"Tribal college administrator Jack Jackson lifted his deer hide-covered corn pollen bag into the air on Saturday when he was asked to define the meaning of intellectual capital within his community.

Actually, dozens of participants offered as many definitions of what intellectual capital means to Native communities in the 21st century.

“There's a lot of good teaching within indigenous peoples,” said Jackson, a project director at Dine College, one of nearly 30 colleges to have received a five-year grant from the Lily Endowment Inc. to enhance intellectual capital using tribal knowledge.

It's a way of life that has been subverted by Western society, said Jackson, who was among a cadre of tribal college representatives who met at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula to share ideas and progress among the colleges awarded grants as part of “Woksape Oyate: Wisdom of the People.”

“Simple living is a better way,” said Jackson. “That's where intellectual capital should come. It's a positive relationship with the total universe and its elements.”

Jackson, a Navajo who works in Tsaile, Ariz., will be joining some 900 participants who are registered for the national American Indian Higher Education Consortium's 28th annual meeting Sunday through Tuesday in Missoula."

Get the Story:
Tribal colleges meet to plan students' future (The Missoulian 3/29)

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