She Has Great Spirit
Insight into Relationships
Between
American Indian
Dads and Daughters
Dr. Martin Reinhardt
Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad
Opening Prayer
• We pray for all dads and daughters
that they will have joyous
relationships, and that we will see a
revitalization of traditional ways of
relating to each other, and to the
world around us, in this and future
generations.
Why AI-DADS?
• Research studies on the
relationships between fathers and
daughters in general are few and
far between.
• Studies on the specific
relationships between American
Indian fathers and their American
Indian daughters are practically
non-existent.
• The American Indian-Dads and
Daughters Survey (AI-DADS) was
developed to generate data on
these relationships.
AI-DADS Background
• Conducted in 2007 by the Interwest
Equity Assistance Center in
partnership with the Center for
Applied Studies in American
Ethnicity at Colorado State
University.
• Dr. Irene Vernon acted as Primary
Investigator, and Dr. Martin
Reinhardt acted as Co-PI.
• Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad joined the
team to help process the data and
co-authored the manuscript.
• Dr. Susan Faircloth joined the team
as a co-author of the manuscript.
• Manuscript has been accepted for
publication by the International
Journal of Qualitative Studies in
Education.
Background Cont.
• We asked that only American
Indian fathers, step-fathers, and
adoptive fathers (18 years or older)
of at least one American Indian
daughter complete the survey.
• A total of 174 self-identified
respondents accessed the survey,
and 158 (90.8%) completed at least
one question and submitted it.
• A total of 60 respondents (34.5%)
were retained in the pool for the
final analysis due to missing data,
logical errors, and mechanical
errors/survey design flaws.
Age of respondents
(unfiltered)
12%
1% 7%
Under 20
26%
20-30
31-40
22%
41-50
51-60
61 and Over
32%
Age of Respondents
(filtered)
Marital Status (unfiltered)
80.00%
70.00%
Married
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
Divorced
20.00%
10.00%
Single
Widowed
0.00%
Marital Status
Marital Status (filtered)
Fatherhood Status
(unfiltered)
6%
7%
87%
Biological
Adoptive
Step
Fatherhood Status
(filtered)
Residential Status
Residential Status
(unfiltered)
Not At All
Part-time
Full-time
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
• Non-full-time were asked if their
daughter lived with another adult male.
• 43.2% said yes
• 51.4% said no
• 5.4% didn’t know
Residential Status
(filtered)
• Non-full-time were asked if their
daughter lived with another
adult male.
• 45% said yes
• 55% said no
• 7% didn’t know
Residential Location
(Unfiltered)
Urban
23%
Suburban
28%
Reservation
27%
Rural Non
Reservation
22%
Residential Location
(filtered)
18%
27%
Reservation
Rural Non-Reservation
Suburban
Urban
27%
28%
Income (Unfiltered)
Income (filtered)
Number of Daughters
(Unfiltered)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
0.7%
0.7%
1.5%
4.4%
18.8%
31.2%
42.8%
Number of Daughters
(filtered)
Ag
e
0
Ag -3
e
4
Ag -6
e
Ag 79
e
1
Ag 0- 1
2
e
13
Ag - 1
5
e
16
Ag - 1
8
e
19
Ag - 2
1
e
22
Ag - 2
4
e
2
Ag 5- 2
7
e
2
31 8or 30
O
ld
er
Age of Daughters
(Unfiltered)
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Age of Daughters
Age of Daughters
(filtered)
Father’s Educational
Attainment (Unfiltered)
Less Than HS/GED
30.00%
GED
25.00%
HS Diploma
Professional
Certificate
20.00%
Some College
15.00%
Associates
Bachelors
10.00%
Masters
5.00%
Specialist
Professional
0.00%
Attainment Level
Doctorate
Father’s Educational
Attainment (filtered)
Current Profession, Tribal
Affiliations, and Citizenship
(unfiltered)
• Father’s Current Profession
– See summary handout
• Tribal Affiliation for Father,
Daughter, and Mother
– See summary handout
• Citizenship
– Choices were US, Canadian, Both,
and Other
– 95.4% selected US
– 0.8% selected Canadian
– 2.3% selected both
– 1.5% Selected other
– Other responses included: “Dual: U.S.
& Tribal” and “I am a member of the
Klamath Tribe”
Current Profession
(filtered)
• The largest group of respondents in any
one profession included those involved in
education. Twenty-one respondents
indicated they were an educational
administrator, professor, K-12 teacher, or
counselor. There were also two
respondents who reported their current
profession as “student”.
• The second largest group was composed
of public safety workers, with a total of
five. This group included police, security,
and fire.
• The third largest group included
managers and supervisors outside of
education, with a total of four.
• The three largest groups combined
totaled 32 respondents.
• All other professions combined totaled 28
respondents.
Tribal Affiliations
(filtered)
80
60
40
20
0
Tribal Affiliations
Indian Mothers
Non-Indian Mothers
Both
Same as Father
Not Same as Father
Unaffiliated Indian
Absalooka, Apache, Bad River Chippewa, Blackfeet, Bois
Fort Band Chippewa, Brotherton, Cherokee, Cheyenne
Arapaho, Comanche Nation, Creek, Crow, Colorado River,
Fort Peck Assiniboine, Forest County Potawatomi,
Goshute, Gros Ventre, Great Lakes Band of Chippewa,
Hochunk, Hopi, Koniag, Long Lake First Nation,
Menominee, Meskwaki, Mandan & Hidatsa, Muscogee,
Navajo, Nez Perce, Northern Cheyenne, Ojibwa,
Ojibwa/Cree, Omaha, Oneida Nation of WI, Osage,
Ponca, Rosebud Sioux, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of
Chippewa, Shawnee, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Turtle
Mountain Chippewa, Standing Rock Sioux, StockbridgeMunsee, United Houma Nation, White Earth Ojibwe,
Walker River Paiute
Citizenship
(filtered)
• 96.6% selected US
• 0% selected Canadian
• 3.3% selected Both US and
Canadian
• 0% selected other
Insight from the
AI-DADS
• Among the most important data
gathered in the AI-DADS were
responses from American Indian
fathers about their relations with their
daughters in the following areas:
– Spirituality
– Other Cultural Customs and Traditions
– Identity
• These insights should help us better
understand how American Indian
fathers may, or may not, be involved
in their daughters lives in ways that
are often discounted, or
misunderstood, by Western society.
Spirituality
Spirituality Cont.
• What was the most special time
that you have spent with your
daughter(s) that reflected your tribal
cultural background?
– Twenty-four respondents (40%) cited
some type of involvement in spiritual
ceremonies reflecting their tribal
cultural background as their most
special time spent with their
daughters.
– It is important to note that pow-wows
were also often seen as spiritual
gatherings, or at least that they
included some aspects that honor the
importance of spirituality in local tribal
contexts.
– Examples included sacred fires and
eagle feather ceremonies.
– Taken together, the responses that
included pow-wows and spiritual
ceremonies accounted for 78% of the
respondents.
Spirituality Cont.
– “I think when my entire family
participated in our sacred sun
dance and participated for the
entire four days of sacrifice. My
daughter made it all four days
without food and water; that
impressed me highly and shows
her mettle.”
– “Watching them dance at powwows and receiving honorings
for educational, athletic, and
musical achievements at native
controlled schools (tribal and
public) .”
Spirituality Cont.
• Have you ever had an instance
where you were having trouble with
your daughter(s) and your tribal
culture seemed to help you deal
with the situation? If yes, explain.
– Thirteen respondents suggested that
prayers, ceremonies, or faith as part of
their Native culture helped.
– “At one time, my eldest daughter came
to me about the stresses of school
work. I explained to her that her
strength had always been inside her
because she successfully went
through four days of her Kinaaldaa
ceremony and that she should apply
her understanding of her strength to
her school to overcome her difficulties.
She graduated [with honors] from high
school and just completed her
freshman year at [the University] with
a [high] GPA.”
Spirituality Cont.
• Has your daughter(s) been
involved in a traditional tribal
female ceremony? If yes, what
was the ceremony and what
was your role in the ceremony?
– Participation in the following
ceremonies was reported: a new
woman ceremony (8), a naming
ceremony (3), attendance at a
women's sweat lodge (2), a long
house ceremony (1), a
significant role in a repatriation
ceremony (1), a sunrise dance
(1), and a ghost feast (1).
Spirituality Cont.
– “During my daughter's traditional
Navajo womanhood ceremony, I
assisted with everything from
gathering the firewood and water,
traveling to and from the grocery store
for supplies, preparing the ground
where the traditional cake was to be
baked, and simply being available to
any family requests.”
– “Both of my daughters have gone
through a new woman ceremony. My
role was to help prepare the area and
make sure they had their sacred
herbs, firewood, etc. During their
ceremony, my job was to pray and
support my wife by doing things that
needed to be done while she worked
with my daughters. After the ceremony
my job was to help celebrate and to
clean the area up.”
