Keira Leneman, a PhD student in developmental psychology at the Institute of Child Development, participated in the CREATE scholars program in Summer and Fall 2019. The program is a component of the University of Minnesota Grand Challenges CREATE Initiative, which focuses on “engaging for change” by training graduate students in interdisciplinary and community-engaged scholarship approaches.

Leneman was part of a team that worked with Iyekiyapiwin Darlene St. Clair of St. Cloud State University and Dakota Wicohan to support her decolonizing, anti-racist 6th grade social studies curriculum, Mni Sóta Maḳoce: The Dakota Homelands. Leneman’s team also included Phil Rooney, a master’s student in the School of Social Work, and Amaniel Mrutu, a PhD student in the Department of Educational Psychology.

“Through this summer experience, I began to challenge my previous assumptions. While Darlene is a university professor, the knowledge that she was bringing to the table was more than academic. It was based in community, history, cultural understanding, and experience. It was knowledge that I could never have as a middle-class, white woman scientist that grew up in a small California town,” Leneman wrote as part of an article highlighting the project. “This curriculum bridges scientific and community knowledge to shape a future that is more equitable and critical, in the fight against systemic racism.”