Finding innovation in traditional values

Summary

The speaker shares a powerful narrative on the challenges faced by Native American communities, particularly in economic development, and the importance of embracing indigenous cultures as a solution rather than a problem. She recounts the history of forced assimilation through boarding schools and the negative impact of top-down, one-size-fits-all federal funding approaches. The speaker highlights her own journey in developing a culturally appropriate economic model, which led to successful projects such as the Cheyenne River Buffalo project, demonstrating a multifaceted approach to community development that addresses economic, cultural, and environmental needs. She emphasizes the interconnectedness within communities and the emergent nature of prosperity, advocating for a collaborative and respectful integration of indigenous worldviews to create a healthy and prosperous society.

Takeaways

• 📚 The Indian boarding school era (1879-1970s) aimed to 'kill the Indian to save the man' by forcibly removing children from their families and suppressing their culture, language, and names.
• 💼 Economic development in Native American communities began in 1978 with a focus on competition over cooperation, which was contrary to their traditional values.
• 🦘 A humorous idea of starting an 'Indian whack a mole' business led to a serious discussion and the creation of a profitable hunting permit system for controlling prairie dog populations.
• 🏨 A miscommunication with the Bureau of Indian Affairs resulted in funding for a 120-unit motel instead of the requested 10 cabins, highlighting the disconnect between federal funding and community needs.
• 🚫 The failure of the federally-funded motel project underscored the issue with top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions that ignore local knowledge and community-driven solutions.
• 🌱 The speaker's approach to economic development involves listening to the community, following their problem-solving methods, and tapping into their inherent brilliance.
• 🐃 A successful project reintroducing buffalo to the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation not only increased household income but also had conservation, cultural, and youth development benefits.
• 🌳 The buffalo project demonstrated how interconnectedness within a community can lead to prosperity, as the buffalo's reintroduction improved the ecosystem and supported various community sectors.
• 🌐 The concept of prosperity as an emergent property suggests that a society's wealth arises from the health of its relationships, society, and ecosystem, not just from profitable businesses.
• 🌱 International work with indigenous communities has shown that small grants can have a significant impact, with communities raising much more funding than they received in grants.
• 🌟 The Cheyenne River Buffalo project was recognized with the Newsweek hero of the Year award, highlighting the transformative potential of community-led initiatives.
• 🤝 The speaker challenges the audience to consider the value of different worldviews and the innovation that can come from combining diverse perspectives to create a healthy and prosperous society.

Q & A

What was the duration of the infamous Indian boarding school era?

The Indian boarding school era ran from 1879 into the 1970s, lasting approximately 100 years.

Who was the army officer responsible for building one of the first Indian boarding schools?

One of the first Indian boarding schools was built by army officer Richard Pratt in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

What was the purpose of the Indian boarding schools according to Richard Pratt?

Richard Pratt stated that the purpose of the schools was to 'kill the Indian in him, and save the man', meaning to suppress Native American culture and assimilate the children into white society.

What was the speaker's role in economic development on the Pine Ridge Reservation?

The speaker was the first Native American and the first woman to do economic development work on the Pine Ridge Reservation, focusing on culturally appropriate methods.

How did the speaker's tribe initially generate profit on the Pine Ridge Reservation?

The tribe generated profit by issuing hunting permits for prairie dogs on the reservation, which brought in $45,000 in the first year.

What was the outcome of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' prairie dog eradication program?

The eradication program, which used DDT, eliminated nearly all of the prairie dogs and much of the local wildlife, disrupting the tribe's primary method of controlling prairie dog populations.

Why did the tribe decide to build a motel on the reservation?

The tribe received federal funding intended for a 120-unit motel and, despite the lack of a clear market, decided to build it in a remote village on the reservation.

What was the speaker's realization about the problem with top-down, one-size-fits-all federal funding?

The speaker realized that top-down federal funding denied local ownership and the innate brilliance in communities, leading to projects that failed to meet the actual needs and potential of the communities.

How did the speaker approach economic development in indigenous communities?

The speaker advocated for listening to the communities, following their problem-solving methods, and tapping into their innate brilliance to develop projects that were culturally appropriate and effective.

What was the impact of reintroducing buffalo to the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation?

The reintroduction of buffalo led to increased household income, conservation efforts, cultural revitalization, and even benefits for local wildlife such as the black-footed ferret and the meadowlark.

