AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Brookney C. Gondara for the degree of Doctor of Education in Education presented on April 13, 2005 Title:Testimonio: Ne'aahtove Listen to Me! Voices From the Edge - Educational Stories of Northern Cheyenne Women. Abstract approved: Redacted for Privacy The purpose of this research was to hear the stories of Northern Cheyenne women's educational experiences using the method of testimonio, a method culturally aligned and academically appropriate for use among indigenous people. The researcher, also a Northern Cheyenne tribal member used testimonio based on its roots in resistance literature and as a means of perpetuating cultural survival in the face of contemporary cultural and racial genocide. The Northern Cheyenne use oral history and storytelling to perpetuate and influence cultural survival. The primary significance of the stories was based on what other Northern Cheyenne women hear in the voices in the story that impact their own educational journey, achievement and success. Secondary impact will be what the teller's family and community hear in the stories and then what those outside the reservation community hear. The theoretical foundation of the research focused on the literature of the following areas: colonization and genocide; oral history and storytelling; collective voice, the plural self, voice and empowerment and roles in healing historical trauma; American Indian education and Indian women's experiences with education. The research includes the testimonios of six Northern Cheyenne women gathered on or near the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. The findings suggest that the following story threads were significant to Northern Cheyenne women in their educational journeys and experiences: spirituality; family especially grandparents and parents; cultural traditions- especially language and ceremonies; cultural values of honesty, integrity, generosity, hard work; value for land, cultural pride and identityeven when it's fragmented or a struggle to maintain; Cheyenne lifewaysmeals, cooking, gathering, hunting, singing, spending time with family, and social events; the opportunity of access to higher education; living between two worlds; remembering our past history and using it as a guide for now and the future; and finally thinking of future generations. The findings suggest the tools needed for Northern Cheyenne women to succeed academically and educationally, already inherently exist in Northern Cheyenne social and cultural structures. Continuing to deconstruct the barriers and tenets of oppression will fully allow a rebirth of these cultural concepts and practices strengthening Northern Cheyenne society and education. ©Copyright Brookney C. Gondara April 13,2005 All Rights Reserved Testimonio:Ne'aahtove Listen to Me! Voices From the Edge - Educational Stories of Northern Cheyenne Women by Brookney C. Gondara A DISSERTATION submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education Presented April 13, 2005 Commencement June 2005 Doctor of Education dissertation of Brooknev çGondara presented on April 13. 2005. APPROVED: Redacted for Privacy M Redacted for Privacy Redacted for Privacy I understand that my dissertation will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature authorizes release of my dissertation to any reader upon request. Redacted for Privacy Acknowledgements First and foremost, this work is dedicated to all my grandmothers who came before me and whose presence I sensed around me through this entire project. Their spirits and life's journeys served as inspiration and support that drove my educational journey to completion. This work is also dedicated to those Northern Cheyenne women who honored me by sharing their stories with me Myrna, Carlene, Betty, Rubie, and Tana we are bound as Northern Cheyenne women. I am grateful to your families who also opened their homes to me while we shared stories and our culture. Thank you for shaping who I am as Northern Cheyenne woman words are not enough. I thank the Creator Maheo for bringing my family and me through the Community College Leadership Programthrough good times and bad, through thousands of miles of travel, great expense, financially, emotionally and geographically. I am grateful Maheo for you always bringing me back around to intuitively knowing this project would be completed through patience, diligence and faith in the Cheyenne workings of the universe. I ask for abundance and health in the tribal community and that this work will be shared in a good way with those who need to hear the stories. This work has also been enhanced by our walk in the Sundance world and the growth and healing that takes place there. Many, many ha ho's. I am grateful and I am blessed, Maheo. I also dedicate this work to my two daughters, Zoe and Destinee. May you both know that following your passion and using the talents the Creator has blessed you with is the only true course you can follow in this life. When we don't this course, is when we are not well. I am blessed and honored to be your mom. Thanks for putting up with all the time this has taken, for not being too difficult or hard on your dad for cooking "easy food" while I was gone, for getting up and getting yourselves to school while he drove me to the airport, and for cutting me some slack over missing a band concert or soccer game once or twice. Continue to grow in beauty. Please strive to know who you are, in all the pieces of your identity and be the strong women you are intended to become. I love you. To Hohevhetne, my husband Robbie, best friend, dissertation special assistant there simply aren't words in English and the Cheyenne ones weren't taught to us, to express what is known and I know our spirits and hearts speak the same language. It has defied explanation how we got from the beginning to here. My soul belongs to you. Ha ho. However, I must acknowledge the concrete, which I have the words to do thank you for your babysitting and for generally holding down the fort, for driving services, escort services, countless cups of coffee (not always the good kind either, Town Pump coffee is not Portland coffee) and good red wine when needed. I wouldn't have made it through without your broad shoulder for crying, your hands for holding, and your arms for hugging. You were needed for ink cartridge changes and unclogging paper jams in the printer. You gave three and half years of your life too. We did it! To Cohort 10 thank you for wisdom, guidance, nurturance and insight. The meals and walks at Silver Falls have been missed and I loved being a girl of cabin eight in the woods for two years! Our sleepovers and chats mean the world to me. I must generously acknowledge my committee, Dr. Betty Duvall, Dr. Kurt Peters, Dr. Lani Roberts, Dr. Larry Roper, and Dr. Liza Kueckeryour support and direction of this project has been constructive, intellectually challenging and grounded. Your willingness to consider my position on and my use oftestimonioas a method continues to break new ground for indigenous thinking and scholarship. Ha ho. Indigenization within academia is critical and you have supported deconstructing oppression by your actions and support of my educational growth and achievement. To Sterling, the Great Gray Hunter Cat, you've been by my side since the beginning. You deserve credit in this process. What would I have done without all your screen blocking techniques, your knowing just when to walk across the keyboard to delete misspellings or warming printing papers? Your wise eyes have led me to believe you've been around before and not as my cat. You do know the secrets of the universe, you just won't tell. You are a great friend who comforted me in the rough middle time of last year and being alone in that house trying to get this project done. To Bitsy T. Arnold Eisenhower, the boxes of dissertation books and drafts needed you to sit upon them and keep care of them, too. Welcome to the family. To my sisterplease finish. It doesn't have to mean going back to Dartmouth. Do it for you. You are smarter than I am. Thank you for sharing your babies with me and make sure they go to college, okay? To my Dad, you have been a role model for me by getting a Master's degree. I have a love for education and learning from you. To all the significant teachers along my pathMrs. Zink, Mr. Gildroy, Mrs. Brower, Mr. Patrick, Dr. Kamos, Dr. Kuecker, Dr. LaCounte, Dr. Nowlin, Dr. Copa, Dr. Stiehi, Dr. Prickel, thanks for keeping me connected and engagedit is how I survived. Dr. Tennison Hailey thanks for showing me the door that day at Chief Dull Knife Collegemay Maheo keep and bless your spirit now that you have traveled on. To Oregonwell here we are! The Beaver State is my second home and the Community College Leadership Program brought me back here. Portland, I love you and keep weird. To Dr. Jill Black your work opened the research world to me and I never looked back. You changed my life forever through your research project. Jeanne Alderson, atestimoniosister in the least expected placethank you for your encouragement and understanding. Along the way Luana Ross, Yolanda Martinez, and Cassandra Manuelito- Kerkvlietyou've touched and inspired me through your work and words. Women of color must keep together out here and we must keep advancing our perspective. Maheo bless each of you in your endeavors. It's the Cheyenne Way to thank everyone, but I will end here. TABLE OF CONTENTS