The work of Mr. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook serves as an excellent example of the College of Education’s participation in research and outreach.  Mr. Ng-A-Fook extended the classroom boundaries beyond the University and into the community to research communities who have had little or no access to higher education and to use his research as a platform to build bridges between universities and local indigenous communities.

Mr. Ng-A-Fook focused his dissertation research project in his passion for the United Houma Nation.  The Houma are one of the largest indigenous communities in Louisiana, including more than 17,000 members.  Suffering from Jim Crow policies of racial segregation, American Indians were also denied access to local schools.  A few non-traditional educational venues were open to the students of the Houma Nation, most of which were established by religious institutions. Yet most of these schools ended at grade seven. Parents who could afford to do so then sent their children to out-of-state high schools. As a result, many Houma were prevented from attending high school until the mid-1960s.

“I wanted to research on something which was meaningful to the United Houma Nation community, and something that had not been done in depth before within the faculty of Education at Louisiana State University—something that would benefit both the community and the University,” said Mr. Ng-A-Fook on his dissertation focus.  After introducing himself to the United Houma Nation community, Mr. Ng-A-Fook said, “I wanted to negotiate a research project that formed a synergy between what the research community wanted and what research the Houma would like to see done about their educational history and heritage.”

“In the end, the work I did on my dissertation was only a small portion of the research I collected,” stated Mr. Ng-A-Fook about his four-year qualitative study of the Houma community.  Mr. Ng-A-Fook collected more than 6,000 photographs and more than 100 hours of digital video recordings from Houma members and elders.  His dissertation documents the daily lives inside and outside of colonial institutional systems through oral histories of the United Houma Nation.

In addition to the massive amount of cultural history he collected, Mr. Ng-A-Fook became actively involved in the Houma community.  For instance, Brenda Robichaux, head of the American Indian education program in Lafourche Parish, initiated a summer education camp to offer a cultural curriculum for American Indian children who had no other formalized educational opportunity to learn of their heritage. The three-night/four-day camp promotes literacy and community.  Each day students gather for breakfast and read their “Sakchay Anumpa” (Houma Indian language word for Crawfish Tails), a daily newsletter produced from students’ own words and writing highlighting their daily activities, artwork, and social gatherings.

With the cooperation of Mrs. Robichaux, Mr. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook started the Sakchay Anumpa Newsletter three summers ago and produced it until the camp director was able to find someone to collect, edit, design, and print the material. “It is an excellent way for the children at camp to gain experience reading, writing, and communicating with each other,” explained Mr. Ng-A-Fook. “This is critical to not only preserving their rich heritage, but also an opportunity to reaffirm their culture by living it.” 

Mr. Ng-A-Fook’s research and involvement with Houma will not end with the spring diploma ceremony, “The Houma told me when I first met them that if I wanted to understand them, I had to spend time and become part of the community,” he recalled.  After the devastation of Houma lands and homes in Southern Louisiana by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, Mr. Ng-A-Fook began a fundraising project from his current home in Canada through a group called Education for Global Peace.  The group conducted bake sales and sold more than $2,500 in silicone bracelets to benefit an educational fund for the Houma.  With a goal of $5,000, Mr. Ng-A-Fook hopes to present the donations to Houma Principal Chief Brenda Dardar Robichaux at an educational conference sponsored by the University of Ottawa in Canada this April.

Mr. Ng-A-Fook earned his B.A. in Classical Studies from Ottawa University; his graduate diploma of education from the University of Western Sydney, Australia; and his Master's of Education from York University, Canada. He will receive his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the LSU College of Education in May 2006. He is currently working to convert his dissertation titled “Understanding an Indigenous Curriculum in Louisiana Through Listening to Houma Oral Histories” into a book.

For more information on the United Houma Nation visit
http://www.unitedhoumanation.org/