Taiaike Alfred famously asked the question, “What is ‘Indigenizing the academy?’”
To the Kanien'kehá:ka scholar, the answer to that question was “working to change universities so that they become places where the values, principles and modes of organization and behavior of our people are respected in, and hopefully even integrated into, the larger system of structures and processes that make up the university itself.”
Since their beginnings, both NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community and Voices School for Liberation and Transformation have been asking the same question in their own ways for their own communities.
Now the two schools are embracing the question together in a new partnership aiming to stretch paradigms of education as well as create new ones.
NAIITS Director Shari Russell joined Voices Acting President Donna Barber virtually to sign a memorandum of understanding during the Voices Gathering on Aug. 10, 2024, in New York City.
Together, NAIITS and Voices are not just Indigenizing the academy, but, Shari said, “I would say it’s also decolonizing the academy and that Voices is creating grassroots, localized, contextualized avenues of education that push beyond western institutions and the western framework of education,” she said.
Voices offers certificate programs centering the voices of faith-based peoples indigenous to the Americas, Asia and Africa, who often have been marginalized in the education system and may not think of themselves as academics. Like NAIITS, the school challenges traditional academic divides between students and scholars, creating a community of co-learners.
The partnership will create pathways for Voices students to continue their studies in a master’s or PhD program with NAIITS. NAIITS is accredited by the Commission on Accrediting of The Association of Theological Schools and is approved to offer the following degrees: Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Intercultural Studies, Master of Arts in Theology (Indigenous Community Development), Master of Theological Studies and Doctor of Philosophy.
The partnership between NAIITS and Voices began through relationship last spring. Andrea Smith — a member of the board of Indigenous Pathways, the family of organizations that includes both NAIITS and iEmergence — is also a member of the faculty of Voices and encouraged the two schools to connect.
Donna called the partnership a “step forward in the decolonization of higher education in this country” and “another pathway to the acquisition of advanced degrees for those who have often been excluded or marginalized.”
“Working together, we expand our individual impact and help the rich and unique perspectives of our Indigenous communities to reshape theological content and delivery in a way that benefits us all,” she said.