Foundation 1: Understanding Place-based Epistemologies

Overview of Foundation 1: Place-based epistemologies center knowledge that values the meaning of space, place, and land. We recognize that each community and individual carries complex understandings of space, place, and land. However, we often forget to engage a place-based sensibility when engaging in higher education scholarship. This foundational section focuses on introducing place-based scholarship for new and returning learners.

Scholarly Engagements: Place-Based Epistemologies

• Dias, V. (2016). In the wake of Matapang’s canoe: The cultural and political possibilities of Indigenous discursive flourish. In A. M. Robinson (Ed.), Critical Indigenous studies: Engagements in first world locations (pp. 119-149). University of Arizona Press. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/37015731/Diaz_2016_In_the_Wake_of_Matapangs_Canoe
• Spoon, J., & Arnold, R. (2012). Collaborative research and co-learning: Integrating Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) ecological knowledge and spirituality to revitalize a fragmented land. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture, 6 (4). Available at: https://journal.equinoxpub.com/JSRNC/article/view/4658
• Wildcat, M., McDonald, M., Irlbacher-Fox, S., & Coulthard, G. (2014). Learning from the land: Indigenous land based pedagogy and decolonization. Decolonization: Indigeneity, education, society, 3 (3), 1-25. Available at: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/22248/18062

Editorial:

Of Deserts and Decolonization: Dispelling Myths About Drylands

Video:

Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Integrating Western Sciences into Indigenous Knowledge Systems

Reflection Questions

• How do we understand place?
• What does it mean to be in relationship with place?
• How do we engage with place as visitors?
• How do we engage with place responsibly and respectfully?

Additional Resources

• Goodison, L. (2010). From Harvey River: A memoir of my mother and her island. Atlantic Books Ltd.
• Ingersoll, K. A. (2016). Waves of knowing: A seascape epistemology. Duke University Press.
• Kanahele, P. (2005). I am this land, and this land is me. Hūlili: Multidisciplinary Research on Hawaiian Well-Being, 2(1), 21-34.
• Kimmerer, R. W. (2013). Braiding sweet grass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.
• McCoy, K., Tuck, E., & McKenzie, M. (Eds.). (2017). Land education: Rethinking pedagogies of place from Indigenous, postcolonial, and decolonizing perspectives. Routledge.
• Negrón-Muntaner, F. (2006). Bridging islands: Gloria Anzaldúa and the Caribbean. PMLA, 121(1), 272-278.

Foundation 2: Southern Nevada and the Las Vegas Valley Context Resources

Overview of Foundation 2: The enduring presence of diverse communities and knowledges in Southern Nevada provide a foundation to understanding the richness of the area. The University of Las Vegas - Nevada (UNLV), through the stewardship of Dr. Claytee White, developed a series call “We Need To Talk” to start a conversation around race and racism in the Las Vegas Valley. We encourage learners to watch the videos to gain a greater understanding of contemporary and historical communities in the Las Vegas Valley.

Contemporary Context

• Video Panel: We Need to Talk Series
• Video: Putting Las Vegas on the Map
• Nevada Tribal Land Map
• Census Data: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/lasvegascitynevada

Historical Context

• Boarding School Era Video
• Lecture: A Community Forum: Reckoning with Nevada’s Boarding School Past
• Performance: We Danced, We Sang, Until the Matron Came

Civil Rights Era

African American Civil Rights Experience in Nevada - Historic Context

Reflection Questions

After learning more about Nevada’s diverse communities, what lessons can be taken back to your institution? What areas of knowledge can you further investigate to help you develop your place-based sensibilities in higher education scholarship?

Overview and Goal of Lesson

In late 2020, Assemblywoman Natha C. Anderson, D-Sparks, along with a strong group of Indigenous community members introduced Assembly Bill 262, which waives Nevada state college tuition for Native tribal members living in Nevada. In June 2021, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak signed the bills into law. Across the United States, institutions and states are implementing policies and passing laws to improve college affordability for Indigenous students. While this practice gains momentum, there exists a need to develop a deeper understanding of how these policies are connected to larger higher education conversations.

In this lesson, learners are introduced to the historical and contemporary connection between paying for college and Indigenous student experiences. Learners can also analyze how the enduring Indigenous presence within Southern Nevada provides valuable knowledge to inform equity, inclusion, and justice in higher education. This lesson could be used by individuals interested in learning about student financial aid, the history of higher education, and Indigenous student experiences. This lesson centers the question of: How can college affordability, through tuition waivers, become more commonplace in higher education?

Keywords:

• Indigenous Students
• Student Financial Aid
• History

Scholarly Engagements

Nevada Context:

• Essential Understandings of Nevada Indian Education
• Nevada Tuition Waiver

College Pathways:

• Report: National Study on College Affordability for Indigenous Students
• Podcast: Financial Aid is More Than Money
• Newsource: NPR - Colleges are making tuition free for Native Students

Discussion Questions

• While tuition waivers are one step to improving college access for Indigenous students, what are other higher education policies and structures that need to be addressed for equity to be achieved?
• How does the notion of “on stolen land” reshape your understanding of the history of higher education within Nevada and other regions?

