Indigenous Educational Sovereignty and Culturally Responsive, Sustaining, and Revitalizing Pedagogies: A Seven-Generations View

• In Event: Imagining and Enacting Indigenous Futures: Sovereignty, Self-Determination, and Education

Abstract

Objectives/Purpose. The goals of this presentation are to (1) articulate a framework for Indigenous educational sovereignty and self-determination, and (2) illustrate both constructs with enactments of culturally responsive, sustaining, and revitalizing pedagogies (CRSRP). We take a “seven-generations” view that re-members (wa Thiong’o, 2009) past sovereignty enactments to inform present challenges and possibilities for thriving Indigenous futures.

Perspectives/Theoretical Framework. Understanding Indigenous sovereignty requires drawing from theoretical and methodological approaches in education (Authors, 2005, 2014, 2021, 2025; Bang et al., 2014; Lee, 2015), history (Blackhawk, 2024), law (Coffey & Tsosie, 2001; Deloria & Lytle, 1984), and Indigenous Studies (Barker, 2006). We define sovereignty as a People’s inherent right to self-government, including self-education (Deloria & Lytle, 1984; Lomawaima, 2000; Wilkins & Lomawaima, 2001). Self-determination is the enactment or praxis of sovereignty. This definition moves away from defining sovereignty simply as a legal/political framing tied to the U.S. Constitution and moves toward a “long view” (Smith et al., 2019), looking backward and forward through multiple generations. To illuminate both constructs, we draw on the rich body of literature on Indigenous culturally responsive, sustaining, and revitalizing pedagogies (Authors, 2008; 2021; Demmert et al., 2006; Ladson-Billings, 2021; Paris & Alim, 2017). These connections allow us to generate a more nuanced understanding of Indigenous educational sovereignty.

Methods/Modes of Inquiry and Data. We draw on autobiographical and biographical accounts by and of Indigenous Peoples in North America and our own praxis-based ethnographic work with Indigenous communities, schools, and university-Indigenous nation partnerships. These datasets include large, long-term studies, data collected for specific initiatives with Indigenous students and communities, and ethnographic data from local schools and classrooms.

Results/Findings. Our findings indicate that Indigenous Peoples have adapted to create the conditions for students, schools, and communities to thrive. They have done so not through assimilation, but by centering cultural and linguistic practices in schooling and family/community environments. Data from multiple studies across diverse Native contexts show that when students are engaged in learning that is married to Indigenous community-driven cultural and linguistic knowledge and norms, they are more successful in school, their communities, and throughout life.

Significance. This paper builds on decades of research to illuminate answers to the following questions: How might taking a seven-generations view of sovereignty, self-determination, and CRSRP create opportunities for learners to critically reflect on power and privilege, and thereby imagine and act for a just democracy unencumbered by coloniality? How can Native students’ assets be activated for this purpose and the wellbeing and thrivance of their communities and nations? How might this reimagining re-member roots and grow transformative futures? The research allows us to build on what we have learned in the past and to create new ways of naming what has happened, and is happening, in Native communities where centering language and culture enables individuals to thrive in school, community, and life. Concrete strategies emerge from these findings that can be taken up across Indigenous communities and beyond.

Authors

• Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, Northwestern University

• Teresa L. McCarty, University of California - Los Angeles