she has great spirit insight into relationships between american indian dads and daughters dr....
TRANSCRIPT
She Has Great Spirit
Insight into Relationships Between
American Indian Dads and Daughters
Dr. Martin ReinhardtDr. Jan Perry Evenstad
Opening Prayer
• We pray for all dads and daughters that they will have joyous relationships, and that we will see a revitalization of traditional ways of relating to each other, and to the world around us, in this and future generations.
Why AI-DADS?
• Research studies on the relationships between fathers and daughters in general are few and far between.
• Studies on the specific relationships between American Indian fathers and their American Indian daughters are practically non-existent.
• The American Indian-Dads and Daughters Survey (AI-DADS) was developed to generate data on these relationships.
AI-DADS Background
• Conducted in 2007 by the Interwest Equity Assistance Center in partnership with the Center for Applied Studies in American Ethnicity at Colorado State University.
• Dr. Irene Vernon acted as Primary Investigator, and Dr. Martin Reinhardt acted as Co-PI.
• Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad joined the team to help process the data and co-authored the manuscript.
• Dr. Susan Faircloth joined the team as a co-author of the manuscript.
• Manuscript has been accepted for publication by the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
Background Cont.
• We asked that only American Indian fathers, step-fathers, and adoptive fathers (18 years or older) of at least one American Indian daughter complete the survey.
• A total of 174 self-identified respondents accessed the survey, and 158 (90.8%) completed at least one question and submitted it.
• A total of 60 respondents (34.5%) were retained in the pool for the final analysis due to missing data, logical errors, and mechanical errors/survey design flaws.
Age of respondents (unfiltered)
1% 7%
26%
32%
22%
12%
Under 20
20-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61 and Over
Age of Respondents (filtered)
Marital Status (unfiltered)
Married
Single
Divorced
Widowed
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
Marital Status
Marital Status (filtered)
Fatherhood Status (unfiltered)
87%
6%7%
Biological Adoptive Step
Fatherhood Status (filtered)
Residential Status (unfiltered)
• Non-full-time were asked if their daughter lived with another adult male.
• 43.2% said yes• 51.4% said no• 5.4% didn’t know
Full-time
Part-time
Not At All
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00%
Res
iden
tial
Sta
tus
Residential Status (filtered)
• Non-full-time were asked if their daughter lived with another adult male.
• 45% said yes
• 55% said no
• 7% didn’t know
Residential Location(Unfiltered)
Rural NonReservation22%
Urban23%
Reservation27%
Suburban28%
Residential Location(filtered)
Income (Unfiltered)
Income (filtered)
Number of Daughters (Unfiltered)
42.8%
31.2%
18.8%
4.4%
1.5%
0.7%
0.7%
1 32 4 5 6 7
Number of Daughters (filtered)
Age of Daughters (Unfiltered)
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
Age 0
-3
Age 4
-6
Age 7
-9
Age 1
0-12
Age 1
3-15
Age 1
6-18
Age 1
9-21
Age 2
2-24
Age 2
5-27
Age 2
8-30
31 or
Old
er
Age of Daughters
Age of Daughters (filtered)
Father’s Educational Attainment (Unfiltered)
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
Attainment Level
Less Than HS/GED
GED
HS Diploma
ProfessionalCertificate
Some College
Associates
Bachelors
Masters
Specialist
Professional
Doctorate
Father’s Educational Attainment (filtered)
Current Profession, Tribal Affiliations, and Citizenship
(unfiltered)
• Father’s Current Profession– See summary handout
• Tribal Affiliation for Father, Daughter, and Mother– See summary handout
• Citizenship– Choices were US, Canadian, Both,
and Other– 95.4% selected US– 0.8% selected Canadian– 2.3% selected both– 1.5% Selected other– Other responses included: “Dual: U.S.
& Tribal” and “I am a member of the Klamath Tribe”
Current Profession(filtered)
• The largest group of respondents in any one profession included those involved in education. Twenty-one respondents indicated they were an educational administrator, professor, K-12 teacher, or counselor. There were also two respondents who reported their current profession as “student”.
