Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • When preserving culture turns to shaming

    To preserve culture, especially language, elders and leaders in Native American communities often rely on shaming. Although this practice has proven to be an effective method in some instances, it is not without its limitations.

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  • Historic Recordings Revitalize Language For Passamaquoddy Tribal Members

    In 1890, an anthropologist used an early audio recording device called a phonograph to record three spokesmen for the Passamaquoddy tribe singing songs, telling stories, and pronouncing simple words. After years of efforts to eradicate Native American culture and language, these recordings were found again and shared with modern-day members of the Passamaquoddy tribe, who now use it to transcribe, interpret, and add to their cultural knowledge. The songs and stories have already begun making their way back into tribal events.

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  • Minneapolis hoop dancer giving life lessons 

    Hoop dancing, an activity with origins in indigenous dance traditions, can provide a means to physical fitness and child development. In Minneapolis, a professional hoop dancer is using this knowledge and his skill to teach others at the University of St.Thomas Anderson Student Center how to utilize the practice to improve their own lives.

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  • In Montana, challenges abound for students, but new solutions are emerging

    Several courses offered at colleges throughout Montana are using storytelling that is founded in cultural competency to better connect students with their heritage. This effort is part of a larger project that aims to raise graduation rates by implementing support systems for students. Other offerings include block scheduling and career and technical education certificate programs.

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  • Four officers, no weapons, no charges: A Yukon First Nation's solution for keeping the peace

    The people of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, in Canada’s Yukon, have improved safety and defused some of the tensions with Royal Canadian Mounted Police by forming their own unarmed community safety officer corps focused on helping rather than law enforcement. The four-officer team patrols the streets and responds to domestic disturbances and other incidents traditionally handled by police. But they also run errands for residents, mediate disputes, and provide a variety of health and social-service functions.

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  • Bok choy and bread fruit: How traditional crops fit a food secure future

    Organizations like Ho’oulu ka ‘Ulu are reintroducing small-scale farmers to breadfruit — a traditional Hawaiian starchy fruit that fell out of style following the rise of plantation farming and colonialism. Growers are taught how to cultivate and sell the fruit, and their network of now 200 farmers are helping to keep part of their culture alive. Similarly, in California a Food Roots program connects farmers growing traditional Asian produce like bok choy to local businesses and markets to provide accessibility to culturally relevant fresh produce.

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  • The Indigenous Guardians of the Amazon Rainforest

    The Guardians of the Forest is an indigenous volunteer group who patrols protected areas of the Amazon rainforest being destroyed by illegal logging. Volunteers seek out and destroy logging camps, chase loggers off the land, educate locals about the harms, and advocate for government resources. The loggers use violence, but the Guardians use non-violent techniques to protect uncontacted tribes, stop deforestation and species extinction, and protect indigenous culture. Despite federal obstacles, some local officials express a desire to integrate the work of the Guardians into official conservation efforts.

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  • The Burlesque Group Reclaiming Indigenous Sexuality

    Changing stereotypes surrounding sexuality for indigenous women requires addressing the underlying issues of culture, colonization, and identity. The Virago Nation burlesque collective, based in Vancouver, CA, blends indigenous art with sexually empowering performances. The group strives to help indigenous women find a voice and reclaim their sexuality.

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  • These Indigenous Women Are Reclaiming Stolen Land in the Bay Area

    The Sogorea Te Land Trust is an intertribal women-led organization that is working to reclaim ownership of land in the Bay Area that Ohlone people have lived on for centuries. They regained access to the land through a partnership with another local grassroots organization called Planting Justice, who will eventually hand over the land to Sogorea Te for free once it is fully paid off. Sogorea Te believes that the root of a lot of Indigenous problems is the dispossession of their land, so they hope to use this land to rebuild resiliency and a way of life for and with their people.

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  • How Drones and GPS Are Helping Indigenous People in Ecuador Save the Amazon

    The indigenous Cofan community in Ecuador, battling miners and other seeking to use their ancestral land, have a new tool to fight them: mapping. By working with non-profits who trained locals to use data and GPS technology, the Cofan now map the environmental resources worth protecting. They are using this data to make the case for why the land should stay in their hands.

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