SPICE Webinar: "Indigenous Voices: Educational Perspectives from Navajo, Native Hawaiian, and Ainu Scholars in the Diaspora"
Webinar recording: https://youtu.be/sQBR-NZBWks
Webinar Description:
On March 18, 2021, the California Department of Education adopted the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. Chapter 3 of the Model Curriculum includes a section on “Native American Studies.” Three Native and Indigenous educators will reflect on this and the state of ethnic studies in their regions. The educators are Dr. Harold Begay, Dr. Sachi Edwards, and Dr. Ronda Māpuana Shizuko Hayashi-Simpliciano. Kasumi Yamashita will serve as the moderator of the panel. She is an Instructor for SPICE and was trained as a cultural anthropologist at Harvard University and was a Fulbright Scholar to Brazil.
Some of the topics that will be addressed include (1) the various academic field names of the study of Native and Indigenous people; (2) the complexity and diversity of Native and Indigenous people’s experiences, highlighting key concepts like indigeneity, settler colonialism, diaspora, social justice and activism; and ontological and epistemological philosophy; and (3) recommended resources for K–12 educators.
These topics are not only relevant to teachers in California but to teachers in other states as well. K–12 educators and administrators are encouraged to sign up at https://bit.ly/3z4kxtc.
This webinar is a joint collaboration between the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), Center for East Asian Studies, and SPICE.
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Harold Begay
Dr. Harold Begay, Superintendent of Schools, Navajo Nation, was raised on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona, amid a deep bicultural chasm irrevocably bound by his traditional Dine’ (Navajo) culture upbringing and mainstream Western Greco-Roman education in the United States. He completed his Ph.D. in school finance/economics, concentrating his advanced studies in educational administration, bilingual education, and social foundations of education from the University of Arizona. Dr. Begay has worked in several Native American school districts in different teaching and administrative capacities over a span of 25 years. Has been a Visiting Scholar at U.C. Berkeley and is currently doing transnational educational work with Stanford University.
Dr. Sachi Edwards
Dr. Sachi Edwards is a Faculty Member at Soka University in Tokyo, Japan, and also a Lecturer in the Educational Foundations department at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa. Her areas of research include higher education, internationalization, and religious identity, diversity, and oppression. Dr. Edwards received a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Maryland, College Park. She teaches classes about higher education, international and intercultural education, educational theory/philosophy, qualitative research methods, and academic writing. She was recently featured with Dr. Ronda Māpuana Shizuko Hayashi-Simpliciano in discussion on “Ainu in Diaspora: Rising from Shame, Honoring Ainu Resilience,” hosted by the Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages.
Dr. Ronda Māpuana Shizuko Hayashi-Simpliciano
Dr. Ronda Māpuana Shizuko Hayashi-Simpliciano is Vice Principal of the Hawaiian language immersion school, Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻo Ānuenue, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. She is an Ainu-Hawaiian scholar and educator who works in the field of indigenous language and culture restoration. She did her doctoral work at the University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa. Dr. Hayashi-Simpliciano recently gave a talk on “Ainu in Diaspora History,” hosted by the Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages.
Via Zoom Webinar. Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3z4kxtc.
Michael McFaul is Director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies in the Department of Political Science, and the Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1995. McFaul also is an International Affairs Analyst for NBC News and a columnist for The Washington Post. He served for five years in the Obama administration, first as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council at the White House (2009-2012), and then as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2012-2014). He has authored several books, most recently the New York Times bestseller From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia. Earlier books include Advancing Democracy Abroad: Why We Should, How We Can; Transitions To Democracy: A Comparative Perspective (eds. with Kathryn Stoner); Power and Purpose: American Policy toward Russia after the Cold War (with James Goldgeier); and Russia’s Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin.