For a month earlier this year the Battlefords was home base for a PhD student undertaking an area of research regarding the Plains Cree that鈥檚 never been investigated before.
Joyce Frey is working toward a PhD in international psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a new field,鈥� says Frey. 鈥淭his program at the Chicago school is the only one like it in the world, and it started in 2009.鈥�
She鈥檚 looking to join a small club.
鈥淩ight now, at the last number I had, there were 32 international psychologists in the whole world,鈥� says Frey. 鈥淲e鈥檙e cutting edge, we鈥檙e making it up as we go along.鈥�
International psychology moves away from the typical Western European-led perspective to a more global perspective 鈥� embracing cross-cultural rather than mono- or even multi-cultural views.
Her research topic is that of human intelligence. The title of the document that will be based on her research is Exploring Intelligence From a Plains Cree Perspective, A Qualitative Study.
鈥淚 teach psychology at a college in Kansas and I have a real interest in the topic of human intelligence,鈥� says 70-year-old Frey, who鈥檚 been teaching for the past 25 years. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been fascinating to me forever, because there are so many ways to look at it, and there鈥檚 no real one definition of it. We鈥檙e still, after centuries and centuries 鈥� trying to figure out exactly what it is, or at least define it.鈥�
While a doctorate in this emerging field would be a feather in any academic鈥檚 cap, it means more than that to someone who has been an advocate for Native Americans for decades.
Historically, says Frey, First Nation people have been exploited by academics.
鈥淭hey come in, grab information or knowledge, and then they leave and use it to their gain. They don鈥檛 reciprocate in any way,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 not what I鈥檓 here to do.鈥�
She is committed to continuing her relationship with the First Nation people in the Battlefords area and hopes to establish a scholarship fund with the Treaty 6 Education Council for aspiring college students.
She hopes, also, that her findings will be useful to future research and even policy making.
鈥淚t will add to the overall body of knowledge on the topic of intelligence, of course, because that鈥檚 a perspective that hasn鈥檛 been discussed in academic circles,鈥� says Frey, 鈥渁nd it also opens the doors for better understanding in educational settings.鈥�
One thing she hopes it will impact specifically is the use of standardized IQ testing skewed toward a Western European perspective that attempts to quantify intelligence.
鈥淚鈥檓 not convinced that that鈥檚 the correct way to do it,鈥� says Frey. 鈥淚n the process of that quantification it has placed marginalized people, any indigenous people anywhere, at a disadvantage educationally because they don鈥檛 do well on those types of standardized tests.鈥�
Finding out about and publicizing the First Nation perception of human intelligence is one way to improve opportunities for First Nation students.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping it will be one small plank in a bridge that needs to be built to broaden the education system鈥檚 understanding of what intelligence is and open more doors for indigenous students,鈥� says Frey.
Another aspect of her research is, of course, political, she says. It鈥檚 about getting a different perspective to policy makers. The Americas may be in a post-colonized era but there are echoes of history, such as the residential school experience and retribution issues, still unresolved.
鈥淧ieces of information that may seem unrelated can maybe have some impact on some people鈥檚 broader scope and understanding of how the indigenous people here perceive intelligence, how they use it, what is meaningful to them,鈥� says Frey. 鈥淭hey are not 鈥榠gnorant savages,鈥� they are not unintelligent, and that perception is gradually disappearing, but it still needs to be broadened.鈥�
Ideally, she would like to see her research have an impact on policy-making decisions somewhere down the line.
That means getting her information published in as many places as possible, starting with academic journal articles.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if it will ever reach
any type of mainstream publications,鈥� she says. 鈥淪ometimes journal articles do.鈥�
But before it gets to the publication stage, Frey has still to make it through the dissertation stage.
Right now, she鈥檚 back in Kansas (the round trip was 2,490 miles by car) in the midst of a several-month transcription and analysis of the data she has collected from the interviews she did while in Saskatchewan. She hopes to have her dissertation deposited with the college and to be ready for a final oral defence of her findings by the end of the year, the last step toward earning her degree.
Doing a dissertation is probably the most difficult thing she has done in her life, says Frey.
She鈥檚 also undertaking this intensive project at a time in her life when others her age are retired, or at least slowing down.
鈥淚鈥檓 kind of a late bloomer when it comes to education,鈥� she says.
鈥淥ne of the reasons I chose international psychology is because, historically, the field of psychology has been European and American and Americans think they own it,鈥� says Frey. 鈥淭hey think that this is the only way to address these issues.鈥�
International psychology has a broader view.
鈥淭his looks at the world view,鈥� she points out. 鈥淚t is cross cultural and 鈥榠nternational鈥� means that it involves at
聽least two different countries, but it can be global, which means it affects everybody.鈥�
She believes her topic of research is global.
鈥淚nternational psychology wants to broaden people鈥檚 horizons, open their minds a little bit more about understanding the way other cultures and other nations perceive the workings of the human mind, how we think, what motivates us, what makes us tick.鈥�
Born in Kansas, Frey has lived in California, Texas and Oklahoma and she has done a good deal of travelling. As a psychologist, Frey is on to her third career.
鈥淚 taught performing arts, ballet, for many years.鈥�
She also raised horses, showing and racing Appaloosas.
鈥淚 came to this education process later in life,鈥� she says, adding with a smile, 鈥淟ate bloomers last longer.鈥�
She鈥檚 planning to stay in academia, to continue teaching and eventually hopes to start a consulting practice in international psychiatry.
鈥淚t is going to be very interesting and lots of fun.鈥�
Frey moved away from her life as a ballet teacher and horse breeding and toward a life in academia when she decided the time had come when she could no longer do what she was teaching.
鈥淚t comes down to physicality,鈥� says Frey. 鈥� I could have stood with my little stick and counted while I watched my students, but I needed more than that. So I decided to get out of dancing and off the top of a horse and do something with my brain.鈥�
She says, 鈥淭he opportunity to go back to school came up and I finished my undergraduate degree at Fort Hays State University in Fort Hays, Kan., and at that time there weren鈥檛 online classes available and I wasn鈥檛 able to go at that point in time to sit in a classroom to get a PhD. I had family obligations, life obligations and financial obligations, so I just started this three and a half years ago.鈥�
She saw the program available online through the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and said, 鈥淭his is it, this is the one.鈥�
The program requires her to be in residence twice, which she has done, and it also requires field experience, 鈥渓ike mini internships or practicums,鈥� says Frey.
鈥淭he program is international psychology, which means to do your research you have to cross an international border, physically,鈥� she points out.
鈥淚鈥檝e been to Peru twice for 10 days at a time to study there in that culture, which is quite an experience.鈥�
Frey says, 鈥淵ou think you understand poverty until you are standing in one of those villages. We travelled over the Andes to a very small village to visit a Catholic Jesuit school that had been established there. The sides of the mountains are totally barren, it is desert area, it鈥檚 very arid, they have no utilities, no water. Everything is very, very rudimentary and yet they thrive. It鈥檚 just amazing to me.鈥�
They have no idea they鈥檙e living in poverty, she says. They just live their lives.
She also visited Lima, the capital of Peru.
鈥淭en million people all driving at the same time with no real traffic laws,鈥� she laughs. 鈥淲here I live in Kansas the town is 350 people, and where the college is about 10,000 people, so, culture shock!鈥�
Her decision to include Canada in her cross border studies came from her interest in the American Indian culture and history. That interest has its beginnings in her years as an Appaloosa breeder and delving into the history of the breed, which was nearly destroyed during the Nez Perce War of 1877.
鈥淚 started out raising Appaloosa horses and learned how our history, the white man鈥檚 history, of what actually happened was really not the correct view.鈥�
Frey says, 鈥淚 learned about how the United States Army slaughtered the Nez Perce horses 鈥� they knew they were [the Nez Perce tribe鈥檚] main strength so they slaughtered their horses and took some of their mares and bred them to draft horses.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 until the 1930s that a man in Oregon began to try to re-establish the breed by breeding them with Arabs and Quarter horses, says Frey.
鈥淣ow the breed is back strong again.鈥�
It was during this time that she became an advocate for Native Americans.
鈥淚 had this epiphany, this awakening to the injustices that were done to the Native Americans,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 also, in the 鈥�80s, had a the rare and distinct privilege of becoming acquainted with Russell Means 鈥� one of the main leaders in the American Indian movement of that time.鈥�
Means was involved with the takeover of the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee in 麻豆传媒AV Dakotas and during that process a government agent was killed, so it was pretty big news at the time, says Frey.
鈥淚 learned from him even more about the truth, what was happening or not happening.鈥�
Putting her interest in indigenous people together with her quest to conduct research on an international scale, she found no evidence of anyone doing the type of research she had planned among the Plains Cree, a group that occupies territory in both the United States and Canada.
鈥淚 just don鈥檛 think anybody has ever just specifically zoned in on that topic with this population before,鈥� says Frey. 鈥淭here are other things that have been done and other research in areas that are similar 鈥� anthropology and sociology 鈥� but not psychology and the idea of human intelligence.鈥�
Frey says, 鈥淚 put those two things together, wrote a proposal and, 68 pages and 171 references, later I was approved to come and do the study.鈥�
She was to interview 15 people.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a brief interview, with preset questions, because everything has to be approved by the college before you can do it,鈥� says Frey.
The college鈥檚 internal review board has a mandate of protecting human and animal subjects during any research and must be satisfied they are not being exposed to any physical or psychological danger.
To find people to interview, Frey knew she would have to come to the area to make contacts in Saskatchewan. In 2013, she attended the Native American and Indigenous Studies Conference in Saskatoon. There she met Wes Fineday, an elder from Sweetgrass First Nation.
鈥淗e was talking, not giving a presentation, but commenting afterwards, and it was just exactly what I knew I needed to learn, so I asked him afterward if he could give me a few moments of his time, and he did,鈥� says Frey.
The contact with Fineday was instrumental in Frey being able to make the contacts she needed. With a second trip north last year, during which she continued to add to her contacts and earned the spiritual name of 鈥淪potted Horse Woman,鈥� she was able to enlist the help of the Treaty 6 Educational Council in interviewing individuals from its nine member bands.
During her interviews, she was also able to use an interpreter, she says.
鈥淚 had no previous knowledge of the Cree until I started doing this. I was more familiar with Navaho, Hope, Sioux and Dakotas in the U.S.鈥�
She says she had a difficult time finding literature pertaining to this area in particular. She was grateful to Fineday for taking her, during one of her visits, to Fort Battleford.
鈥淭hey have a wonderful book store and I found some great books,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey helped me fill in some gaps.鈥�
About commonly taught accepted information on the history of the colonization of the Americas, Frey says, 鈥淚 tend to think sometimes misinformation is a euphemism for downright lies.鈥�
You can鈥檛 really come in and steal someone鈥檚 land without making them less than human, says Frey.
鈥淭hey set out to do that and they did a pretty good job. Genocide, cultural genocide and actual physical genocide, we hear so much about the Nazis and the Holocaust and we hear nothing about what we did here in the Americas. 鈥楲et鈥檚 whitewash that.鈥欌��
Frey is hoping her dissertation can make a difference.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a small piece, but the bridges are being built. The more pieces there are that connect people together in common understanding, the stronger it鈥檚 going to be,鈥� says Frey. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 go back and undo it, but we can make reparations and restore some dignity.鈥�
