Myra Alexander-Starr came to IU this summer in the final writing stages
of her dissertation for Ohio State University.
Her 2nd Summer Session graduate seminar, offered through the
Higher Education and Student Affairs’ division of the School of Education, was
entitled “Between Us and Trouble,” and stems from her doctoral research on
higher education in the Mvskoke Nation between 1865 and 1907.
The
course title, she said, comes from an important figure in Mvskoke history of the
early 19th Century, Opothle Yahola, who said that the tribal young
must be educated in English public schools “to stand between us and
trouble.” As far as
Alexander-Starr can tell, the unresolved tension between assimilating
Euro-American culture versus holding steadfastly to Mvskoke tradition that was
so prominent elsewhere, never extended itself into the schools.
Her graduate students were, she added, ideal to work with, and well
prepared to examine issues of Native American higher education in this
historical epoch.
Alexander-Starr
said the opportunity of teaching at IU was timely and unique.
The community of colleagues in the School of Education created an
enriching environment in which she could rethink the intersection between her
dissertation research interests, and where they might take her in the academe.
A conversation with one local professor brought her back to an earlier
concern, that very few people are doing the kind of work she’s doing with
American Indian Education. Alexander-Starr
suspects that some hiring institutions might find the fact that she’s worked
with limited populations problematic.
“This
is always the battle,” she added, “when one of the drives is to give
something back to the people, whether it’s directly with the tribe, or
indirectly with the neighborhood, or somewhere else as part of a pipeline.”
For a scholar with such a sense of social context, it’s extremely
tempting to direct research towards her or his own people, rather than towards
the mainstream. In fact,
Alexander-Starr’s Ph.D. program presented the first opportunity to use her
research skills to examine her own people. She sees her dissertation as, in part, a written history for
the Mvskoke people, one that will perhaps supplement the dominant tribal
accounts, characteristically conveyed in an oral tradition.
Regarding
her future plans, Alexander-Starr said she doesn’t feel restricted to the
history of education, and looks forward to extending her work to include
contemporary qualitative and quantitative analysis on higher education.
She recalls that when she first started out in her Ph.D. program, she was
asked a question about her future career, and that she hasn’t changed in her
desire to help students, possibly in academic affairs.
She thinks that becoming a part of mainstream educational systems would
still allow her to touch upon American Indian students’ lives, especially
given that there is no tribal university system in Oklahoma, hence those Native
American students go elsewhere to receive their higher education.
Alexander-Starr maintains flexibility when envisioning where,
geographically, her career might take her.
“If I have to go around the world to get across the street, I will.
But across the street is always the Mvskoke Nation.”