Honoring the Land and Indigenous Wisdom
Stanford VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab
Diagnosing barriers, developing interventions, disseminating research-based solutions to advance women's leadership
A conversation with Jarita Greyeyes, PhD
In honor of Native American Heritage Month in the US and of the land on which Stanford University sits, the Lab features this conversation with Jarita Greyeyes, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Studies at McMaster University. From the Muskeg Lake and Red Pheasant bands of the Cree Nation in Treaty Six territory in Saskatchewan, Canada, Jarita earned her Master of Arts in Sociology and PhD in Sociology of Education and Race, Inequality and Language in Education at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education. Before attending Stanford, she received degrees from the University of Winnipeg and University of Victoria and was the acting Associate Vice-President-Indigenous Affairs at the University of Winnipeg.?
Today, she shares her wisdom with Lori Nishiura Mackenzie , Lab Co-founder.
?? Lori: The Lab has a robust Corporate Program, a community of companies committed to advancing more equitable workplaces by learning from and contributing research, as well as many followers on LinkedIn. What message might you give this community about honoring Indigenous people?
??Jarita: I would do two things. First, I would say that acknowledging where we are is the most important first step. All of us are situated in a place, and wherever we are, whether that's in California or across the US, those are Indigenous lands where Indigenous peoples have generations of connection to that place.? Here are some questions to explore:
Where are we? And how do we connect to the Indigenous peoples where we are located? Where does our regular business take place, and where are our headquarters located?
Who are those people??
Knowing the land and the people who are connected to that land is the most basic first step.
??Lori: And the second thing?
??Jarita: Recently, President Biden made an historic apology to Indigenous peoples for the role of the Indian boarding school era and its legacy and impact on Indigenous communities, nations, families and survivors of those schools. That was very significant for Indigenous people who have endured outright assimilation and harm in those places that were supposed to be places of education. Instead, these schools were places where people's identities and languages were suppressed and where children were forcefully disconnected from their families and nations and the traditions. There was a very similar apology in Canada.
So the second thing that I want people to reflect on during Native American Heritage month is all we've lost when we have not had a full education that includes Indigenous perspectives and histories and languages and worldviews in the education that we've received. I often think back of the late Justice Murray Sinclair who led Canada’s commission on the residential school system and his insight that all people, not just Indigenous peoples, suffer when we exclude Indigenous perspectives from our education systems.?
I want people in the corporate education system to understand the true history of what has happened through the assimilationist schooling system of the Indian Boarding Schools, since it impacts on everyone. It is exciting to consider the possibilities when we expand the perspectives to include Indigenous approaches in all the work that we do.
??Lori: Thank you so much for this wisdom. While acknowledging the land and the Indigenous peoples is an important first step, as you say, it is just one step on the journey. How might we expand our learning journey??
??Jarita: There's lots to learn from Indigenous people, which is why I went to school and got a doctorate, because I wanted to understand what could be different. What are the possibilities that could come when we have Indigenous peoples’ voices centered in the education experience?
I think there's also an opportunity to offer pathways for Indigenous people to come into organizations. And that's exciting, too. Right? You know, there's ways to support the next generation of Indigenous peoples who are going to be leaders and thinkers, both in the corporate world and in the education world. There's lots of opportunities for them to contribute, to learn and to offer a unique perspective on the world that has been shut out of the mainstream school and corporate systems so far.
??Lori: That is exciting! I find that expanding one’s mindsets is often an important first step to growth and great leadership. What did you learn in your research about Indigenous leaders that you can share here?
??Jarita: My research was with Indigenous leaders who've become very senior leaders in universities. Many of them talked about their role as finding out what people's gifts are and to help them share those gifts.
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Leadership is finding out what people's gifts are and to help them share those gifts.
I think that comes from a perspective that everyone is born and shaped into a person that has gifts to be shared with the world. And leadership isn't about only elevating certain people, but it's about elevating all people. It’s about allowing a system, whether that's in a school or a company, in which the belief is that everyone has a gift to share. And the role of leaders is to allow a system where all of those gifts can be shared with everyone.? I think that's an important idea of what leadership is. Leadership isn't about personal elevation but using your own abilities and role to create a place where all people can share the gifts that they have been given and have.
