Wilma Mankiller
Mankiller became
the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. She sought to improve
the nation's health care, education system and government. But she also
sought to raise awareness for people to
find a common ground. She speaks of unity and the importance of indigenous
people working together to build strong communities. She promotes the idea of a
“community where people trust their own thinking, where people believe in
themselves, when people are able to define for themselves what they want for
their community".
After learning about her I feel that her
philosophies are very much like Oren Lyons the Faith keeper philosophies. I
believe what is being conveyed is that a tribe’s strength lies in
self determination. That it is important to have a vision of the future and in doing
so we must remember to have a "sense of
responsibility for one another and interdependence." She also points out that as people we have "to believe in our intellectual ability, to believe in our skills, to believe in our ability to think up solutions to our own problems."
The link to
Wilma Mankiller’s interview is really good source to solidify our knowledge on
modern time issues native nations are facing. In addition, it is a great
example of matriarchal leadership. Through this web source we are reminded that
we women can also be strong conscious leaders. It is important to
note that sharing our knowledge in a public forum allows us to multiply the
knowledge, to raise awareness on Native American issues. But also, on issues of self efficacy. We have to rethink the values and knowledge
we've learned in the past if we want to bring about change.
Works Cited:
Mankiller, Wilma. "Governance, Leadership, and the Cherokee Nation." Leading Native Nations interview series. Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. September 29, 2008. Interview.
Eva,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your post. Wilma Mankiller recognized with the size of the Cherokee nation in terms of population that her skill and ability to stratify in an effort to reach common ground was paramount. And that is exactly what she did. To your point, she realize that if there was be unification across all tribal members, everyone could contribute in a meaningful solutions, and ways to help rebuild and strengthen community, government, and political structure.
Without reaching this common ground first, this unification would be close to impossible with every sector of the nations population doing their own thing and not necessarily having a connection to something bigger. She was extremely intelligent and very methodical in her approach to leadership. Truly an amazing women.
References:
Mankiller, Wilma. "Governance, Leadership, and the Cherokee Nation." Leading Native Nations interview series. Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, University of Arizona. Tucson, Arizona. September 29, 2008. Interview.
Chief Mankiller speaks to the need for a community to come together to improve everyone's quality of life. Her experience living in a low income housing project gave her perspective that poverty, health care and education are issues that all people face. Her perspective that the government is not the solution to her nations problems shows a desire to improve her nations sovereignty and the lifestyle of her people. Answers to problems need to come from within the affected group not from an outsider with no local knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love how you opened up your blog with a quote from Wilma Mankiller herself. In addition, it was a well chosen quote as it definitely sums up what she was talking about in her interview. Change has to begin from inside, those inside a community can not sit back and feel sorry for themselves, but instead have to start the revitalization. They can ask for outside help, but they need to fuel the fire from within. Also, everyone needs to get together and act as a team; the communities that are going to prosper are those that function on an interdepended level; where the skills of each individual are recognized and everyone has an active role.
ReplyDelete