Year of Award
2024
Document Type
Professional Paper
Degree Type
Master of Arts (MA)
Degree Name
Psychology
Department or School/College
Clinical Psychology
Commitee Members
Duncan Campbell, PhD, Co-Chair, Anisa Goforth, PhD, Co-Chair, Salena Beaumont-Hill, PhD
Keywords
Indigenous Research Methodology, Cultural Matching, Identity Safety, tribal epistemologies, two-eyed seeing, Niitsitapi
Abstract
Native American and Alaska Native (NA/AN) persons are resilient and have learned to overcome the intergenerational effects of colonization and find new ways to be Native American and Alaska Native in this contemporary life. Learning and well-being are integral values for Native American and Alaska Native people, but finding an appropriate way to approach education and learning can be difficult for Native American and Alaska Native people, especially when historically, the colonial-based systems have been created for them to fail. Because cultural matching and identity safety (CM/IS) for Native American and Alaska Native people in other environments (e.g., psychotherapy, child-welfare system, mentoring roles) have been found to support well-being and identity, they are likely to be quite helpful in in educational settings, too. Using an Indigenous Research paradigm, the purpose of this study was to identify culturally matched and identity safe practices that allow for Native American and Alaska Native youth to feel comfortable within school settings. Seven Native American participants were asked to share their stories about their K-12 experiences of CM/IS. Some of the components of the findings were grounded within reciprocity, community, coding, internalization, and an application on the participants current life. Overall, the findings include three major elements to CM/IS environments in academic settings which are the lack of CM/IS, presence of CM/IS, and future of CM/IS. Each of these elements have subthemes that had an incredible depth of experiences based off the participants stories.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Ashton T., "CULTURAL MATCHING AND IDENTITY SAFETY IN K-12 SCHOOLS: AN INDIGENOUS RESEARCH PARADIGM" (2024). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12389.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12389
© Copyright 2024 Ashton T. Smith