A four-year study focusing on American Indian infants and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome found education to be the key to reducing the higher-than-average death rate among Indian infants. Casual factors included overbundling of babies, lack of prenatal and well-child care, poverty, lack of transportation to hospitals, and prenatal smoking and…

Describes how George Burdeau (Blackfeet) got into filmmaking from an activist perspective, with a desire to correct Hollywood stereotypes and to empower tribal people by communicating their vision and power to the world through film. Discusses the usefulness of mentoring in training Native American film crew members. (TD)

Interviews with Native American mental health and social workers discuss how Native mental health problems are related to historical trauma and chronically inadequate mental health services. Elements of culturally relevant mental health services include locally delivered workshops, kinship foster care, tribal elders, spirituality, and Native care…

Promising practices were shared during the American Indian School-to-Work Conference (Seattle, Washington, May 2000). Successful programs included such elements as emphasis on Indian cultural values, partnerships with local businesses and tribal colleges, cooperation among Indian school-to-work programs, community service, and connections to…

On a tour of Cuba, Native scholars from North and South America reconnected with the "extinct" Taino people and shared their knowledge of traditional healing herbs. Western science is just beginning to validate the tremendous knowledge base that indigenous healers have developed--most indigenous medicinal knowledge is useful for finding…

Diabetes is a prevalent disease in the United States. The emergence of Type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents within the American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities brings increased public health and quality of life concerns. In this article, the authors describe an initiative titled "Diabetes Education in Tribal Schools K-12…

Studies have established the beneficial role of engaging students in research at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Authentic research experiences serve as a tool for instruction where students are actively involved in the process of discovery, the scientific method, and advancing existing fields with scientific data. Further, students…

"Chronicle of Higher Education" presents an abundant source of news and information for college and university faculty members and administrators. This July 23, 2004 issue of "Chronicle of Higher Education" includes the following articles: (1) "Waking up from the American Dream" (Abramsky, Sasha); (2) "The Well-Tempered Seminar" (Parini, Jay); (3)…

The process of describing existing services for American Indian and Alaska Native children with serious emotional disturbance by the Circles of Care strategic planning initiative is overviewed. We explain why service system description is important and how it helped define the role of evaluation within the initiative. Primary goals and…

In this article, the author describes a program of Eastern Cherokee ancestral language restoration in Cherokee, North Carolina. One of the primary goals of the program is to enhance the self-concept of the children and motivate the students to experience academic excitement and success. The use of authentic legends and stories is one method…

Sexual abuse is a profound stressor that complicates the development and health of adolescents, yet its prevalence has been difficult to estimate among adolescents in school populations. This study explored the prevalence of both incest and nonfamily abuse in 2 cohorts of adolescents in Minnesota in the 1990s (1992: N = 77,374; 1998: N = 81,247).…

This construct for collection development as it relates to Native American resources utilizes Thomas Mann's "Library Research Methods" (1993) concepts of the Traditional Model, the Actual-Practice Model, and the Principle of Least Effort to organize recommendations for both strategies and resources. The three-pronged hierarchical approach to…

This paper discusses bilingual education model types in South America with a special focus on the Andean region, and examines the recent language planning decisions by one Ecuadorian indigenous group to formally instruct Quichua as a second language in community schools. Specifically I argue that this type of localised planning--which promotes an…

The use of stories to teach character is popular among educators, yet little is known about student comprehension of these stories. An important factor that may influence comprehension of stories and story themes is culture. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which students from a Native American culture understand…

One hundred thirty-seven Native American college students currently attending a tribal college were surveyed regarding their life-role salience and career decision-making self-efficacy. Also included was an examination of students reason for attending college. Findings revealed that although participation, commitment, and value expectations for…