Indian Country 101 objectives:
Offend Native people 50% less
Engage with tribes
25% more effectively
These are low standards, yeah.
But as Jan Glendening, North America Managing Director of The Nature Conservancy, states:
We know one of the largest barriers to non-tribal organizations partnering with tribes is the amount of preemptive education tribal leaders and representatives must provide non-native leaders about tribal sovereignty, fundamentals of being a tribal nation, basic terminology, and customs in order to move forward with complex negotiations.
Indian Country 101 is one way organizations like The Nature Conservancy can step up to begin to ease that burden.
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So with that (drum roll please),
Welcome to
Indian Country 101
AN ONLINE TRIBAL ENGAGEMENT TRAINING SERIES
BUILT WITH NATURAL RESOURCE PRACTITIONERS IN MIND
Not a natural resource practitioner? Not a problem. This course is an informative tool for anyone that would like to know more about tribes and native citizens.
The development of the Indian Country (IC) tribal engagement series was grounded in the understanding that you can’t work with tribes in the United States without first outlining the long and complicated history of tribes and tribal governments. The mantra became:
Effective tribal engagement starts with knowledge and context.
WHAT YOU'LL FIND IN THESE COURSES
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The IC101 course lays out the history and context for tribal engagement across the country. IC101 includes lessons a, b, and c.
The 102 course builds upon the fundamentals and focuses specifically on tribes located in Washington State. The lessons in 102 include a, b, and c.
~20 hours
Altogether the six lessons take ~20hrs, and a large portion of that is 101(a).
Words from your narrator
These materials have been curated over several years and were designed to give learners access to quality information, plus allow deeper understanding and perspective of native experiences from native people.
There is a lot of bad information out there on tribes. We did our best to run this content through several filters and a team of advisors to confirm the sources are solid. We will work to keep it updated and current as information changes over time and with your user feedback. Since one voice will never be sufficient in telling such complicated tales, we have integrated many other voices of tribal members and Washington state tribal governments.
We have done our best to ensure the information is accessible to all learners. Transcription services for video and audio files are still in progress.
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This training contains source material which includes very occasional use of profanity.
PRO-TIP: 101(A) CRASH COURSE
This foundational course will provide a robust understanding of the history of tribes in the United States by covering important historic eras.
You are not going to be able to take everything in 101(a) in at once! Our suggestion is to go through 101(a) like you are speed reading for a school final, then head over to the other courses, referring to 101(a) when you have questions or need a refresher. It is a vital history you should have learned in high school. And since you likely DIDN'T, it’s important to spend a good amount of time marinating in the 101(a) lessons--even if it’s much more time-consuming than all the other lessons. Remember to KEEP COMING BACK!
101(a)
the crash course in Native history in the U.S.
Grab your scuba gear for 101(a) because it’s a deep dive.
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THE WORD ON THE STREET
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TWG & TNC JOINT OWNERSHIP MODEL
The Whitener Group (TWG) partnered with The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Washington State chapter to produce this labor of love training series. Through this mutually beneficial partnership, TWG maintains ownership of the content and TNC maintains ownership of the content delivery.
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The Nature Conservancy deeply appreciates the energy, heart, snark-swathed-insight, and dedication that Jennifer Whitener Ulrich (ahh, shucks, thanks guys) and The Whitener Group have offered to help conservation organizations like ours to do better.