The American Indian Quarterly

Robertson, Paul.
Jorgensen, Miriam.
Garrow, Carrie E., 1969-
Indigenizing Evaluation Research: How Lakota Methodologies Are Helping "Raise the Tipi" in the Oglala Sioux Nation
The American Indian Quarterly - Volume 28, Number 3&4, Summer/Fall 2004, pp. 499-526

University of Nebraska Press

Paul Robertson, Miriam Jorgensen, and Carrie E. Garrow - Indigenizing Evaluation Research: How Lakota Methodologies Are Helping "Raise the Tipi" in the Oglala Sioux Nation - The American Indian Quarterly 28:3&4 The American Indian Quarterly 28.3&4 (2004) 499-526 Indigenizing Evaluation Research How Lakota Methodologies Are Helping "Raise the Tipi" in the Oglala Sioux Nation Paul Robertson Miriam Jorgensen Carrie Garrow At a 1998 meeting of Elders and spiritual leaders convened to consider how best to meet the needs of children and families on the Pine Ridge Reservation, the late wakan iyeska ("spiritual interpreter") Matthew Zack Bear Shield remarked, "When we followed the Lakota ways and spiritual laws of the universe, the people flourished. Because we went away from the Lakota spiritual calendar, our people suffer and are in chaos." The spirit of Bear Shield's remark, that the knowledge and practice of lakol wicohan ("Lakota ways") are a means of overcoming the colonial oppression the Oglala Lakota oyate ("people") continue to experience, resonates with an increasingly large constituency in Lakota country. Efforts to recover and actively use traditional knowledge and practices are evident in ongoing work to, for example, advance treaty rights, design interventions for families and children, create more effective institutions of governance, and address conflict and crime. Critically, these efforts also include the recovery and use of Indigenous...