THIS IS MY STORY. THIS IS MY SONG: CHOCTAW STUDENT STORIES OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND HOME

Abstract

Stories tell us who we were, who we are, and who we will be. We live by stories. We also live in them. Looking through the lens of Indigenous paradigms and arts-based educational inquiry, this project seeks to collaboratively learn, record, and share Choctaw students’ stories of higher education, home, and identity. First, this study aims to better understand the role higher education has played in Choctaw (Nation of Oklahoma) students’ identity. Second, this research attempts to uncover the ways in which higher education has influenced Choctaw students’ relationship to home. In the sharing of these student stories and photographs, it is my goal that we all obtain a richer understanding of higher education, Choctaw/Native students, and ourselves. Research is activist. Art is activist. Giving space to Native student voices is activist. As Choctaw students understand that they can, do, and will tell their own stories, it is my hope that higher education will hear them.