DECOLONIZATION OF THE MIND A STRATEGY TO IMPROVE NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY DECEMBER 2018 BY Hannah Rarden Kivalahula-Uddin Dissertation Committee: Marie Iding, Chairperson Michael B. Salzman Lois Yamauchi Warren Nishimoto Julie Kaomea Keywords: historical trauma, phenomenology, hermeneutic phenomenology, oral history, decolonization, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, community psychology In MEMORY of the BELOVED GRANDMOTHERS Naomi Tobin, Elsie McCloud Capoeman, and Perlina Ellen Rarden ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The war for Indian children will be won in the classroom. — Wilma Mankiller Thank you to everyone who has helped me in my educational journey. It is with deep appreciation that I thank the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, especially, our honored Puyallup tribal council members. Thank you Chairman, Mr. Bill Sterud; Vice-Chairman, Mr. David Z. Bean; Mr. Tim Reynon, Mr. James Rideout, Ms. Sylvia Miller, Ms. Annette Bryan, and Ms. Anna Bean for encouraging and supporting me in my educational journey. My research is my gift back to you, our tribal community, and our ancestors, for everything the tribe has done for me and my family. Your support for my educational journey has made this degree possible. I feel a deep sense of gratitude for my oral history participants. Your willing participation made my research possible. It was my pleasure to meet with you, listen to you, and record what you had to say. Sharing your life story with me was deeply meaningful and will be saved in our historical preservation office for future generations. For my dissertation, I interviewed 12 Puyallup tribal elders and featured eight elders whose life stories best informed the phenomenon under study. Thank you to Shirley Satiacum, Ramona Bennett, Henry John, Larry Reynon, Teresa Harvey, Peggy McCloud, Nancy Shippentower-Games, Raymond McCloud, Susan Dillon, Ron Wrolson, Sharron Nelson, and Connie McCloud. I also want to thank Linda Earl for being willing to be interviewed by my research assistant, Lianna Johnson. All of the interviews were rich in Puyallup tribal history and traditions. Your life experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and memories helped me arrive at new understandings about attaining academic achievement for our Puyallup tribal learners. My time spent with you will always be a special memory. Thank you for welcoming me and being a part of my doctoral research. iii Thank you to Dr. Michael B. Salzman for believing in me and welcoming me into the Department of Educational Psychology. You enlightened me with your wisdom and taught me about the philosophy of culture, and why it’s important in our lives. I am forever grateful to you. Thank you to Dr. Nicole Lewis and Dr. John (Jack) Barile for teaching me about education program evaluation. Thank you to Dr. Warren Nishimoto for teaching me about phenomenological oral history. Most of all, thank you to Dr. Marie Iding for being my advisor and dissertation committee chair. You helped me beyond measure. Your kindness, wisdom, and helpfulness will be always be remembered. I am forever grateful to have had you as my committee chair and professor. You have become such an important person in my life. Deep felt gratitude to my dissertation committee: Dr. Michael B. Salzman, Dr. Marie Iding, Dr. Lois Yamauchi, Dr. Warren Nishimoto, and Dr. Julie Kaomea. Your expertise, guidance, and support have been helpful and appreciated. Your insights and recommendations helped me write a dissertation that will make a positive difference in Indian Country. Thank you to the early teachers and professors who inspired me along this path, beginning with my high school tenth grade teacher, Mr. Dave Mathews. You were the only person to encouraged me to go to college. Without you, I would have never gone. Thank you, Mr. Mathews. Thank you also to Dr. Kathryn Mitchell-Pierce, Dr. John Borsa, and Dr. John Armenia. Your encouragement to someday work on a PhD means more than I can express. A heartfelt thanks to my daughter, Lianna Johnson, for working as my qualitative research assistant. Thank you for coming along, helping me every day, transcribing, analyzing the data, and writing a summary of the findings. Most of all, thank you for being with me and sharing this experience. Your presence made every day a joy. Thank you to my son, Steven Johnson, for always being positive and a source of support and kindness. I love you both iv endlessly. I look forward to seeing where your educational journeys take you. You can do and accomplish anything in this life. A special thank you to my parents who have been a source of support and encouragement. Thank you all for your love and care. The deepest heartfelt acknowledgment and thanks goes to my husband, Sharif. You