Native American Educators Write About Turkey

The following two articles were penned by Willard Sakiestewa Gilbert, PhD and Carrie Billy, JD respectively. Dr. Gilbert is a member of the Hopi Tribe and he is a professor at the Northern Arizona University. Ms. Billy is a member of the Navajo Nation and the President and CEO of American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Both educators visited Turkey on TCA-sponsored trips, designed to expand educational exchanges between the US and Turkey.  Dr. Gilbert’s article appeared in the Spring newsletter of the National Indian Education Association and Ms. Billy’s article was published in the Spring 2010 volume of “Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education”.

Last year, College of Menominee Nation President Verna Fowler and I were fortunate to take a fascinating trip to Turkeys For 10 days, we explored awe- inspiring coliseums, palaces, churches statues, and cities built during the Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires, visited breathtakingly beautiful mosques, navigated the busy and colorful streets of Istanbul, and explored quaint Mediterranean villages by the sea, walked on a sandy beach, [read]

Once again, I and several colleagues were recently invited by the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) to participate in the Native American Lecture Tour in Turkey. The tour included visiting and presenting at twelve Turkish universities in Istanbul, Ankara, Samsun and Bolu. We also presented at the Native American Voices: Languages of Survival Conference at Hacettepe University in Ankara organized by Hacettepe’s American Culture & Literature department and TCA. [read]