Additional Resources:

• Changing the Narrative - Student Loan Debt by Chris Nelson, Amanda Tachine, and J.D. Lopez
• Native Presence and Sovereignty In College by Amanda Tachine
• Beyond the Asterisk - Understanding Native Students In Higher Education by Heather J. Shotton, Shelly C. Lowe, and Stephanie J. Waterman

Overview and Goal of Lesson

This lesson will introduce learners to the context of education in the Las Vegas Valley, Southern Nevada, and the broader Mountain West. Learners will gain a deeper, multi-layered understanding of issues in this region. This lesson can be used to further support, challenge, and implement educational policies that will promote the educational advancements and successes of individuals and various marginalized and minoritized communities in the Las Vegas Valley and Southern Nevada. To do so, close attention must be paid to the educational attainment, enrollment, and completion of college-going individuals in these areas. This lesson centers the question of:

How do the geographic, socio-political, economic, and cultural features of the Las Vegas Valley and Southern Nevada influence educational access, opportunity, and attainment in the region?

Keywords:

• College Access
• College Persistence and Completion

Scholarly Engagements

• College Attainment: Horsford, S. D. (2016). Race and education in the Mountain West: Charting new territory in America’s racial frontier. In Race, Equity, and Education (pp. 155-173). Springer, Cham. Available here.
• Nehls, K., Schneider, H., Espinoza-Parra, O., Hines, J., Tyler, T. (2017). College Pipeline Issues for Students of Color in Southern Nevada. Policy Issues in Nevada Education, 2, 1-14. Available here.
• Minority and Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Martínez, M. (2015). Organizational change through Nevada's emerging Hispanic-serving institutions. New Directions for Higher Education, 2015 (172), 19-28. Available here.

Video

Professors' Circle Fall 2021: What Do We Mean by “Minority Serving Institution?

News Source

What is a Hispanic-Serving Institution, and what does becoming one mean for the University?

Discussion Questions

• What policies, interventions, and practices can address educational inequities in the Las Vegas Valley and Southern Nevada?
• As institutions become minority-serving institutions, what lessons can be learned from Nevada’s context?

Additional Resources

• Horsford, S. D., Sampson, C., & Forletta, F. (2013). School resegregation in the Mississippi of the West: Community counternarratives on the return to neighborhood schools in Las Vegas, 1968–1994. Teachers College Record, 115 (11), 1-28. Available here.
• Reeves, R. (2019). Making a middle class: Colleges and cities in the Mountain West, 1-20. Brookings Mountain West. Available here.
• United Way of Southern Nevada. (2017). Post-Secondary Attainment, 1-7. United Way of Southern Nevada Community Reports. Available here.

Overview and Goals of the Lesson

The Las Vegas Valley is depicted in our collective imagination as an oasis of glitz and glamor set within the high desert. Yet, beyond The Strip and gaming and hospitality complex is a set of vibrant communities whose histories of struggle, resistance, and resilience have played an important role in making what Las Vegas is today. This set of readings offers counter-narratives of Las Vegas history and its communities.

The goal of this lesson is to learn about the resistance and resilience of these communities as they face various forms of oppression, exploitation, and marginalization. The lesson offers examples of counter-narratives and counter-histories, an analysis of the intersections of various forms of oppression, and examples of participatory action research and oral history methodologies. This lesson centers the question of: How have minoritized communities in Las Vegas Valley resisted erasure, exploitation, and oppression?

Keywords:

• Unionization
• Immigrant Rights
• Youth Activism
• Social Justice

Scholarly Engagements

• Revilla, A. (2012). What happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas: Youth leadership in the immigrant rights movement in Las Vegas, 2006. Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies, 37 (1), 87-115. Available here.
• Ross, S. O. (2022). A "Historic Westside" story: Las Vegas Black history, gaming policy effects on Black employment, and gaming companies leaving money on the table. UNLV Gaming Law Journal, 12 (2), 7. Available here.
• Video: The Influences of Asian and the Pacific (in Las Vegas).
• Gray, M., & DeFilippis, J. (2015). Learning from Las Vegas: Unions and post-industrial urbanisation. Urban Studies, 52 (9), 1683-1701. Available here.

Discussion Questions

• How have racism and capitalism shaped equity and opportunity in the Las Vegas Valley?
• How have communities resisted erasure, exploitation, and oppression within your local regions?
• What knowledge can we learn from Las Vegas experiences to promote equity within your local region?

Additional resources

• Martinez, N. (2021). The “East Side” of Las Vegas: A Latinx historical framework. Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal, 1(2), 6.
• Orleck, A. (2005). Storming Caesars Palace: How Black mothers fought their own war on poverty. Beacon Press.

