Indigenizing the 21st Century Classroom
Paul McKenzie-Jones, Ph.D.
Paul is Assistant Professor of Native American Studies at MSU Northern. His
research and teaching focus is on critical
intersections of race, indigenous identity, contemporary issues, cultural
traditionalism/revitalization/fluidity, and trans-national indigenous
activism in the 20th and 21st centuries. His first book, Clyde Warrior: Tradition, Community, and Red
Power, was published by University of Oklahoma Press in 2015.
Indigenizing the 21st century
classroom
This OER showcases the use of
tools such as twitter, blogs, and other forms of social media, as a project for
increasing cultural awareness in the classroom. These tools create spaces in
the classroom for culturally responsive engagement between Native and
non-Native students. Using contemporary indigenous activism as the focus of a
semester-long project, I will discuss the steps taken to enable students to
explore contemporary Native issues from indigenous perspectives. The
‘real-time’ environment of social media enables the students to engage with
multiple indigenous perspectives in a pro-active, rather than passive, manner.
The OER will also show how this exploration leads to increased student
intellectual awareness and engagement with the indigenous world around them.
Access the OER here: