THIS SECTION INCLUDES WORK IN PROGRESS MANUSCRIPTS FROM MY RESEARCH

MY RESEARCH

From Theory to Reality

STATISTICALLY UNDERPOWERED AND OVERLOOKED: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION ANALYSIS OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL OUTCOMES FOR NATIVE AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS

The primary objective of this study was to address the lack of empirical quantitative research on what it means to be Native American and thrive in a post-secondary environment through the lens of transculturation. Transculturation is a theory that celebrates the educational and cultural success of Native Americans with a strong cultural identity being the catalyst for this achievement. To gather data, 1,066 American Indian, Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Canadian First Nation college students took part in an instrument validation study. This data leads to the following four themes: family and tribal support were invariant and constant; whereas on-campus support mechanisms were not; students who were socially isolated (non-transculturated) had significantly lower levels of perceived levels of support than their non-socially isolated (transculturated) peers; and on-campus support mechanisms were significant predictors of grade point average, persistence, cultural reciprocity, and cultural resiliency. The implications of these findings will be useful for institutions of higher learning who are interested in increasing retention and promoting the academic and cultural success of their Native American college students.

IS INSTITUTIONAL INCLUSION INCLUSIVE IN NAME ONLY? GIVING A VOICE TO LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, TWO-SPIRIT AND QUEER AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVE COLLEGE STUDENTS

Previous research on the experiences and perceptions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) college students often silences the voices of LGBTQ+ people of color or fails to acknowledge the intersectionality of cultural and sexual identity. Utilizing data from the 2014 Native American College Student Study (Marroquín, 2017) this study examines perceptions of social isolation, on-campus support mechanisms, family support, and tribal support perceptions for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, and queer (LGBTTQ) undergraduate and graduate students across cultural and academic outcomes. Findings reveal that institutional and faculty support were significant predictors of persistence and cultural reciprocity; family, tribal, institutional, and social support were significant predictors of cultural resiliency. Additionally, there were significant differences between socially non-isolated LGBTTQ and socially isolated LGBTTQ participants for perceptions of support (e.g., tribal, family, staff, institution, social, and faculty support). Findings indicate family and tribal support were the most constant sources of support with most of the variability of support residing between institutions.

AZÚCAR NEGRA: HOW IMPERIALISM, COLONIALISM, AND NATIONALISM BIRTHED THE THEORY OF AFRO-CUBAN AND NATIVE AMERICAN TRANSCULTURATION

Far too often, researchers and scholars viewed Native American education through the lens of assimilation under the false idealization that for Natives to succeed academically, assimilation must occur (Van Hamme, 1996). Before the 1980s, non-Natives conducted most of the Native American research applying western methodologies, thus silencing the voice of the Indigenous people, which resulted in the acquiescence of Native American cultural customs in educational success. This manuscript represents a conceptual work that stresses the need to move beyond using assimilation, which was born from imperialism and colonialism, and other cultural deficit models as a theoretical lens when assessing Native American educational achievement. By applying Fernando Ortíz's (2003) transculturation model, conceived out of racial tension in Cuba, and Huffman's (2001, 2008, 2010, 2011) extension of Ortíz’s model to better understand the cultural and academic success of Native American college students, this paper illuminates the colonialist-imposed histories for both Afro-Cubans and Native Americans. Additionally, in this paper, I will expound on both Ortíz's and Huffman’s model to elucidate how vital cultural identity and cultural learning is to Native Americans. Additionally, this paper calls for the paradigm shift of employing the term cultural genocide when referring to the Forced Assimilation practices of the U.S. Government.