| dc.description.abstract | “The beaver doesn’t try to be like the bear or the buffalo, he knows who he is . . . and he is proud of who he is” (Big Dog, 2012). The aforementioned quote depicts how this author interpreted the identities of his sample of ten purposefully selected Native Americans and exemplified their wish to remain who they are. These contemporary warriors illustrated the ability to transculturate in a non-Indigenous world and to accomplish what had been forced upon their ancestor’s centuries earlier. Despite the invasion on North American soil and the near extinction of the Indigenous American through attempted genocide, colonization, assimilation, forced education and religion, these Native American advanced degree holders have illustrated an adept ability for walking in two worlds; indigenous and western. Emergent themes of family, spirituality, culture, and resilience were all influential in these participants’ stories as they successfully negotiated their way through a western-European educational paradigm while illustrating how Indian Reservations, code switching, boarding schools, and Native American Culture and Ceremony were major components in construction of these themes. This Native American researcher utilized both western and indigenous worldviews in ascertaining emergent themes through an Indigenous qualitative research methodology. The researcher’s theory of a conflict between acculturation and enculturation to have apparently juxtaposed meaning from pre-European to post-European invasion represents a data-grounded vision. This possible paradigm shift for the above theoretical position initiates a call for additional research. Historically, the Native American has seen traumatic distress of disease, high suicide rates, low socioeconomic status, loss of Indigenous language, and academic disparities and may be related to identity theft and could suggest inability to succeed by this underserved group of tribal college affiliates. However, literature instills the importance of the historical aspect and the calamity endured; yet each participant was able to successfully achieve advanced degree attainment. The stories of these Native Americans demonstrated their understanding of successes in western education systems from the vantage point of timeless knowledge and Native value systems. “I would rather not be anything else. I want to be Native. I’m so glad that the creator made me Native” (Mshkiki, 2012). | en_US |