have been my encourager, helper, proof-reader, inspiration, and hope. You are my love, my life, the sun in my world, the happiness in my day. I am forever grateful to you for helping me along this journey. Without you, I would not be here. You have changed my life in so many ways. I love you Sharif. You make me happy every day of my life. I thank God for the life we share. May the Creator always be with you, protect you, and take care of your family. To my ancestors… this work is for you and your loved ones. To all my relations. v ABSTRACT For American Indians, education was the weapon of mass destruction. It obliterated their Indigenous identities, destroyed their families, culture, and traditional ways of life. The history of violence and genocide inflicted upon America’s Indigenous peoples have continued to cause adverse psychological and physical effects. Native American students are underachieving and have the lowest graduation rates of all racial ethnic groups. The central research question for this qualitative study is how does intergenerational historical trauma impact the educational journeys of Puyallup tribal members? The goal of this study was to provide insights into the impact of intergenerational historical trauma upon eight Puyallup tribal elders and to discover possible relationships with their educational journeys and life choices. This study utilized the research strategy of phenomenological oral history. The use of this approach is culturally compatible and thus would be considered honorable within our culture. The findings indicated that three of the elders who received educational encouragement during their life were the only ones who studied beyond high school. The three who did not receive encouragement dropped out of high school. Two elders spent their careers working in Indian Education and they suggested what elements should comprise a tribal school staff development training program focused on teaching about the importance of culture and the intergenerational effect of historical trauma upon our students, families, elders, and ancestors. The goal of their suggested tribal school staff training is to provide staff members with the tools they will need to create a positive and nurturing educational environment that honors and emphasizes our traditional ways, so our students will develop positive attitudes about learning while strengthening their Indigenous identities leading to greater personal success and academic achievement. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION…………………………………………………………….………………….… ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………….………….… iii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………….… vi TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………………….... vii LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………….……………………….…. xiii LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………………………… xiv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………….………………... 1 Statement of the Problem……………………………………………….……………… 2 Purpose of the Study………………………………………………….………………... 4 Significance of the Study……………………………………………….……………… 5 Limitations of the Study…………………………………………………….………….. 6 Quality Indicators and Use of Peer Review...……………………………….…………. 7 Positionality Statement……………………………………………………….………… 8 Through the Eyes of a Spuyaləpabš (Puyallup) Tribal Elder……….….………. 10 Explanation of Terms……………………………………………………….…………. 11 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE………………………………….…………. 14 The Historical and Political Context of Education……………………….……………. 14 Colonization……………………………………………………………………………. 14 Frantz Fanon…………………………………………………………………… 15 Education – The Weapon of Mass Destruction………………………………... 16 U.S. Educational Policies that Supported Colonization………….………….… 18 U.S. Laws that Supported Historical Trauma………………………………….. 18 President Ulysses Grant’s Peace Policy……………………………………….. 21 Indian Boarding Schools……………………………………………………….. 23 Puyallup Tribal Indian Boarding Schools……………………………… 25 Historical Trauma Theory……………………………….……………………………... 27 Indigenous Identity…………………………….………………….………………….… 28 The Responsibilities of Culture……………….………………………….……………. 31 The Need for a Cultural Worldview……………………………………………. 32 vii Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy…………………………………………...…. 32 Spirituality, Religion, and a Fear of Death…………………………………. 33 Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory…………………………………….... 34 History of Loss and Death for Native Americans…………………………………... 35 Death Affirming Climate…………………………………………………… 35 Terror Management Theory…………………………………………………..…….. 36 Terror Management Theory and the Need for Culture………………..……. 36 Decolonization………………………………………………………………...……. 38 Strategies for Decolonization of the Mind………………………………….. 38 Poka Laenui’s Decolonization Steps………………………….….….