Environmental Justice and the Role of Development within Indigenous Communities
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, SD
Location: Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, SD
Dates of Trip: May 17 - 29, 2009
Student Trip Leaders: Katie Mayer and Katelyn Birs
Faculty/Staff Advisor: TBD
Estimated Cost: $1,600-$1,800
Cost includes: airfare, transportation, meals, and all activities.
At the size of Connecticut, with an average per-capita income of $2,600 per year and an 85-95% unemployment rate, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, if it were a country would be the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, second only to Haiti. However, the Lakota people and their struggles, along with their history and rich culture have been largely marginalized and ignored by both society and the US Government. This trip will immerse participants into the Lakota community where they will be directly exposed to a wide range of environmental justice issues including land rights, land sovereignty, food security, current sustainable alternative energy movements and its implications for the future of the Lakota people. Additionally, through our work with both Native and non-Native grassroots organizations we will explore the larger role of development within indigenous communities. The trip will address the complexity of issues facing development organizations such as; what is "development," who should be doing the "developing," and who gets to decide what this "development," should look like, how it should function, and what should be on its agenda?
Specific activities include: volunteer work with Native and Non-native grassroots organizations, both on the Reservation and in Rapid City, dedicated to poverty eradication, education, youth empowerment and health development, working with those who have been actively involved in the wind and other alternative energy movements, meetings with various Lakota community leaders and tribal council members as well as US Government BIA officials, discussions with local business entrepreneurs, visits to historically and culturally important sites, hiking through the Badlands, and a variety of cultural immersion activities with the Lakota people.
