Names, Sovereignty and Higher Education: An Autoethnography

Authors: Tsiawentonnih George, Daniel McLane

SUNY Campus: SUNY Canton

Presentation Type: Oral

Location: UUW 324

Presentation #: 3

Timeslot: Session B 10:15-11:15 AM

Abstract: As a Mohawk Kanienʼkéha woman, I am a statistical outlier for my presence, and my persistence, at an institution of higher education in the United States. This autoethnography seeks to better understand the social forces that result in the relatively low percent of Native students at colleges and universities and the relatively high percent of those that begin college not completing their degrees. I use the theoretical tools developed by Amanda R. Tachine (2022) to illustrate the ways that structural forces are experienced by Native students and the cultural resources those students may also possess that can help them succeed. My educational path has not been a straightforward one, including dropping out of college, before returning last year. Conducting an autoethnography allowed me to identify which cultural resources I drew upon as I returned to college and began work to increase a sense of sovereignty for Native students at my home campus. Along with my professor and another Mohawk student, I created educational resources for our campus on the importance of names for Indigenous students and developed campus programming to highlight Mohawk and Haudenosaunee culture as living and vibrant. Tachine’s language of Systemic Monsters and Indigenous Weapons allowed me to better understand the highs and lows of my journey perhaps this autoethnography may show a path forward to other Native students.