"I Have Not Learned Anything About Native American Women in Minnesota": An Educational Workshop about Indigenous Women of Minnesota

Author

Amy Anderson, Minnesota State University - Mankato

Abstract

The historical and contemporary experience of Native cultures is an integral component of the history of Minnesota; however, the significance of these Nations is often overlooked in formal education, as well as culturally ignored. I have witnessed a lack of knowledge regarding Native lived experiences from both resident and non-resident college students in Minnesota. Comprehension of topics ranging from the various Nations in Minnesota to the United States-Dakota War of 1862 is absent. Furthermore, any recognition or familiarity with Native women's position is basically nonexistent. Formal education has failed to transmit the history and the cultures of this population, so I embarked on this project to remedy this problem by creating an educational workshop that would be informative of Native women's lived experiences in Minnesota. I began this project by investigating college students' existing knowledge of the indigenous people of Minnesota, with a specific focus on Native women. The findings from this research, in conjunction with reviewing relevant literature, informed the content for the workshop. This workshop includes the histories, cultures, lived experiences, current issues, and authentic voices of Native women in Minnesota. Native women's lived experiences is this project's central element, and brining their lives to the forefront of people's minds through education is the goal. The methodology used for this project was a mixed-methods approach that incorporated surveys and an action research project.

Advisor

Maria Bevacqua

Committee Member

Rhonda Dass

Committee Member

Catarine Fritz

Date of Degree

2012

Language

english

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Recommended Citation

Anderson, A. (2012). "I Have Not Learned Anything About Native American Women in Minnesota": An Educational Workshop about Indigenous Women of Minnesota [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/121/

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License