December 8, 2023: Expert Lecture: “Indigenous Education for No One”, 5:30pm

After years of being defined and designed to be something other than an Indigenous People, Sean Chandler will illustrate the significance of Indigenous Lifeways as the foundation of Indigenous Education in contemporary life.  He will present a brief background on the federal government’s policy to alter and control American Indian identity.  Specifically, he will discuss how Aaniiih Nakoda College has been driven to counter those past assimilationist policies to define itself as an institution grounded in Aaniiih and Nakoda Lifeways for the people of the Aaniinen and Nakoda Nations.

Chandler is an enrolled member of the Aaniiih (Gros Ventre Nation) and President of Aaniiih Nakoda College located on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana. Chandler acquired a B.A. in Art in 1997, M.A. in Native American Studies in 2003 from Montana State University-Bozeman, and Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Montana in 2014. Chandler has always been involved in art and his work has been collected by the Minneapolis Institute of Art of Minneapolis, MN and the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, MT. Most recently, Sean was selected as one of five artists for the 2023 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship of the Eiteljorg Museum of Indianapolis, IN. He resides in Harlem, MT, where he creates most of his artwork in his home studio.

This lecture is part of programming for WITHIN: Louis Still Smoking & John Isaiah Pepion. Learn more about this exhibition here.