Mentorship and Relationality

To be a good relative, as defined by Dakota scholar Ella Cara Deloria (1889–1971), means to follow cultural protocols of kinship in the shaping of relationships. In this article, the author utilizes Deloria’s employment of “being a good relative” within a Lakota/Dakota understanding and Indigenous studies’ articulations of relationality to discuss mentorship. Utilizing the Indigenous studies’ methodology of self-reflexivity, the author provides an analysis of mentorship experiences within different university settings.