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  • Sunka Wakan:The Horse as a Partner in Welcoming American Indian Students to the Campus Community
  • Corynna B. Martorelli (bio), April Eastman (bio), Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate (Dakota), Natalie Mook (bio), and Rebecca C. Bott-Knutson (bio)

Presently, only limited research exists to address Native American college student experiences and culturally appropriate ways of integrating student affairs practices (Shotton, Lowe, & Waterman, 2013). In fact, the dominant society's culture in institutions of higher education is often contradictory to, and even discriminatory toward, American Indian student populations and cultural beliefs (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2010). In 2013, the American Indian Student Center (AISC) at South Dakota State University introduced the Smudging and Pipe Ceremony Policy in partnership with the Housing and Residential Life department in recognition of tribal traditions and ceremonies. Smudging is the ceremonial use of smoke produced in the burning of cedar, sage, and sweetgrass. The policy requires special permission in University buildings and is protected under the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. Because of this, Native professionals in higher education have dedicated time to develop materials to educate non-Natives about culturally appropriate ways to implement programming and to better understand American Indian student experiences on predominantly White campuses (Shotton et al., 2013). Culture and cultural teachings among Indigenous communities vary greatly, and incorporating Indigenous cultures into cocurricular programs is important and requires great care and consideration (Shotten et al., 2013). Culturally appropriate programming honors, respects, and celebrates the cultural autonomy of student participants. This is particularly important on a campus with approximately 2% self-identified Native students within a state comprised of approximately 9% Native peoples (United States Census Bureau, 2016). Thus, our team collaborated to create a space that honors relationship-building through reciprocity in the development of our Sunka Wakan program at SDSU.

In Fall 2015 in collaboration with the Equine Science program, the AISC created Sunka Wakan, named for the Lakota term for "sacred dog" or horse. It was initially inspired by a separate tribal community program Sung Nagi Kici Okiju, which places emphasis on Lakotas' societal relationship to everything in [End Page 749] creation (Eagle, 2016). One study has shown that horses and humans can work together to create communication between one another by using nonverbal cues, which fosters a safe environment and goal-oriented interactions between the two (Brandt, 2004). The horse also plays a significant role in the history and culture of the Native tribes in the Northern Plains, in that horse culture has been associated with healing (White Plume, 2016). Thus, we hypothesized that Sunka Wakan could serve to more deeply foster cultural connections for Native students in higher education settings.

This pilot program incorporated a holistic approach to a student's wellbeing through a variety of activities in which the horse acts as a partner. Objectives for the Sunka Wakan program concept were: (a) to create a safe sense of family community in the AISC and on campus, (b) to establish departmental collaborations to support Native student experiences, and (c) to explore ways to incorporate the horse in creating holistic programming initiatives. Participation in cultural programming prompts students to become involved in the AISC, which provides opportunities for community building and creating relationships with peers and staff, which contribute to the overall persistence of Native students. It is our hope that others can take the concept of Sunka Wakan and use it to create a collaborative program with American Indian centers on other campuses to meet the needs of Native student populations.

Native students must have a place where they feel they belong (Fox, Lowe, & McClellan, 2005); thus, the Sacred Hoop model for Native student success served as the theoretical foundation for Sunka Wakan. The Sacred Hoop model is based on the Lakota/Nakota/Dakota four-phase process of an Inipi (sweat lodge ceremony): calling, welcoming, healing (processing), and releasing (Martin & Thunder, 2013). For Sunka Wakan we borrowed the traditional four elements of this process and expanded them to include a formal phase for processing, yielding a five-phase, yearlong program. Each phase is represented by one or two suggested activities that create a common purpose for students to gather as well as present possible event outcomes...

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