Yan gaa duuneek, which means “to walk with dignity,” is a common phrase used in Tlingit culture and signifies the highest honor a person can hold. There is no word in the Tlingit language that personifies living a “good healthy life,” but the elders refer to yan gaa dunneekas having a similar meaning. Historically, Tlingit people treated each other in the same manner, with the highest respect no matter where they walked or who they encountered, the four-legged or the two-legged. A teaching many Tlingit people talk about is that everything living has a spirit, even the smallest blade of grass. Tlingit traditional teachings state that, in order to live with nature, they have to respect it. Once they respect it, they never mistreat it. This cultural teaching is part of the path of walking with dignity. In essence, Tlingit pedagogies constitute who they are, how they are to be in the world, and where they will go on their journeys. This chapter examines Indigenous pedagogies with the...
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Ormiston, T. (2019). Yaan Gaa Duneek: Transformative Leadership Pedagogies in Postsecondary Education. In: Peters, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_651-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_651-1
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