ÓLTA’ SILÁAGI DINÉ BI’ÓHOO’AAHÍGÍÍ BEE NÍJÍTŁ’Ó – REWEAVING SCHOOLING USING DINÉ BI’ÓHOO’AAH: DINÉ LANGUAGE AND CULTURE REVITALIZATION-FOCUSED SCHOOLS

Abstract

For much of the history of schooling of Indigenous peoples in North America, the enterprise of education has largely been aimed at divesting us of our ways of knowing and being (Grande, 2004, 2008). Today, though, some schools strive to make Indigenous language and knowledge integral to the experience of schooling. In efforts to (re)Indigenize education, some educators are revisiting and redefining what education means for Indigenous communities (Garcia et al., 2021; Lee & McCarty, 2017; Shirley, 2017, 2021). While some communities are implementing schooling with significant levels of Indigenous languages and knowledges (Goodyear-Ka‘opua, 2013; Hermes & Kawai‘ae‘a, 2014; Kawai‘ae‘a, 2012; White, 2009), these situations are far from the norm, especially in Diné communities. Currently, more research is needed to shine light on important aspects and impacts of these programs. Knowing more about schools with significant focus on Diné language, knowledge, and lifeways, can help us understand the potential for such types of education and how they can impact the lives of Diné people. This study centers on schools that have a significant focus on Diné language, culture and/or lifeways, identifying elements that relate to the schools’ abilities to contribute to maintenance and revitalization of Diné language, knowledge and lifeways, and the considerations for, challenges to, and factors critical to success in, their implementation, while also highlighting why students and families choose them, and the roles that they play in people’s lives. In partnering with, two Diné schools the study answers the following questions: 1. Why do some families and students choose these kinds of schooling? 2. For schools that provide education significantly grounded in Diné language, knowledge, and/or lifeways, what are the complex range of elements that relate to the schools' abilities to contribute to maintenance and revitalization of Diné language, knowledge and lifeways? What challenges do schools face in implementing these forms of education (and how do they navigate these challenges)? What factors contribute to schools successfully implementing these forms of education? 3. What roles can/do these schools play in the lives of students, families and communities? 4. What are key factors that Diné and Indigenous people should address as they consider the potential of such schools to contribute to Indigenous language and culture maintenance and revitalization? Using a Diné-grounded Indigenous research paradigm and critical Indigenous theories in a case study, this dissertation drew on interviews, collaborative talking circles, and observations with students, families, educators and community members, as well as analysis of documents, pictures, and self-reflexive journaling, to incorporate many perspectives around these schools. It showed that myriad elements, including both those commonly associated with instruction and learning, and others dealing with oversight, evaluation, resources, relationships, and values, affect the abilities of schools to contribute to maintenance and revitalization of Diné language, knowledge and lifeways. It underscored the powerful effects that both systems in which the schools operate, and the people who drive the schools, have on their potential contributions, showing that hegemonic schooling systems continue to constrain the levels to which schooling can be grounded in in Diné Bi’Óhoo’aah, while also showing that Diné educators and families adapt to, resist and refuse systems’ mechanisms of control to provide the most Diné-grounded learning experiences that they can, making the schools powerful vehicles for maintenance and revitalization of Diné language, knowledge, and lifeways.