Indigenous perspective on higher ed: Blackfoot Project meets at Chief Mountain

CHIEF MOUNTAIN, Mont. — On Wednesday, I joined members of the Blackfoot Project — a multifaceted group of Blackfeet tribe educators and leaders — at Chief Mountain on the Blackfeet Reservation. Dr. Iris Pretty Paint is leading the project, which aims to support students working towards master’s and Ph.d. programs. The project is being framed within an indigenous perspective of education. The Blackfoot group has been meeting for more than a year. I’m looking forward to blog more about the group  in days to come because I believe the group is on the cutting edge of something quite spectacular. I expect universities around the country will be interested in learning how the Blackfoot Project is uniting indigenous thought with Western science in an academic setting. Since forming and setting group goals, the Blackfoot Project is already blossoming in a way no one imagined, said Pretty Paint. “It’s unethical to get people excited something and then do nothing,” she said. In this situation, no one is sitting around wondering what to do next.

I visited with Pretty Paint after the one-day meeting at Chief Mountain. She told me the Blackfoot Project received $10,000 from Montana State University at Bozeman to research traumatic stress. Also, the Blackfeet constitutional review committee plans to award the Blackfoot Project a $10,000 grant to research a proposed amendment to the Blackfeet constitution, a change that would create a separation of powers between the executive, judicial and legislative branches of Blackfeet tribal government. At this point, the Blackfoot Project is emerging as a think-tank for the Blackfeet Nation. I think other tribes may be duplicating the project. The group will meet again Sept. 14-18. The group was originally formed to support the efforts of a group of Blackfeet members who wanted to earn their master’s or doctoral degrees as part of a greater vision to help their community.

Jodi Rave