous Research Methodologies and collaborative ethnography, we explore how educators resist colonial schooling through relational pedagogies grounded in language, land, and community. Guided by Tribal Critical Race Theory and Contextual Interaction Theory, we identify three themes: (1) storytelling and language reclamation as decolonizing praxis; (2) land-based teaching as political presence; and (3) collective leadership in confronting institutional tokenism. These educators act as transformative leaders demanding structural change. The study calls on teacher education programs to move beyond inclusion toward solidarity, relational accountability, and liberatory, community-rooted practice.

Authors

• John Kambutu, University of Wyoming

• Lydiah Nganga, University of Wyoming