What was the speaker's challenge to the TED MED community?

The speaker challenged the TED MED community to remember the connectivity and interdependence of relationships, and to combine different worldviews to create a healthy and prosperous society.

Outlines

00:00

😔 Forcible Assimilation and Economic Development on Native American Reservations

The first paragraph discusses the dark history of Native American boarding schools, which aimed to eradicate Native American culture from 1879 to the 1970s. It highlights the efforts of Richard Pratt and the forced assimilation of Native children. The speaker then transitions to their own experiences with economic development on the Pine Ridge Reservation, emphasizing the challenges faced by Native communities and the innovative approach of turning prairie dog hunting into a profitable business. The paragraph concludes with the ironic story of receiving a grant for a 120-unit motel instead of the needed 10 cabins, leading to a failed business venture that reinforced negative stereotypes about Native Americans in business.

05:05

🌿 The Impact of Federal Programs on Wildlife and a Solution-Led Approach

The second paragraph delves into the consequences of a federal prairie dog eradication program that devastated local wildlife and disrupted the community's traditional hunting practices. It details the failed attempt to build a profitable motel and the subsequent realization that federal funding models were not conducive to local success. The speaker then shares their pivot to a community-led approach, which involved listening to the community's needs and problem-solving. This led to the successful reintroduction of buffalo to the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation, which had profound economic, environmental, and cultural benefits, including increased household income and the revitalization of native species.

10:08

🌐 Multifaceted Projects and the Emergence of Prosperity

The third paragraph expands on the success of the buffalo project and describes the holistic approach taken by the community, which addressed multiple needs simultaneously. It emphasizes the importance of designing projects with clear goals that benefit the largest number of community members. The speaker also draws parallels between the interconnectedness seen in the community and the concept of health as an emergent property. The narrative then shifts to the international work with indigenous communities, highlighting the significant impact of small grants and the empowerment of grassroots groups. The speaker argues that prosperity is also an emergent property and that addressing larger systemic issues is crucial for a healthy and prosperous society.

15:11

🌟 Indigenous Wisdom and the Path to a Healthier, Prosperous Society

In the final paragraph, the speaker reflects on the pride in their culture and challenges the notion that indigenous worldviews are problematic. They invoke Einstein's idea that the same consciousness that creates a problem cannot solve it, suggesting that indigenous perspectives offer unique solutions. The speaker calls for a recognition of the connectivity and interdependence inherent in indigenous cultures and proposes that combining these worldviews with Western approaches can lead to innovative solutions. They conclude with a challenge to the audience to remember these principles as they work towards creating a healthier and more prosperous world.

Keywords

💡Indian boarding schools

Indian boarding schools were institutions established during the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the aim of assimilating Native American children into Euro-American culture. The schools often forbade the use of Native languages, practices, and names, which had a profound impact on Native American identity and culture. In the transcript, the era of these schools is described as 'infamous' and a time when 'all that is Indian in the race shall be dead', highlighting the severity of the cultural erasure policy.

💡Cultural erasure

Cultural erasure refers to the deliberate suppression and elimination of certain cultural aspects, often by a dominant culture or colonial power. In the context of the video, it is exemplified by the forced assimilation policies of the Indian boarding schools, where children were forbidden to speak their language or practice their culture. The transcript discusses the lasting effects of this erasure, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and respecting cultural diversity.

💡Economic development

Economic development involves the process of improving the economic well-being and quality of life of a community or region, primarily through the creation of wealth and jobs. In the transcript, the speaker's career in culturally appropriate economic development began in response to the conventional thinking that Native American values of cooperation over competition were detrimental to business success. The video highlights the need for economic development models that respect and incorporate local culture and values.

💡Prairie dogs

Prairie dogs are rodents native to the grasslands of North America, and in the transcript, they are mentioned as a significant part of the ecosystem on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The local hunting of prairie dogs served as a form of population control and became an unexpected business opportunity for the tribe, leading to the establishment of a hunting permit system that generated profit.

💡Federal funding

Federal funding refers to financial support provided by the national government for various programs and initiatives. In the video, the speaker discusses the challenges of relying on federal funding for economic development projects, particularly when the funding comes with rigid requirements that may not align with local needs or cultural practices. The misalignment is illustrated by the story of the misguided motel project.