The other leadership concept that people talked about is being accountable. Being accountable isn't just about being accountable to your own family, or your own teachers, or your own people that support you. But your accountability extends to all living things, human and beyond the human world. We should be accountable to all our living things in this world that we have an impact on, right?
As a leader, being accountable isn't just about being accountable to your own family, or your own teachers, or your own people that support you. But your accountability extends to all living things, human and beyond the human world.
??Lori: I love that view. It seems quite distant from the way many people in power see their roles. How do people learn about this approach to leadership??
??Jarita: One of the leaders that I spoke to had decades of leadership in senior roles at universities, and when I asked her, “How did you come to understand leadership?” she shared a story with me about her father who is a prolific fisher person in their small village in Canada. Her dad had many kids in their family, and her dad would fish all day. On his way home, he would stop at a widower's home, or people who were maybe physically disabled, or who had issues doing their own sort of fishing. By the time he came home, although he might have had a huge bunch of fish, he had just enough for their family. She really hammered home to me that she understood leadership to mean that everyone is taking care of, not just our family, but everyone who we are in community with, whether they were our cousins or aunties, or just the person who lived down the road.?
I found a core foundation of what leadership is: making sure that everyone is provided for. It isn't just enough to make sure that we are taken care of; everyone has to be taken care of. Again, that connects back to this idea of being able to share gifts. Her dad had this gift of being a very good fisher person. He knew how to weave his nets and do his work in that way that produced a bountiful harvest. He was gifted, but part of the responsibility of that gift was sharing with others who didn't have the same abilities or capabilities as he did.
??Lori: I am reminded of an article that a couple of folks at the Lab wrote in Harvard Business Review, “The Mistake Companies Make When They Use Data to Plan Diversity Efforts” which outlines the way numerical data can overlook the value of the perspectives of those who are underrepresented. How might you elevate the views of Indigenous people who are vastly underrepresented in our organizations?
??Jarita:? I think the responsibility to engage with Indigenous perspectives is deeper than just trying to understand those perspectives. It's about trying to understand where we are. Let’s go back to the land. It is so important to understand where we are. If you don't understand the Indigenous connection to that land, you are missing out. You aren't understanding where you are, because you haven't taken the time to understand the people of that land. So, you know, this isn't just about having diverse perspectives. It's bigger than that. It's about understanding this place in a very particular way. And that if you don’t know the Indigenous nations and people whose land we're on, that you are going to have a superficial understanding of that place.
??Lori: As for furthering our collective education, we can start with President Biden’s apology. And we can read more about the experiences of the Indigenous people on whose lands we live. I just finished Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars, which illuminates the experiences of “Urban Natives” in Oakland. What else might you suggest?
??Jarita: The Bay Area has just been such an important place for Native people. It was a site of relocating Native people from reservations across the country. Oakland was one of those areas where they tried to resettle Indigenous people. There are decades of history and organizing from Indigenous peoples in the Bay Area. There are some really important community organizations, the Native American Health Center and the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland. Beyond those organizations, Alcatraz is a really important site for Indigenous organizing and reclamation of land and reassertion, of Indigenous sovereignty and connection to these long-standing places.?
I think the Bay is really exciting, and there are lots of ways to connect to Indigenous communities in the Bay Area. Go to the Indigenous Red Market in Oakland or go to the Stanford Powwow. These are open to everyone, and they're great places to start if you're interested in understanding a little bit more about the realities and lives and community connections that exist.
??Lori: Thank you so much, Jarita. I’ve learned so much from you. I especially appreciate your wisdom in shifting my mindset from thinking about individual perspectives to appreciating the bigger picture of where we are and our connection to all things.
??Jarita: Thank you Lori. Native American Heritage Month is an excellent time to take the first step to learn more about Indigenous peoples. During this month my family focuses on learning more about Indigenous people who are making a difference through their creativity, brilliance and commitment to community. We hope you will take time to seek out those stories too.?
??????Here Jarita shares additional readings and resources.??????
Lori Nishiura Mackenzie is co-founder of the Lab.
Jarita Greyeyes is Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies at McMaster University.
Photo credit: Carla Hernandez Ramirez
Professor of Sociology at Stanford University
3 个月Jarita.. so great to see all you have accomplished. I love your perspective on leadership.