Opportunity to support Las Vegas AAPI Oral History Project:

• https://www.library.unlv.edu/reflections
• https://www.unlv.edu/news/article/reflecting-asian-american-pacific-islander-influence-las-vegas

Topic 4: Governance and Finance of Nevada Higher Education

Overview and Goals of the Lesson

Nevada is just one of a handful of states that has a single statewide governing board over the postsecondary institutions in the state. This unique structure has significant implications for higher education policy and finance. This set of readings examines why higher education policies in Nevada, even those with broad public and legislative support, fail, and how the governance structure affects higher education funding in the state. This governance model has direct implications for college and success for Nevada students.

The goal of this lesson is to consider how the governance structure in the State of Nevada affects the delivery of higher education and college access and opportunity. This lesson centers the question of: In what ways does the governance structure in a state affect higher education institutions and the finance of higher education?

Keywords:

governance, finance, policy, college access and persistence

Scholarly Engagements

• Fulton, M. (2019). An Analysis of State Postsecondary Governance Structures. Policy Guide. Education Commission of the States. Available here.
• Damore, D., Brown Jr, W. E., & Lang, R. E. (2018). The 2017 session of the Nevada Legislature and the failure of higher education reform. Available here.
• Nehls, K., Schneider, H., Espinoza-Parra, O., & Nourrie, E. (2017). Higher Education Funding in Nevada. Policy Issues in Nevada Education, 2, 1. Available here.

Discussion questions

• What are some reasons that higher education reforms that have broad public and legislative support can still fail?
• What are some ways the existing governance structure may create or exacerbate inequities across NSHE institutions?
• What are some recommendations for improving the governance structure to better serve Nevada students and IHEs?

Additional resources

• Cheche, O. K., Grema, P., Saladino, C. J., Brown, W. E. (2021). COVID-19: Higher education funding in the Mountain West. Higher Education Fact Sheet No. 15 1-3. Available here.
• Grema, P., Booth, V., Saladino, C. J., Brown, W. E. (2021). Community College Funding in the Mountain West. Higher Education Fact Sheet No. 13 1-3. Available here.

Topic 5: Cultural Resilience and Survivance

Overview and Goals of the lesson

Non-western ways of knowing, including Indigenous Epistemologies, have persisted despite attempts by the US federal government to systematically erase knowledges that center relationality and collectivism. In this session, learners will be introduced to the Mohave Project - Salt Songs of the Nuwuvi. Learners engage in dialogue around asset-based understandings of Native and Indigenous resistance and survivance and critically reflect upon notions of cultural appropriation and the ways in which scholars engage with Indigenous knowledge systems within the academy.

How can we leverage asset-based and culturally-relevant scholarship and practices toward racially and culturally equitable change in higher education?

Keywords: cultural survivance, Native and Indigenous Epistemologies, culturally-relevant student support

Discussion questions

• What are the implications of modern deficit-based approaches to BIPOC student support and engagement in higher education?
• Considering the Mohave Project - Salt Songs of the Nuwuvi, how might ways of knowing inform approaches to culturally-relevant pedagogical and co-curricular experiences?
• When and where is it appropriate to introduce non-western ways of knowing and how do we actively disrupt cultural appropriation?

Foundational Theoretical Scholarly Engagements

• Brayboy, B. M. J. & Maughan, E. (2009). Indigenous knowledges and the story of the bean. Harvard Educational Review, 79 (1), 1-21.
• Anthony-Stevens, V. (2017). Cultivating alliances: Reflections on the role of non-Indigenous collaborators in Indigenous educational sovereignty. Journal of American Indian Education, 56 (1), 81-104.

Illuminating Survivance in Research Methods and Analysis

Video Panel: Indigenous Methodologies Series with Dr. Sandy Grande, Janene Yazzie, & Valerie Shirley

Praxis Scholarly Resource

Mohave Project - Salt Songs of the Nuwuvi: https://mojaveproject.org/dispatches-item/bringing-creation-back-together-again-the-salt-songs-of-the-nuwuvi/

8 min audio recording: Matt Leivas Sr., Salt Song Singer

Additional Resources

• Paris, D. & Winn, M.T. (2014). Humanizing research: Decolonizing qualitative inquiry with youth and communities.
• Grande, S. (2014). Red Pedagogy: Native American social and political thought. 10th Anniversary Edition. Rowman & Littlefield.
• Reyes, N. A. S. (2017). A space for survivance: Locating Kānaka Maoli through the resonance and dissonance of critical race theory. Race Ethnicity and Education, 1-18.
• Smith, L. T. (2013). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Zed Books Ltd.
• Garcia-Olp, M., Nelson, C., Hinzo, A., & Young, D. A. (2020). Indigenous epistemologies: Implementing Indigenous Practices and Perceptions to the Area of STEM. Curriculum & Teaching Dialogue, 22.
• Keene, A., Tachine, A. R., & Nelson, C. (2017). Braiding our (in)visibility: Native women navigating the doctoral process through social media. Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity, 3 (1), 43-76.