Mii o’no gidibaajimowininaanan (These are our stories): Raising the voices and experiences of Indigenous students in higher education

Abstract

This Indigenous-framed research used counterstorytelling to identify and center student success factors through shared stories provided by five Indigenous students in higher education in Northern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin who attended predominantly white institutions (PWIs) and were within one-to-two years of degree attainment. All five students identify as Ojibwe. The methodology was shaped by Indigenous ways of knowing and being, which challenges higher education to create culturally sensitive environments that elevate Indigenous voices and experiences. I collaborated with the storytellers to publish their stories in their entirety on a website using their unique voices instead of interpretations or summarizations. This makes research findings more accessible to education professionals and tribal community members—something not often considered in research within tribal communities. Raising voices and sharing the stories of Indigenous students will not cause any ripples of change unless we take the messages that we are being gifted through these stories and take action. Higher education professionals must continue to do exactly what the storytellers called for: showing we genuinely care; showing we honor and respect Indigenous students’ unique and complex culture, history, influences, dreams, challenges, traumas, successes, and journeys; and showing them that they matter—every part of them matters.