Caring for many objects is one of the more challenging aspects of the museum profession. In museums that collect cultural belongings, utilizing best care practices ensures that objects of cultural heritage can be studied and appreciated by the peoples whose cultures they represent. Thus, providing collections care is necessary to support learning…

While Montana teachers are tasked with including American Indian culture when teaching science, barriers exist, such as no knowledge of American Indian cultures or low efficacy for teaching science. In an exploratory study, survey responses were collected from elementary (K-8) preservice teachers in a science methods course about their perspective…

The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, houses the works of the ethnomusicologist Frances Theresa Densmore, including a collection of more than 2,500 American Indian songs she recorded between 1907 and 1941. Approximately 260 of Densmore's cataloged recordings were made at the Standing Rock Reservation in the Dakotas between 1911 and…

Each August, Sugpiaq Elders, community members, and educators gather in Cape Alitak to host Akhiok Kids Camp, a week-long culture camp that provides a space for local Sugpiaq youth to learn and carry forward traditional lifeways and promotes youth's self-esteem, identity, and healthy choices. This article traces the legacy of the camp and outlines…

Culture plays a large but often unnoticeable role in what we teach and how we teach children. We are a country of immense diversity, but in classrooms the dominant European-American culture has become the language of learning.

When 50 Midwest teachers in two public schools and one Reservation school worked in respectful, knowledgeable, and power-sharing ways with local Indigenous elders, artists, and academics, the outcome was often culture-based arts education that teaches against the grain. This collaboration and the culturally responsive pedagogy it inspired led to…

Darrell Robes Kipp was a Blackfeet elder who was a national leader in the language immersion movement. He co-founded the Piegan Institute, and its schools have become a model for those seeking to preserve and promote their native language. In addition, he served as a Visiting Native American Scholar at Oklahoma State University. In that role, he…

To determine if Navajo language classes made a difference in students' lives, thirty Navajo language and culture students were selected to be interviewed. The students selected were those who were in the language and culture programs in the elementary, middle and high school. The focus was to find out the students' perspectives on Navajo…

Indigenous scholars such as Seminole/Shawnee historian, Donald Fixico, drew attention to the lack of academic literature about the proactive, planned, and strategic actions of indigenous peoples. Most histories portray indigenous peoples as responding, accommodating, and assimilating to non-Indians and the US government. This article highlights…

The article presents a student-impact assessment of a model two-year place-based intercultural approach to indigenous education. Students at Lewis & Clark Primary School in Missoula, Montana, connected face-to-face with tribal educators and members residing in the nearby American Indian reservation. The program's learning outcomes included…

Like art, ethics can be a complex and scary mirror that forces us to consider, practice, and profess specific choices that speak to who we are and what we value. The author of this article observes that confronting specific ethical dilemmas within her work with young people has brought various tensions to the forefront of her practice as a…

Describes Elderhostel programs for adults aged 60 and older that immerse participants in American Indian culture and daily life and include formal cultural education. Includes two examples: the Hopi Mesa program sponsored by Yavapai College (Arizona), and Navajo programs sponsored by Northern Arizona University. (SV)

Responds to controversies over the 1992 New York exhibit by the National Museum of the American Indian. Discusses the museum's role as institution of living culture rather than exhibitor of "artifacts" or scientific specimens, the exhibit's aim of promoting intercultural dialog, and the right to define one's own cultural identity as a…

This exhibit guide summarizes interpretive texts from the exhibition of Algonquin arts and craftwork assembled by the Folk Arts Program of the BOCES Geneseo Migrant Center in western New York. The Algonquin people migrate to fur farms near East Bloomfield and Holcomb, New York for fall pelting from late October through December. The image of the…

This paper is an explanation of the music of nine ceremonies of the Sioux Indians that are recorded on tape in the Library of Congress. The purpose and description of the ceremonies are given here, as well as an explanation of who is singing the songs, and when they were recorded. Some of the songs included are for the Sun Dance, Braves Dance,…