SITTING BULL’S WORDS
Moving backwards into the future, Four Arrows uses Sitting Bull’s words to begin a transformative journey for the reader in behalf of future generations. Using the meta-cognitive dehypnotizing strategy he calls the “CAT-FAWN Connection,” Four Arrows combines scientific information, clinical knowledge and Indigenous wisdom.
“An extraordinary way to access Indigenous worldview. Four Arrows uses contextualized statements from Sitting Bull to understand a way of thinking that can help with our own survival and healing.”—Cristina Gallego, award-winning Colombian filmmaker, Director of Birds of Passage, Embrace of the Serpent
“This book packs a lot of wisdom into a small package. Four Arrows creatively outlines the key tenets of an integral Indigenous worldview that highlights for all of us who hope to move beyond today’s crises how we might leave a better world for our grandchildren.”— Sandra Waddock, Galligan Chair of Strategy, Boston College Carroll School of Management. Author of Intellectual Shamans
“Four Arrows teaches metacognitive strategies to help shift us back toward the Indigenous worldview— the only worldview that can restore balance amidst planetary crisis.”— Waziyatawin, Dakota author and activist
Sitting Bull's Words
Four Arrows is a “made relative” of the Oglala. He is a pipe carrier who has fulfilled his Sun Dance vows. He has Irish ancestry with family claims of Tsalagi relatives. Formerly Dean of Education at Oglala Lakota College and a tenured Associate Professor of Education at Northern Arizona University, he is currently a Professor at Fielding Graduate University.
Selected as one of thirty-five “Visionaries in Education” for the Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) text Turning Points (2010), he is the author of twenty-two books on wellness, health psychology, and Indigenous wisdom. He is a recipient of a Moral Courage Award from the Martin Springer Institute for Holocaust Studies for his activism in behalf of Indigenous Peoples and sovereignty. He is the co-editor of the Indigenous section of The SAGE Handbook of Critical Pedagogies (2020), and his book Teaching Truly: A Curriculum to Indigenize Mainstream Education (2013) was selected as one of the top twenty progressive education books, along with works by Paulo Freire, John Dewey, and Neil Postman.
His books have been endorsed by Noam Chomksy, Vandanna Shiva, Michael Apple, Thom Hartmann, Jon Pilger, Darcia Narvaez, Henry Giroux, and other notable educators. Dr. R. Michael Fisher wrote a book about his work entitled Fearless Engagement of Four Arrows: The True Story of an Indigenous Based Social Transformer (2018). His newest book is The Red Road: Linking Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives to Indigenous Worldview (2020).
Four Arrows and his mustang Brioso were selected as first alternates for the 1996 US Olympic Equestrian Endurance Team. He won the Audience Choice Trophy at the 2019 World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, held each year at the University of Mississippi, and he and his ninety-three-year-old uncle, Adam Swanson, won first place in the duet competition in 2016. He lives with his wife in Mexico in the winter and in British Columbia in the summer, teaching, writing, and paddleboarding. For more publications by Four Arrows, visit https://www.fourarrowsbooks.com. And for a Zoom presentation, email him at djacobs@fielding.edu or fourarrows73@gmail.com.