Other Cultural
Customs and Traditions
Cultural Traditions Cont.
• When asked which type of
educational functions they are most
likely to attend, seventy percent of
the respondents ranked traditional
cultural gatherings about education
as their first, second or third choice.
• Have you ever had an instance
where you were having trouble with
your daughter(s) and your tribal
culture seemed to help you deal
with the situation? If yes, explain.
– 14 mentioned tribal culture or tribal
family members as providing direction
for a way to live
Cultural Traditions
Cont.
• Do you and your daughter(s) talk
about the relationship between
fathers and daughters from a tribal
cultural perspective? If yes, what
are some of the things you have
discussed?
– Ten instances where clan and family
roles and relationships were
mentioned, Twelve instances where
the respondent focused on traditional
family values, and three instances
where respondent indicated that it is
simply a way of life.
– Thirty (half) of the filtered respondents
indicated that they do not talk, or have
not yet talked, about the relationships
between fathers and daughters from a
tribal cultural perspective.
Cultural Traditions
Cont.
– “The traditional leadership of women
in clan relationships”.
– “Respect for our elders, traditions,
culture and language”.
– “Yes. We frequently talk about
traditional roles and how they can help
us relate with each other. We also talk
about the roles that males and
females have at our traditional
ceremonies”.
– “Yes, we discuss our clanship rules, I
relate the importance of the female
role in the cosmos, down to the family,
she understands her relations in the
Navajo way, that she is "little mother"
to her step-sister's child and is able to
behave according to Navajo custom”.
Identity
Identity Cont.
• What was the most special time
that you have spent with your
daughter(s) that reflected your tribal
cultural background?
– Two examples of responses indicating
that reservations are often seen as a
center of Indian cultural identity.
– “When my daughters come out to the
reservation. They learn that they are
Indian children.”
– “Living on the reservation for 20 years.
My two daughters went to K-11 on the
reservation.”
• When asked how connected they
feel to their tribal culture, 56% of
the fathers who reside in a
reservation community selected 5,
on a scale from 1-5 where 1 was
least, as compared to their rural
(29%), suburban (13%), and urban
(0%) counterparts.
Identity Cont.
• Have you ever had an instance
where you were having trouble with
your daughter(s) and your tribal
culture seemed to help you deal
with the situation? If yes, explain.
– Examples of responses that included
tribal cultural affiliation as a
responsibility.
– “We found out that my older daughter
has been lying about her activities. I
reminded her that as Anishinaabe
Ojibway, she carries our culture with
her and she is often the only Native
person that some people ever meet. It
seemed to impact her.”
– “We always reminded her that she
was Cheyenne and Arapaho, and
what she did in public or her actions
reflected on the tribes as a whole by
the public.”
Identity Cont.
• Have you ever had an instance
where you were having trouble with
your daughter(s) and your tribal
culture seemed to make the
situation more difficult? If yes,
explain.
– There were nine instances where the
respondents indicated that
racial/ethnic, or cultural, identity issues
have had a negative impact. Two
reported instances of negative
behaviors associated with being
Indian. Two responded that tribal
enrollment was an issue.
– “Being mixed, there were and have
been times when explaining issues to
school administrators and teachers,
especially regarding certain issues,
has been difficult. I attribute this to the
fact that where we live now has a low
number of folks with Native ancestry.”
Identity Cont.
– “As mixed bloods, we have both been
told that we are too white to be
welcome to some things, and ironically
we have both been told we are too
Indian to understand and participate in
others. Both of these attitudes caused
a little bit of trouble with some of her
middle school teachers when she was
younger.”
– “My daughter has cultural issues when
it comes to school. She is dark, testing
is more difficult, the way she is taught
sometimes does not get through to her
because of cultural differences.
She…is mainly taught by white
teachers.”
If You Could Say Only
One Thing
• A few of the responses to the last
question on the survey provide
simple, yet powerful, reminders of
what messages American Indian
fathers hope their daughters are
receiving.
• The question was If you could say
only one thing to your daughter(s)
besides you love her, what would it
be?
– “Know and be proud of your heritage
and treat all people with respect as
you would want them to respect you.”
– “Remember who you are.”
– “Remember to remember that you are
a spirit being having a human
experience.”
– “That she has great spirit.”
Miigwech (Thank You)
For More Information Contact:
Dr. Martin Reinhardt
mreinhar@nmu.edu
Dr. Jan Perry Evenstad
evenstad@mscd.edu