Entanglements of the native soul

“When natives abandon their inherent sovereignty and the old ways of teaching, then we have failed—we have taken that final step to extinction as a people, regardless of where we live,” says Beth Santistevan, member of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. Santistevan describes how the effects of colonialism set the conditions for tribal disconnection—and how the survival of native cultures is dependent upon processes of decolonization.