💡Local ownership

Local ownership implies that decisions and control over projects and resources are retained within the community itself. The transcript emphasizes the importance of local ownership in successful economic development, arguing that top-down approaches often fail to recognize the 'innate brilliance' of local communities and their ability to solve their own problems.

💡Buffalo reintroduction

The reintroduction of buffalo to the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation is presented as a multifaceted project that had economic, cultural, and environmental benefits. By committing their land interests to a common grazing area for buffalo, community members could receive a calf, which had significant economic value. This project also had positive effects on the local ecosystem and cultural practices, demonstrating a holistic approach to development.

💡Indigenous communities

Indigenous communities are groups that are native to a particular region and have a distinct cultural identity often tied to the land and its resources. The transcript discusses the importance of working directly with indigenous communities in economic development, using their traditional knowledge and practices to inform projects. This approach has led to successful outcomes in various countries, including Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone.

💡One-size-fits-all

The term 'one-size-fits-all' refers to a single solution or approach that is applied universally, without consideration for individual differences or specific contexts. In the video, the speaker criticizes this approach in the context of economic development, arguing that it fails to account for the unique cultural and ecological contexts of indigenous communities, leading to projects that are not sustainable or appropriate.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability generally relates to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The transcript showcases projects that are sustainable not only in an economic sense but also in terms of cultural preservation, ecological balance, and community well-being. The buffalo reintroduction project is an example of a sustainable initiative that benefits the community in multiple ways.

💡Emergent property

An emergent property is a characteristic of a system that arises from the interaction of its parts but is not readily predictable from the properties of the individual components alone. The speaker suggests that both health and prosperity are emergent properties that result from the interplay of various factors, including individual well-being, societal relationships, and ecological conditions. This concept challenges the linear approach to problem-solving and advocates for a more holistic and interconnected perspective.

Highlights

Handcuffs were used on Native American children during the infamous Indian boarding school era from 1879 to the 1970s

Children were forcibly removed from their families and forbidden from practicing their culture

The speaker began her career in culturally appropriate economic development in 1978

She was the first Native American and first woman doing economic development at the time

She worked on economic development in South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation, one of the poorest counties in the US

The tribe started a profitable hunting permit business by charging local hunters to hunt prairie dogs

They received federal funding to build 10 hunting cabins, but mistakenly got funding for a 120 unit motel instead

The motel was built in a remote location with no customers, symbolizing perceived Native American business failures

The speaker realized top-down, one-size-fits-all federal funding denied local ownership and problem-solving

She started listening to indigenous communities' ideas and solutions for economic development

One project reintroduced buffalo to a reservation, providing economic, conservation, cultural and youth benefits

The project was funded by the speaker's organization and later received national recognition

Indigenous projects designed to meet the most needs for the most community members were very successful

The speaker's organization has made 250 grants in 58 countries, directly impacting 600 indigenous communities

Many of the funded projects combined traditional and modern techniques in healthcare, agriculture, etc.

The speaker argues that prosperity, like health, is an emergent property that cannot be achieved through a linear model

She calls for combining diverse worldviews and indigenous knowledge to create a healthy, prosperous society

