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Decolonizing Our Stories A Project of the Student Storytellers Indigenizing the Academy (SSITA) Group American Indigenous Research Association 2014 Conference Salish Kootenai College | Pablo, MT Slide 2 Our mission To provide a forum for support, sharing and learning among Indigenous and indigenist graduate students no matter where they may be. Slide 3 AIRA Graduate Student Support Group Membership as of December 2013 Slide 4 SSITA Group Membership as of October 1, 2014 Slide 5 Our aims Storytellers | Students To share and gather stories describing our perspectives on decolonizing research and how these perspectives impact our graduate experiences. Storytellers | Researchers To reflect on these perspectives on our own experiences within the decolonizing process. Slide 6 How has decolonizing research changed you as a student? Where are we now? Slide 7 It's like they're killing the Indian in my dissertation to save the man. Getting the PhD will serve the greater good and place me in a position to constructively undermine Colonization. I too have had my challenges in the academic world, but will not relinquish my Anishinaabe perspective. Being decolonized in awareness in an overpoweringly colonized world can be very uncomfortable! They let us in the graduate programs, but they dont want us to graduate. It wasn't until I was in graduate school, reading research and taking classes from Hawaiian and Indigenous scholars, that I realized I lived a colonized life. I made the difficult decision to [withdraw] a couple of weeks ago. The faculty did not appreciate my Indigenous Knowledge to put it bluntly. Slide 8 How can we support the next generation of Indigenous research methodologists? Where are we going? Slide 9 network support share Blueprint of Practice shadow committe e elders publish encourage textbooks and courses Slide 10 Talk Story Sundays Slide 11 Reflections Your stories Slide 12 The Storytellers The SSITA Group Brother Jimi Del Duca (Chilebe Akchiie) Brother Frank Sage Sister Brandy Ann Sato Sister Jessica Venable