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Next Generation Spotlight: Elyse Dempsey
August 27, 2010
By Rhiana Yazzie
Elyse Dempsey is surrounded by her sister, mother and aunt as they help her get into traditional Navajo dress for her graduation from Macalester College. Her nearly knee length hair is wrapped up Navajo style, layered in white yarn. She leaves Macalester stronger in her identity as a Native person armed with the experience of living among Minnesota’s original people and a college education. Dempsey moved to the Twin Cities four years ago from Fort Defiance, Ariz., on the Navajo reservation.
Dempsey gives credit for getting a college degree to the women in her family. “My aunts – Katherine, Lena, and Angela – have shared many stories of their own lives where education was sacrificed. They gave their time and energy…so that we could be stronger. My mother, Marilyn, the eldest woman of our family … taught us how to cross borders. College educated by white professors in Utah, she tied her dreams to our blood as we came into this world. We were born to leave her for education. And as these women prayed to Father Sky before telling us to go, my brother, sisters, and I went. Most importantly, though, we come back.”
Though college was far from home, Dempsey always planned on returning. “I wish to be around the language of my ancestors where our origin stories are in daily conversations and Dine,” the name Navajo people call themselves in their own language, “is just a word. In doing so, I hope to attend the local tribal college where culture and language immersion is my goal. I hope to help my family with daily chores and prayers that I have missed and in some cases forgotten. I want to remember my origin and live in it. Moreover, I want to return to school for a doctorate degree in American Studies. My ultimate goal, though, is to teach at our local tribal community college.”
Dempsey majored in American Studies and worked in the Department of Multicultural Studies. Through these experiences she says she learned how to speak about the oppression Native nations often face. “My studies have given me not only multiple learning experiences, but also a language to explain oppression. At college in general, I have learned how to think as an adult for my family and myself.”
College and university environments have been a documented challenge for young Native students that sometimes find culture shock and homesickness too overwhelming to navigate successfully. Ultimately it was Dempsey’s connection to her home that was the key to finishing school and creating goals for her future. “I find that my life is a puzzle where my heart has been divided and buried … The largest piece, though, is with my Nation. I dream every day to be home where the grounds are sandy and brown and the skies are too big for greedy eyes. I miss seeing familial brown faces and hearing rez jokes. Mostly, I miss hearing the language of my people. My family has raised me to understand that we can speak to our ancestors that are in worlds with a prayer and good thoughts. We follow our traditions as they have been lived before time itself. In effect, I overcome my homesickness with many phone calls, good thoughts, and countless prayers.”
Dempsey’s passion lies with uplifting her people. “I plan to help preserve the integrity of my tribe with teaching. As with my mother and aunts, regular interaction with youth in classrooms and community projects has given them meaning for where our tribe will be one day. I hope to help them with teaching our language and culture in the classroom.”