Transcripts

these are handcuffs for Native American

children during the infamous Indian

boarding school era which ran from 1879

into the 1970s 100 years 490 schools one

of the first schools was built right out

here by Carlisle Pennsylvania my army

officer Richard Pratt who in his

inaugural speech said that the purpose

of the school was that quote all that is

Indian in the race shall be dead kill

off the Indian to save the man children

were forcibly removed from their

families forbidden from using their

given names speaking their language or

practicing their culture I began

economic development in 1978 and while

it was development and not education the

Carlyle conventional thinking was still

very much alive everyone knew that

Indians valued cooperation over

competition and they all knew we shared

too much so clearly the only way Indian

people were going to succeed in business

was to get rid of the Indian Asst this

began my career in culturally

appropriate economic development I was

the first Native American and the first

woman doing economic development back

then which basically meant I could write

federal proposals and get federal

funding I was off to South Dakota to the

Pine Ridge Reservation to do economic

development when I got there Pine Ridge

is also Shannon County which is Shannon

County in South Dakota had been the

poorest County in the

United States for the past 60 years of

the ten poorest counties in this country

six of them are Indian reservations when

you get to Pine Ridge what you see is

prairie vast vast Prairie as you look

out over the horizon what you also see

are prairie dogs some of those prairie

dog towns had between 300 and 500

thousand prairie dogs all making more

prairie dogs by every economic

conventional standard there was nothing

to develop except every weekend all the

local hunters would pile in their cars

drive out to the reservation and target

practice with the prairie dogs

it was the tribes main way of keeping

the population of prairie dogs from over

running the reservation but we had a

standing joke in the tribe where one of

these days we were going to get really

rich starting an Indian whack Amole

business so one day I'm sitting in the

tribal council meeting and the Parks and

Recreation Director comes in and we

start talking about the Indian whack

Amole business I mean it we came up

every meeting this time we really talked

about it seriously in the tribe passed a

hunting code and we issued hunting

permits $50 a person per season

we made $45,000 profit that first year

and it was the first time ever the tribe

had a profitable business I polished up

our financials got the statements ready

did the trick trajectory of profits and

off to DC we went because we wanted to

have 10 hunting cabins for the

out-of-state hunters so we go to the

Bureau of Indian Affairs by showing my

charts of profit and we explain how with

the tent cabins we're really gonna be

able to do some spin-off economic

activities too one of the BIA guys jumps

up he says we're funding motels this

year here and he went and got the

application packet he gave it to me and

I don't think we even needed a plane we

were so happy on our way home we just

flew home I got the application packet

went to my office opened it up it was

for 120 unit motel wait a minute we need

10

cabins that's got the wrong packet so I

called the BIA up and I can remember us

we were there that it uh but we had a

120 unit application packet we wanted

ten cabins I said we're only funding 120

unit motels this year Wow why not let's

take a shot at it you know so I put the

proposal together and I'm thinking what

we're gonna need is some really

sophisticated marketing to get this

hotel filled because we don't even have

enough people local or tourists to fill

120 rooms I'm reading down the

application packet and it says marketing

is prohibited and right below that it

says management expenses are dis

allowable about that time the director

of Parks and Recreation walks in and he

said hey the bureau's just launched a

major prairie dog eradication program

and they funded the widespread

application of DDT well they eliminated

all of our prairie dogs and just about

all of our wildlife so there we sat we

had no customers no staff and now we had

no prairie dogs we got the grant right

so I go into the tribe and I say we've

got the funding to build 120 unit motel

so they vote to build the motel in the

most remote village on the reservation

because there's nothing else out there

we build the motel in there it sets

empty because there's nothing else out

there to the outsider this just looks

like one more monument of failure proof

that Indians can't do business like the

hundreds of hotels

I mean motels shopping centers and

marinas built by federal funds and

scattered across Indian country but how

did we fail we didn't want the motel in

the first place yet there it stood a

constant reinforcement to a psychology

of failure directed right the blame

directed right at the core of my values

my

beliefs and my culture I could not

accept that my culture was the problem

federal funding was the problem that

top-down take one-size-fits-all was the

problem it denied any kind of local

ownership it denied the innate

brilliance in our communities our own

problem-solving so I went to foundations

and I said our communities need economic

development and they said well what are

you gonna do I said I'm gonna listen to

them I'm gonna follow their

problem-solving I'm going to tap into

their brilliance see ya but what are you

gonna do

how we gonna fund you if you don't know

what you're gonna do I'm saying say I

didn't know what I was gonna do I said

we were gonna listen finally I had this

empathetic program officer pulled me

aside and she says Rebecca tell us

you've got a multi-faceted strategic

planning process so next time I get the

question I have a multi-faceted

strategic planning process got the grant

and one of our first projects one of our

first projects really was on the

Cheyenne River Sioux again on South

Dakota and they had come to us and they

wanted to reintroduce the Buffalo to the

reservation now because of long-standing

