Visioning Indigenous Futures: Centering Sovereignty and Relationality in Belonging

Abstract

In this article, we share how a Tribal–University partnership fosters and centers sovereignty and relationality in creating a Tribally based doctoral cohort. This is the first tribal–university partnership that offers a doctoral program on tribal lands. We have embedded a collective approach to support Indigenous students since its inception. We have approached belonging through an Indigenous way of being. This has included building relationality in how we offer opening and closing each quarter for students to share their tribal communities’ ways. We have built in connections through offering monthly writing time with an Indigenous scholar to support their development, growth, and contributions. During their second year, we built into their community-grounded praxis an opportunity to honor Indigenous knowledges where they earned an Indigenous Knowledge and Community Grounded Certificate. As we move into their last year of their doctoral program, we center belongingness in how we support them through their dissertation process through a co-chair model of Indigenous faculty supporting and integrating opportunities to connect holistically. This storying is a model of how to build authentic partnerships that center place and belonging in intentional ways.