Abstract

Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) are educational institutions owned by Native American tribes intended to address the failure of the education system to support Indigenous students. Significant research has been done on the value of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) and on TCUs, but little has been done to examine whether and how TCUs implement CSP. This study aims to fill that gap by examining teaching at Chief Dull Knife College (CDKC), a tribal college on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. Interviews were conducted with eight white faculty members and four Cheyenne administrators at CDKC. Analysis of the interviews revealed that the instructors saw building personal connections with students as the foundation of teaching at CDKC and that they engaged in attempts at individual adaptation and structural change to support such teaching. The Cheyenne administrators found these efforts valuable, but suggested that more needed to be done to foster a connection between the white faculty members and the Cheyenne community and culture. Ultimately, this study reveals that instructors at CDKC are attempting to implement CSP, but that there are still gaps in that implementation. The interviews suggest that further structural changes are needed at CDKC to better support CSP and ensure that students are receiving the support they need to succeed.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Sociology

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2022-08-03

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd12515

Keywords

culturally sustaining pedagogy, tribal colleges, Chief Dull Knife College, teacher learning, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, interviews, institutional change

Language

english

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