Chapter 10: A Multilogical Approach to Giftedness: Creating a Space for Indigenous Knowledge

Historically, the classroom has not been a safe or nurturing environment for community members of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation (HVIR), located in northern California. Since the time of contact in 1846, education was imposed on the Indigenous people of the HVIR. From 1893 to 1932, children were required by the federal government to attend boarding school in the Hoopa Valley. Their traditional upbringing and cultural beliefs were invalidated, while they were forced to adopt the values of mainstream society. Despite the history of genocide, relocation, colonial education, and constantly shifting legislation, the HVIR community has sustained their ways of knowing and understanding; their relationships with the human, natural, and spiritual realms; and their methods of transferring knowledge. In addition, they have maintained their own form of education and concepts of giftedness.