Mary Stella Across the Mountain and Rose Red Crow are both members of the Elders Advisory Board for Red Crow Community College's Board of Governors.

Niitsitapi is translated as real people. In order to be that, you have to be real and true to who you are. Too many times, culturally relevant material is created by simply adding on “cultural components” to the present curriculum. There is no real effort to work from the base of the tribe’s philosophy, ideals, and language. In fact, some of the “culturally relevant” material is not culturally specific but merely pan-Indian. Pan-Indian material is a real problem.

If we are going to talk about and implement Niitsitapi specific curriculum and philosophy, it darn well better be just that – Niitsitapi. Our Elders and Grandparents have expressed their concern about misrepresenting our way of life and giving out wrong information by saying repeatedly, Minniiksistapipohtok Kiipaitapiisinnooni (don’t take our way of life in the wrong direction). But it is a tough struggle to maintain the integrity of our way of life when we teach it to others, especially when our people’s minds have been colonized for such a long time.

This is why the Red Crow Community College is establishing the Niitsi-tapi Teacher Education Project. The project is a joint effort with the education faculty at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. The program is aimed at addressing the Blackfoot people’s concerns about education philosophy, curriculum, and cultural relevancy. (Blackfoot is used in this article to identify people of the Blackfoot confederacy, including the Blackfeet in northern Montana.)

The teacher education project will consist of a four-year bachelor of education and a post-graduate diploma that reflect the cultural underpinnings of the Blackfoot Indian communities of southern Alberta and northern Montana. The project relies heavily on the use of the Blackfoot language and other cultural components. Project planners hope to graduate teachers who understand Blackfoot epistemology, pedagogy, and ideology. The project will also enable teachers to develop strategies and techniques for applying these concepts in the classroom. As a result, students will have a better understanding of their cultural heritage and identity.

Understanding values

As the curriculum is being developed, Red Crow Community College and the university have proceeded with professional development courses to assist teachers who are presently teaching in schools on the Blood and Peigan reserves. (Native people in Canada live on “reserves,” not “reservations.”) The program has introduced a uniquely innovative approach designed to reach the project’s cultural goals. In the fall and winter of 1998-99, we developed and conducted two courses.

The first course was “Kiipaitapiisinnoon, Blackfoot Culture as a Living Experience.” The course objectives were to develop an understanding of the Blackfoot values of Aina’kowa (respect), Isspommotsiisinni (sharing), Kimma-piipitsinni (kindness), and Atsimoihkanni (good heart). (The English words in brackets are not direct translations of the Blackfoot words but merely relate the philosophical genesis of such words. For example, Atsimoihkanni means the act of prayer in its various forms.) The course was also intended to relate these concepts to the students’ and teachers’ everyday lives and to the classrooms.

The instruction team included Betty Bastien, Ph.D.; Cathy Campbell, Ph.D.; Johnel P. Tailfeather (M.Ed.); Pete Standing Alone, Horns Society and Ceremonial Grandfather; and myself, Duane Mistaken Chief, researcher and present member of the Horns Society. The participants were the teachers from neighboring schools.

Between each class, participants were asked to talk to the Elders and Grandfathers from any of the four Blackfoot reserves in southern Alberta and northern Montana. (We make a distinction between Elders and Grandparents. An Elder is any person with a great deal of knowledge and experience, who is also of advanced age. Naahsinaniksi—our Grandparents–are former members of the sacred societies who are two generations separated from the present members of those societies, just as in the family structure. Age is not a determinant.) I also researched the terms, guided by prayer.

The participants in the class then discussed their findings in a talking circle with  instructors. The Grandfather would elaborate on any items that needed clarification. The classes were very emotional at times, and courses were interspersed with tears and laughter. Many participants explained that they cried with happiness as they realized how rich our heritage is.

The teachers gathered for these professional development classes for three hours on seven Friday afternoons. Each class commenced with a prayer by the Grandfather in attendance – Pete Standing Alone. In the words of an Elder, “Atsimoihskaani Isstohkoipommikapi Kiipaitapiisinnooni” (prayer is what has brought all the good in our lives).

Following the prayer, I would begin the class by breaking down the word or concept of the week and explain how the various parts of the words relate to other terms in our language, our spirituality, values, philosophy, etc. This gave the participants a more in-depth understanding of not only the words and concepts but also about who they are as Niitsitapi individuals. The class then took turns in a talking circle discussing what they had found out for themselves as they had researched the assigned words and concepts. Participants were also required to keep a journal reflecting on the new knowledge, their findings, and how they could implement that knowledge in their lives. Throughout each session the Grandparent would answer any questions related to the sacred. The instruction team answered other questions.

The most unique part of the course was that it was conducted almost entirely in the Blackfoot language. During the planning stages, Dr. Betty Bastien said the course had to be conducted in Blackfoot because the value of the research and instruction would be lost in translation. “The language is alive,” she said. “When we translate it to English, we lose that life.”

Going into these courses, we didn’t know how successful they would be. We certainly did a lot of praying for guidance. Enthusiastic reviews from the first group of participants led to a second course, which enjoyed just as much success as the first one. Leo Fox, principal of the Lavern School on the Blood Reserve wrote his response in the Kainai board of education newsletter. He said he learned with the help of Elders how to better understand concepts that he assumed he knew before. He learned to apply Ainna’kowa (to show respect) to himself, saying “Ainna’kohsit!” (respect yourself). “By knowing ourselves better, we should have more empathy and understanding about the people we work for,” he wrote.

Our language speaks to us

Dr. Betty Bastien and I believe that in order for Blackfoot people to heal ourselves, we must return to who we are as Niitsitapi. We must regain our identity so that we can truly choose what direction to take in our personal lives, whether it is mainstream or Niitsitapi. At the present time, our education systems are almost identical to the mainstream, and therefore we are merely being taught to fit into the dominant society. We don’t have a choice. We must deconstruct our colonized thinking. Coming to know who we are goes a long way toward this deconstruction.

Our research has helped us realize that the language is a very important source of philosophical knowledge. The language holds much of what we need to know about ourselves. I learned that as I researched words and phrases. Those phrases came from a way of life and philosophy that even our own people have said is lost. It isn’t lost. It is here, and much of it is in our language.

I am personally very pleased that we used the Blackfoot language as the source of re-discovering our philosophies and knowledge. Our language speaks to us and reveals to us our philosophies. We just have to start listening again.

For more information about the program, contact Duane Mistaken Chief at Red Crow at 403/737-2400. Prior to working for Red Crow Community College, Duane Mistaken Chief was a police officer, a ranch hand, and a journalist. His work on his culture officially began by interviewing 60 elders. His parents were members of the Horn Society for 13 years, and now he is a member of the society. Blackfoot is his first language. At Red Crow, he is the cooperative education coordinator. He is also the research and curriculum development assistant for the Niitsi-tapi Teacher Education Degree program and the Blackfoot pedagogy diploma program.