Time-traveling through land and sea: unearthing the past to cultivate seeds of present and future solidarity

Abstract

In order to understand our present and future work in planting the seeds of solidarity, we excavate the past, through an exploration of transnational solidarity and the vestiges of U.S. legislative policy and philanthropy. Through life notes and sharing circles, we examine policies (Morrill Act of 1862, Refugee Act of 1980, and the Gates Millennium Scholars Program of 1999) that shaped our experiences as researchers, benefactors, and peoples of lands. Through a process of truth-telling and time traveling, we explore questions, tensions, and contradictions of our histories, our place in this world, and our interconnections with each other. We offer seeds that recognizes the juxtaposition of solidarity, a knowing of others’ deep history, perplexing the abject and magical, and clairvoyance reflexivity. The work examines how we bond in difference and in the struggle, in qualitative research and in our lives.

Keywords:

• Qualitative reflexivity
• solidarity
• time-traveling
• life notes
• sharing circles

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We chose to not capitalize all the headings, to visualize “signage” when embarking on a time-traveling journey. We see the usage of headings as a demarcation on a journey that is written on a sign for readers/travelers and their orientation through this piece. Thank you for joining us.

2 Education to civilize Native children was rooted in assimilation policies to teach Eurocentric ways of life to Native peoples.

3 I state non-Tribal universities to distinguish from Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) that have another unique relationship with the federal government and Tribal Nations.

4 These numbers are not accurate. There were more deaths that were unaccounted for, connected to the cover up (lies) of abuse and genocide.

5 Tucson, the name is derived from the O’odham term Cuk-son which refers to the bottom base of the mountain that is darker.

6 Some of these Tribal names mentioned here and in the Lee and and Ahtone (2020) work are not the way Tribal Nations refer to themselves today. Listed are the names as they were called at the time of cession.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amanda R. Tachine

Dr. Amanda R. Tachine is Navajo from Ganado, Arizona. She is an Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership & Innovation at Arizona State University. Amanda's research explores the relationship between systemic and structural histories of settler colonialism and the ongoing erasure of Indigenous presence and belonging in college settings using qualitative Indigenous methodologies.

Pooja R. Patel

Pooja R. Patel is a PhD student in Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education. Her research focuses on issues of public policy and finance and their impact on college access and affordability for historically marginalized students in higher education. An Afro-Cuban American scholar,

Amalia Z. Daché

Amalia Dache is an associate professor at theUniversity of Pennsylvania. Dr. Dache's major research areas are postcolonial geographic contexts of higher education, Afro-Latina/o/x studies, community and student resistance, and the college-access experiences of African diasporic students and communities.