Creating valuable indigenous learning environments

ABSTRACT

Indigenous governments are growing in size and strength. As a result, indigenous issues are becoming more frequently and prominently in the public administration landscape. Whether it is natural resource management, culturally appropriate foster home placements, or eradicating known drug trafficking routes that cross tribal jurisdictions, there are a multitude of ways that federal, state, and local public managers may encounter indigenous issues. Incorporating indigenous learning environments into public administration programs will not only serve to further the needs of indigenous students, but will also strengthen public administration programs as a whole. Our method for creating a learning environment that embraces indigenous students is to incorporate indigenous issues into the core curriculum, include indigenous ways of knowing into the program, provide for indigenous focused student assessment, and ensure cultural appropriateness. This four-pronged approach will ensure that an indigenous valued learning environment is part of any public administration program.

KEYWORDS:

• Curriculum
• governance
• indigenous
• native

Notes

^1. One of the authors is an indigenous person with extensive experience working in various federal public administration capacities.

^2. While this legal principle is well established for federally recognized Native American tribes, it less clear for Native Hawaiians. Numerous federal statutes and policies treat Native Hawaiians akin with tribes; however, a trust relationship outside of each specific statute’s context has yet to be definitively established.

^3. Coincidentally, indigenous governments that take advantage of the ISDEA tend to provide their citizens with increased employment opportunities, thereby increasing the standard of living of the entire community (Ferguson et al., 1988).

^4. Discussion of the indigenous workforce is complicated by the fact that much of the data collected lumps those who identify as indigenous plus one other ethnicity into the “multiracial” category. Furthermore, while Native Hawaiians are one of the largest indigenous ethnicities in the United States, they are not federally recognized and thus are excluded from the Native American category. Given that approximately 60% of indigenous people report more than one race, the Native American and Native Hawaiian categories are likely underrepresented.

^5. We defined lower-ranked positions as GS 1-11.

^6. See Appendix B for a list of readings on indigenous and tribal governance and their suggested topic areas in an Introduction to Public Administration course.

⁷ The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development can be accessed at http://www.hpaied.org. The Native Nations Institute is located at http://nni.arizona.edu.

⁸ Please see Appendix A for a more detailed description of the assignment.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lorinda Riley

Lorinda Riley is an instructor in Public Administration/Justice Administration at the University of Hawai‘i, West O‘ahu. Her research focuses on indigenous governance, tribal justice systems, and the regulatory process.

Morgen Johansen

Morgen Johansen is an associate professor in the Public Administration Program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her research focuses on the effects managerial behavior on social equity and performance outcomes.