Boarding Schools

This episode focuses on the history of boarding schools as a federal policy for eliminating Native knowledge and practices in favor of colonial institutions and life. Central to this policy of cultural genocide was the phrase “kill the Indian and save the man.” Boarding school separated children from their families and tribes/community, culture, language, and land. They were exposed to mental, physical, and sexual abuse, disease, loss of religious beliefs, and knowledge of how to be cared for as a child and thus as a parent. The conversation in this module examines both the hardships of Boarding Schools and the intergenerational trauma, while also recognizing that sometimes the Boarding school experience led to forms of success for some and trauma for others. While a difficult conversation, this module provides an understanding of the institutionalization of family separation and its consequences for health and wellbeing.