This article describes the history of the Native nations' ability to adapt to their surroundings in order to survive and preserve their cultures. Today, the tribal colleges and universities are employing a variety of methods to preserve culture and maintain Native identity. Large and small TCUs across North America are incorporating the…

From their inception, tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) have played a special cultural as well as educational role in Native communities. These dual roles are integral to the preservation of American Indian language and traditions, as they open the door for future generations to acquire and perpetuate cultural knowledge. The American Indian…

In this article, the author discusses the history and practice of "star quilt" making. The star quilt has become synonymous with the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, home to the Assiniboine and several bands of Lakota and Dakota. Receiving a quilt is considered a great honor and often takes place at powwows, funerals, memorials, and even…

In North America, and worldwide, Indigenous languages are disappearing at an alarming rate. There are, however, models of success for language revitalization in immersion language programs, usually found in tribal colleges and universities. Whether the language learners are tribal college students greeting one another in their native language,…

Fort Belknap Indian Reservation's food system typifies that of many rural communities. Most food is grown and processed hundreds or thousands of miles away and transported long distances before it reaches the local grocery shelf. Like oil and gas, food prices are largely determined by international commodity markets driven by global supply,…

In response to his kindness, Roger Bollinger was exposed to an ugly side of history. Like most Americans, Bollinger was blissfully unaware of the painful story of American Indian boarding schools. A civic-minded and concerned citizen, he supports education and cultural understanding. Such sentiments moved him to donate to Haskell Indian Nations…

Linda Taylor (Dine) raises sheep and horses, creates sculpture, paints, teaches traditional weaving classes, hunts solo for elk and deer, and volunteers at the Methodist Thrift Shop. In the past, she has also cared for Native children in need, and she is currently applying to foster a Navajo girl. On weekends, she sells bales of hay at the…

Fort Belknap College President Carole Falcon-Chandler does not fluently speak the "A'ani" (White Clay) language, but her granddaughter does. The girl, one of the 12 students in the White Clay Language Immersion School located on the college campus in Harlem, Montana, is part of the next generation of fluent A'ani speakers. The language immersion…

Why would anyone want to spend thousands of hours away from home and pay hundreds of dollars in tuition to acquire one of the world's most difficult languages? For Anishinaabe people, that is an easy question to answer. The Ojibwe language is the thread that ties communities together and unites all Anishinaabe as one people sharing a common…

Of the 37 tribal colleges and universities in the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, 33 are tribally controlled--located on Indian land and chartered by tribes. In governance and funding, the four intertribal colleges differ from tribally-controlled colleges. Institute for American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for example,…

In March 2005, the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota catapulted into national headlines when Jeffrey Weise shot five students and four adults at the local high school and then turned his weapon on himself. In the same year, it was reported that some 20 young people had committed suicide on the Standing Rock Reservation in Fort Yates, North Dakota.…

The article offers the author's comments on the Niitsitapi Education Program initiated by Red Crow Community College in Canada. The program was aimed at promoting Kainai knowledge and culture as the basis for student learning. The program was widely appreciated by students as well as their parents. It was harder than the regular teaching program…

Across Indian Country, people can hear voices speaking ancient words, in a Cochiti extended family in New Mexico, a Navajo community school on the Arizona desert, a Native Hawaiian kindergarten, a Salish/Kootenai summertime ceremony, on the North Dakota plains, and in a Blackfeet math classroom in Montana. Unlike other language instruction…