Does Cultural Revitalization Impact Academic Attainment and Healthy Living?

Historically, people of color within the United States have experienced overt, covert, and institutional racism, resulting in many harmful health, social, cultural, interpersonal, familial, and educational outcomes.

For the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (Myaamiaki), a series of forced removals in the mid-1800s led to a community in diaspora and a dormant period for tribal culture and language. Despite this trauma, today nearly 5,000 Myaamiaki live in 47 states, and an estimated 10,000 people may be able to claim Myaamia as a heritage language.

During the 1990s, an eemamwiciki (“awakening”) of the tribe’s language and cultural practices began. A network of Myaamia language scholars reconstructed the language, generating a resurgence within the tribal community. Anecdotal data suggest that this resurgence contributed to positive outcomes within the community (e.g., resilience, identity formation, community engagement, belonging), but research was needed to identify the factors that contributed to these positive outcomes.

An article in Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology by Haley Shea, G. Susan Mosley-Howard, Daryl Baldwin, George Ironstrack, Kate Rousmaniere, and Joseph Schroer provides that evidence. Shea, Baldwin, and Ironstrack are citizens of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, and the inquiry is grounded in and informed by the Myaamia knowledge and value systems.

The knowledge system (e.g., language, ecology, history, culture, tribal sovereignty) is represented by a web, which symbolizes the interconnections between individuals in the community as well as the various aspects of Myaamia culture and life. If any portion of the knowledge system is forgotten, the web is weakened. Yet each person who eempaapiikinamankwi kineepwaayoneminaani (“picks up a thread”) of the web engages in reclaiming the knowledge system, thus enhancing community revitalization and healing.

Shea et al.’s study examines two populations: (a) Myaamia college students attending Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) who were part of a curriculum designed to teach Myaamia knowledge; and (b) Myaamia community members. With students, the researchers used semistructured interviews, essays on what it means to be Myaamia, a survey on connectedness, and general university retention data to draw conclusions about academic attainment, identity, and well-being (i.e., living well). With community members, they observed tribal events to identify levels of community engagement and indicators of living well.

Results suggest that the students who received the Myaamia curriculum graduated at higher rates than those who did not (6-year graduation rate: 87% vs. 56%). Their essays and interviews demonstrated that students experienced identity confusion, challenges to their transition to college, and pride in their identity in their first year of college. By their senior year, they reported higher scores on the connectedness scale, a more integrated identity, a sense of belonging, and a role within the community. One student said, “I think that my personal experience at Miami University with the Myaamia Center and the other tribe students is what makes me feel Myaamia.”

Within the tribal community, Shea et al. observed increases in attendance and participation at community events (Annual Meeting, Winter Gathering, educational workshops, social gatherings) and increased use of the Myaamia language.

These findings suggest that revitalization of the Myaamia language and culture has led to increased academic attainment, increased well-being (i.e., living well), and a greater sense of community engagement and connectedness. Despite the language and cultural dormancy experienced as a result of historical trauma, a strengthening of cultural ties refreshes the self and the community, offering an alternative path to healing.

Citation

• Shea, H., Mosley-Howard, G. S., Baldwin, D., Ironstrack, G., Rousmaniere, K., & Schroer, J. E. (2019). Cultural revitalization as a restorative process to combat racial and cultural trauma and promote living well. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 25(4), 553–565. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000250

Note: This article is in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area. View more articles in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area.

Haley Shea is a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and is a visiting assistant professor in educational psychology and a research associate at the Myaamia Center at Miami University. Her research focuses on the ways that the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma’s language and cultural revitalization efforts impact the tribal community (e.g. academic attainment, living well, community ties/engagement, and tribal growth and continuance).

G. Susan Mosley-Howard is dean and professor emerita at Miami University and faculty affiliate at the Myaamia Center. Her research focuses on minority mental health and the way cognitive and affective dynamics impact educational attainment. She remains an active researcher within the department of educational psychology.

Daryl Baldwin is a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and director of the Myaamia Center at Miami University. Daryl has been central to the development of Myaamia language and cultural revitalization since the mid 1990s. Daryl’s lifelong efforts, and arguably those of his family, tribal community, and university, were recognized with an award from the MacArthur Foundation in 2016.

George Ironstrack is a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and the assistant director of the Myaamia Center at Miami University. He is one of the lead instructors for the undergraduate level Myaamia Heritage Course Series and helped develop the Miami Tribe’s Eewansaapita Summer Educational Experience for ages 10–16.

Kate Rousmaniere is professor in the department of educational leadership and affiliate of the Myaamia Center at Miami University.

Joseph Schroer was a clinical faculty member at Miami University in the department of educational psychology at the time this publication was submitted.