In this article, one Indigenous author and two settler authors examine the impact on preservice educators of a collaborative curricular experience intended to challenge the settler imaginary, within the context of a longstanding community-engaged Tribe-university partnership. This curricular experience involved collaboration with Indigenous scholars and artists, discussion of Indigenous artmaking in a contemporary new-media context, and centering of Indigenous language and epistemology in curriculum development. The collaboration is a complex form of community-engaged practice and public pedagogy that aims to serve local communities of elementary learners, an Indigenous community connected to this locality, and preservice educators. The authors describe the context and community-engaged methodology of this inquiry, then delineate key concepts and concerns shaping their analysis, before highlighting emergent themes and takeaways encountered in analysis of preservice educators’ teaching and reflection. The authors conclude with suggestions for future inquiry as well as potential pedagogical applications for readers interested in critically and sensitively engaging with the work of contemporary Indigenous artists in their curricula.

Faculty authors: Luke Arthur Meeken, Kristina Fox, and Stephanie Harvey Danker (Miami University)
Publication details: Meeken, L. A., Fox, K. & Danker, S. H., (2026) “Collaboratively teaching Myaamia color systems and contemporary digital practices within a reciprocal partnership”, Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education 42(2), 52-73. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jcrae.7503