DAY 2 | 9:30am-10:30am | Ballroom E
| ALESIA NEZ (Navajo/Diné), 4th Year Undergraduate Student at Washington State University
This poster aims to explore the implications of an important data gap within Native nations. Little data exists about tribal citizens who have recently attained a higher education degree. Do educated tribal citizens have a sense of belonging when returning home to their reservations? I will explore this question and the implications it has as it relates to tribal governance and tribal belonging. Anecdotally, many tribes struggle to understand this issue and it can be better understood with more data. Currently, the available data on this issue is expressed through an individualistic perspective when we should be asking the collective, that is all tribal citizens of a Native nation why? Therefore, we must examine why western education is so difficult to accept in Tribal Government? And why do Tribal citizens assume western education is inadequate for Tribal Government and formation?
I rely on current statistics to highlight the existing data gap. Additional data is needed to understand this issue. I will provide insight from personal experiences as to why I left home to pursue my education and the backlash that I, and others, experienced when visiting or returning home. With this context, we can then start to ask how can Native nations improve this issue? How can we increase Indigenous student belonging within their own Native nation? Moreover, how can the Tribe ensure, through policies, that Indigenous students come back to fulfill important roles that help increase the capacity and tribal governance of their nation without the backlash?