• The second largest group was composed of public safety workers, with a total of five. This group included police, security, and fire.
• The third largest group included managers and supervisors outside of education, with a total of four.
• The three largest groups combined totaled 32 respondents.
• All other professions combined totaled 28 respondents.
Tribal Affiliations(filtered)
0
20
40
60
80
Tribal Affiliations Indian Mothers Non-Indian Mothers
Both Same as Father Not Same as Father
Unaffiliated Indian
Absalooka, Apache, Bad River Chippewa, Blackfeet, Bois Fort Band Chippewa, Brotherton, Cherokee, Cheyenne Arapaho, Comanche Nation, Creek, Crow, Colorado River, Fort Peck Assiniboine, Forest County Potawatomi, Goshute, Gros Ventre, Great Lakes Band of Chippewa, Hochunk, Hopi, Koniag, Long Lake First Nation, Menominee, Meskwaki, Mandan & Hidatsa, Muscogee, Navajo, Nez Perce, Northern Cheyenne, Ojibwa, Ojibwa/Cree, Omaha, Oneida Nation of WI, Osage, Ponca, Rosebud Sioux, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa, Shawnee, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Standing Rock Sioux, Stockbridge- Munsee, United Houma Nation, White Earth Ojibwe, Walker River Paiute
Citizenship(filtered)
• 96.6% selected US
• 0% selected Canadian
• 3.3% selected Both US and Canadian
• 0% selected other
Insight from the AI-DADS
• Among the most important data gathered in the AI-DADS were responses from American Indian fathers about their relations with their daughters in the following areas:– Spirituality– Other Cultural Customs and Traditions– Identity
• These insights should help us better understand how American Indian fathers may, or may not, be involved in their daughters lives in ways that are often discounted, or misunderstood, by Western society.
Spirituality
Spirituality Cont.• What was the most special time
that you have spent with your daughter(s) that reflected your tribal cultural background? – Twenty-four respondents (40%) cited
some type of involvement in spiritual ceremonies reflecting their tribal cultural background as their most special time spent with their daughters.
– It is important to note that pow-wows were also often seen as spiritual gatherings, or at least that they included some aspects that honor the importance of spirituality in local tribal contexts.
– Examples included sacred fires and eagle feather ceremonies.
– Taken together, the responses that included pow-wows and spiritual ceremonies accounted for 78% of the respondents.
Spirituality Cont.
– “I think when my entire family participated in our sacred sun dance and participated for the entire four days of sacrifice. My daughter made it all four days without food and water; that impressed me highly and shows her mettle.”
– “Watching them dance at pow-wows and receiving honorings for educational, athletic, and musical achievements at native controlled schools (tribal and public) .”
Spirituality Cont.
• Have you ever had an instance where you were having trouble with your daughter(s) and your tribal culture seemed to help you deal with the situation? If yes, explain.– Thirteen respondents suggested that
prayers, ceremonies, or faith as part of their Native culture helped.
– “At one time, my eldest daughter came to me about the stresses of school work. I explained to her that her strength had always been inside her because she successfully went through four days of her Kinaaldaa ceremony and that she should apply her understanding of her strength to her school to overcome her difficulties. She graduated [with honors] from high school and just completed her freshman year at [the University] with a [high] GPA.”
Spirituality Cont.
• Has your daughter(s) been involved in a traditional tribal female ceremony? If yes, what was the ceremony and what was your role in the ceremony? – Participation in the following
ceremonies was reported: a new woman ceremony (8), a naming ceremony (3), attendance at a women's sweat lodge (2), a long house ceremony (1), a significant role in a repatriation ceremony (1), a sunrise dance (1), and a ghost feast (1).
Spirituality Cont.
– “During my daughter's traditional Navajo womanhood ceremony, I assisted with everything from gathering the firewood and water, traveling to and from the grocery store for supplies, preparing the ground where the traditional cake was to be baked, and simply being available to any family requests.”
– “Both of my daughters have gone through a new woman ceremony. My role was to help prepare the area and make sure they had their sacred herbs, firewood, etc. During their ceremony, my job was to pray and support my wife by doing things that needed to be done while she worked with my daughters. After the ceremony my job was to help celebrate and to clean the area up.”