historic inheritance legislation on a

reservation you might have a part of

land that your family's interest is in

that land but there's 6,000 other heirs

to that same parcel of land and those

interests are undivided so to get around

this undivided interest land ownership

pattern we have on the reservations the

tribe said if you commit your interests

to the common grazing for the buffalo

herd you'll get a calf now calf is worth

six hundred and forty dollars on the

hoof and you have the choice you could

leave the calf with the herd and it

could grow and if it was when it became

a cow or a bull it became worth anywhere

between 1600 to 2400 dollars

on the market in a community where the

family's average annual income is four

thousand and eighty dollars a year this

represents between a fifteen to fifty

percent increase in household income but

a lot more was happening

the Buffalo were eating the natural

grasses and habitat grew back the black

footed black footed ferret and the

Meadowlark returned and when the herd

grew in size the medicine man was called

in in order that we could call the herd

and reduce the numbers again take the

carrying capacity the medicine man

assured that all of the buffalo killing

would follow the strictest of ritual and

ceremony and guarantee that none of it

would be wasted the skull the bones the

hides went to the artists the meat was

chopped up and sent to the elderly

center to the elderly programs into the

school lunch programs even the juvenile

courts sentenced the youth to go study

the Buffalo Nation because the belief

was Lakota Nation had modeled themselves

after the Buffalo Nation so we had an

economic development project generating

income increasing household income we

had a conservation and endangered

species project we had a cultural

project we had a youth we had an arts

and crafts project and we had a youth

project and we would go to the

foundations to get funding they'd say

well we couldn't get a single foundation

to fund it they'd say well is it a youth

project or is it a cultural project is

an economic project or is a conservation

project and I go yeah finally out of

frustration we took our own internal

funding and we funded it 30 months later

the executive director of the Cheyenne

River Buffalo project was awarded the

Newsweek hero of the Year award not for

just what the project was doing on the

reservation but for the impact it had

within the entire state something very

interesting was happening in these

projects

across the board people were designing

the projects in a way that the goal was

clear the goal was to meet the highest

number of needs for the maximum number

of people in the community I want to say

that again because this goal was in

every single project that came in as it

was designed by the communities to meet

the most needs for the maximum number of

members in the community look at these

maps they're done by the University of

Alaska sociology department and they

went out to the same Inupiat village up

in Alaska the one map shows the

distribution after a whale hunt of all

of the places that the whale meat is

distributed within the Inupiat village

it shows the vibrant linkages and the

connections in the interconnections and

the interconnections within the

community within the family within the

clan and among the communities now the

other map on the sand on the other side

is the same Inupiat village and it maps

cache and all the points that cache is

distributed within the community but

what we were seeing in this was telling

us something not just the maps and not

just the buffalo project but there was

something we were finding here about

this interconnectivity and how

prosperity emerges and how these

projects were being designed that I

think have parallels within the

healthcare system medical science is

already saying that health is an

emergent property it emerges you cannot

cure the individual in isolation a

healthy individual emerges from a

healthy relationship with a healthy

society within a healthy ecosystem well

I submit to you that prosperity is an

emergent property there is no collection

of profitable businesses that will make

a profit prosperous society the economy

with its linear input-output model will

fail unless it addresses

fixes the larger problem we began

working internationally with indigenous

communities in 1997-98 making grants

directly to grassroots indigenous groups

around the world some of our projects we

funded traditional snakebite healers

collecting anti-venom in Sri Lanka we

funded the blending of traditional and

modern agricultural techniques in Sierra

Leone we've even funded the

revitalization of spiritual pilgrimages

in Mountain basa and Malaysia our grants

are small our success is huge we make

250 grants we've made 250 grants to in

58 countries directly impacting 600

indigenous communities one-third of our

grantees one-third of our communities

are so grassroots they had never ever

received funding before we've given away

a total of 1.7 million dollars and these

communities have raised 16 million

dollars in brand-new funding I'm not

here to tell you that we have to abandon

Western ways of doing business and Aid I

am here to tell you today with a

tremendous sense of pride that my

culture is not the problem

Einstein once said that no problem will

be created by the same consciousness but

no problem will be solved by the same

consciousness that created it there's a

lot to learn from indigenous peoples

ways of understanding and relating to

the world society today faces challenges

of epic proportion we cannot afford to

handcuff entire worldviews and eliminate

them for our search in our search for

solutions the TED med community is a

robust community dedicated to

imagination and innovation well imagine

what combining all the new all the

worldviews could innovate

just imagine the innovation from

different worldviews my challenge to you

today is as you go forth

remember the connectivity to the

relationships remember the

interdependence remember our relations

and we can join our worldviews and we

can create and what will emerge is a

healthy prosperous society and world