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“A World in which [Alaska Natives] Make the Important Decisions”: Re-examining Institutional Discourses and Governance in Higher Education

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Handbook of Indigenous Education

Abstract

This chapter examines key public discourses at the University of Alaska (UA), with a focus on strategic governance as related to the shaping of physical landscapes and “intellectual thought worlds” for Indigenous peoples. Our work is informed by Indigenous higher education scholarship as well as critical and decolonizing methodologies. We begin by discussing the Indigenous origins of the landscape currently occupied and governed by the University of Alaska, Troth Yeddha’ (“Wild Potato Hill”) – a resilient and continuing reclamation discourse. This is followed by an examination of the Alaskan cultural and higher education contexts, including formation of the UA system, current governance structures, and the institution’s publicly stated responsibilities to Alaska Native students. We discuss the formation of Alaska Native Studies Council, and the positioning of Alaska Natives in advisory and student support organizations including Rural Student Services, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Native Education, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES). Our analysis engages global recommendations by UNDRIP as related to Indigenous higher education with a focus on how place, identity, and Alaska Native Ways of Knowing participate [in] and influence governance strategies, programs, and objectives.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Olga Paniik Skinner

  2. Department of Alaska Native Studies, University of Alaska Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, USA

    Beth Ginondidoy Leonard

Authors
  1. Olga Paniik Skinner
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  2. Beth Ginondidoy Leonard
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olga Paniik Skinner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Elizabeth Ann McKinley

  2. Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand

    Linda Tuhiwai Smith

Section Editor information

  1. OISE, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    George Sefa Dei

  2. Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Jean-Paul Restoule

  3. Dept. of Indigenous Education, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Jean-Paul Restoule

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Skinner, O.P., Leonard, B.G. (2019). “A World in which [Alaska Natives] Make the Important Decisions”: Re-examining Institutional Discourses and Governance in Higher Education. In: McKinley, E., Smith, L. (eds) Handbook of Indigenous Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3899-0_33

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