Other Cultural Customs and Traditions
Cultural Traditions Cont.
• When asked which type of educational functions they are most likely to attend, seventy percent of the respondents ranked traditional cultural gatherings about education as their first, second or third choice.
• Have you ever had an instance where you were having trouble with your daughter(s) and your tribal culture seemed to help you deal with the situation? If yes, explain.– 14 mentioned tribal culture or tribal
family members as providing direction for a way to live
Cultural Traditions Cont.
• Do you and your daughter(s) talk about the relationship between fathers and daughters from a tribal cultural perspective? If yes, what are some of the things you have discussed? – Ten instances where clan and family
roles and relationships were mentioned, Twelve instances where the respondent focused on traditional family values, and three instances where respondent indicated that it is simply a way of life.
– Thirty (half) of the filtered respondents indicated that they do not talk, or have not yet talked, about the relationships between fathers and daughters from a tribal cultural perspective.
Cultural Traditions Cont.
– “The traditional leadership of women in clan relationships”.
– “Respect for our elders, traditions, culture and language”.
– “Yes. We frequently talk about traditional roles and how they can help us relate with each other. We also talk about the roles that males and females have at our traditional ceremonies”.
– “Yes, we discuss our clanship rules, I relate the importance of the female role in the cosmos, down to the family, she understands her relations in the Navajo way, that she is "little mother" to her step-sister's child and is able to behave according to Navajo custom”.
Identity
Identity Cont.• What was the most special time
that you have spent with your daughter(s) that reflected your tribal cultural background? – Two examples of responses indicating
that reservations are often seen as a center of Indian cultural identity.
– “When my daughters come out to the reservation. They learn that they are Indian children.”
– “Living on the reservation for 20 years. My two daughters went to K-11 on the reservation.”
• When asked how connected they feel to their tribal culture, 56% of the fathers who reside in a reservation community selected 5, on a scale from 1-5 where 1 was least, as compared to their rural (29%), suburban (13%), and urban (0%) counterparts.
Identity Cont.
• Have you ever had an instance where you were having trouble with your daughter(s) and your tribal culture seemed to help you deal with the situation? If yes, explain. – Examples of responses that included
tribal cultural affiliation as a responsibility.
– “We found out that my older daughter has been lying about her activities. I reminded her that as Anishinaabe Ojibway, she carries our culture with her and she is often the only Native person that some people ever meet. It seemed to impact her.”
– “We always reminded her that she was Cheyenne and Arapaho, and what she did in public or her actions reflected on the tribes as a whole by the public.”
Identity Cont.• Have you ever had an instance
where you were having trouble with your daughter(s) and your tribal culture seemed to make the situation more difficult? If yes, explain.– There were nine instances where the
respondents indicated that racial/ethnic, or cultural, identity issues have had a negative impact. Two reported instances of negative behaviors associated with being Indian. Two responded that tribal enrollment was an issue.
– “Being mixed, there were and have been times when explaining issues to school administrators and teachers, especially regarding certain issues, has been difficult. I attribute this to the fact that where we live now has a low number of folks with Native ancestry.”
Identity Cont.
– “As mixed bloods, we have both been told that we are too white to be welcome to some things, and ironically we have both been told we are too Indian to understand and participate in others. Both of these attitudes caused a little bit of trouble with some of her middle school teachers when she was younger.”
– “My daughter has cultural issues when it comes to school. She is dark, testing is more difficult, the way she is taught sometimes does not get through to her because of cultural differences. She…is mainly taught by white teachers.”
If You Could Say Only One Thing
• A few of the responses to the last question on the survey provide simple, yet powerful, reminders of what messages American Indian fathers hope their daughters are receiving.
• The question was If you could say only one thing to your daughter(s) besides you love her, what would it be? – “Know and be proud of your heritage
and treat all people with respect as you would want them to respect you.”
– “Remember who you are.” – “Remember to remember that you are
a spirit being having a human experience.”
– “That she has great spirit.”
Miigwech (Thank You)
For More Information Contact:Dr. Martin Reinhardt
Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad