A grandmother teaching fishtrap building by actually building one while telling a story provides a model and criteria for success in teaching Nlakapamux children, the most important criterion being the presence of cultural experts--grandmothers. Role-modeling, storytelling, and hands-on experience combine theory and practice and provide a mnemonic…

Discusses a cultural exchange program at Northwest Indian College, run by Washington state's Lummi Tribe, designed to provide indigenous communities in Latin America with tools and information to protect their cultures from extinction. Highlights projects with Mexico's Lancondone Tribe and the Pehuenche, in Chile. Discusses future projects. (AJL)

Survey of 124 vocational rehabilitation (VR) counselors in 14 states examined characteristics of American Indian and Alaska Native VR clients with alcoholism or drug abuse problems, aspects of the counselor-client relationship, VR services provided, minimum period of sobriety required, counselor training and training needs, and ratings of…

Describes the influence of the Progressive Education movement, with its emphasis on experiential learning and community schools, on Bureau of Indian Affairs schools during the 1930s. Discusses the subsequent development of bilingual education programs for American Indian students and offers recommendations for improving the education of Navajo…

Focus groups or interviews with 31 family members and 8 adolescents from minority communities investigated barriers families encountered as their adolescent youth with disabilities move into adulthood. Barriers included insensitivity/discrimination, lack of accommodations, and unresponsive services. Survey findings from 308 parents were consistent…

In the late 19th century, camps in the Adirondacks responded to concerns that the American character was softening. Much camping philosophy came from the progressive movement in education. Aspects of Indian culture were adopted because they seemed to fit naturally in the Adirondacks, and children loved them. Adirondack camps have always been…

Asks the question, what is it that tribal colleges are doing that might explain their success in retention of high-risk students? Discovers three ways that the family support contributes to the retention: coordinated system of social services; incorporation of cultural-familial values, knowledge, and traditions throughout the institution's…

Examines reasons why, in spite of high rates of poverty, drug use, and mortality, some Native American students thrive--a survival mechanism that scholars have named cultural resilience. Reports that the Family Education Model, developed at tribal colleges, aims to include families in campus events and reduce negative impacts of family…

Offers resources for the study of cultural resilience. This term, used in American Indian culture theory, suggests that traditional culture can help to overcome oppression, abuse, poverty, and other social ills. Offers annotated reference to 19 books, articles, Internet sites, and other publications. (NB)

A professor giving a lecture/performance on Native American history to Mexican American second-graders wrestled with the limits of what he could tell the children about their own Native American identity and about Our Lady of Guadalupe's origin as Native goddess. The relationship between postcolonial scholarship and performance theory is explored…

Stresses the importance of U.S. history textbooks containing information that is accurate, realistic, and comprehensive, noting that while there are increased portrayals of Native Americans in today's history textbooks, portraying them in a stereotypical manner that suggests a single type of Indian culture is inappropriate and may affect students'…

A $140,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities has allowed Heritage College (Washington) to develop a set of courses that incorporate literature and philosophy from Hispanic and American Indian traditions, as well as from Western and non-Western cultures in a thematic approach to the humanities. (DB)

Questions theoretical frameworks established by past research thought to explain the minority student college attrition rate. Finds the unexplained attrition (possibly influenced by unknown factors) of American Indian students to be 50 percent relative to the Anglo population, despite controls for differences other than ethnic origin. Indicates…

Reports on a study of occupational stress among 30 American Indian, Hispanic, and White teachers at a reservation school. Concludes that, regardless of race or sex, major sources of stress were inadequate salary, lack of professional recognition, and time management problems. Contains 22 references. (SV)

Explored effects of Native-American undergraduate students' (N=84) cultural commitment on preference for ethnically similar counselors. Found degree of cultural commitment significantly affected preferences for counselor ethnicity as well as expectations about counseling, in that subjects reporting strong commitments to culture expected more…