07/15/2026
In the run-up to this year's Dakota Lakota Summer Institute at Sitting Bull College, we will be posting spotlights on our instructors. Let's meet some of our new instructors, Dr. Alayna Eagle Shield and Red Rock Perkins!
👋 Dr. Alayna Eagle Shield (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Three Affiliated Tribes) and Red Rock Perkins (Yankton Sioux Tribe and Three Affiliated Tribes) have been married for over 10 years and are the proud parents of five children. Raised in their Lakota and Arikara lifeways, they walk a path rooted in language, ceremony, and kinship. For over six years, they’ve created cradleboards together as a way to share and sustain traditional parenting practices.
🗣️ Alayna holds a Ph.D. in Culturally Sustaining Education from the University of Washington and a Master of Public Health from North Dakota State University. She is currently a Research Scientist at Seven Directions, a center for Indigenous Health located within the University of Washington School of Medicine. Red Rock holds an Associate of Business and a certificate in Building Trades from Sitting Bull College. They are both birth and death doulas and certified Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselors (IBC), committed to uplifting families through cultural birthwork, breastfeeding support, and revitalization of Indigenous lifeways. Their work positions cradleboarding as a sacred site of language, connection, and healing for their children and communities across Indian Country.
📝 Alayna and Red Rock will be teaching Chuwic’inpa Wiskate Kin Unkagapi this year at DLSI @ SBC!
Classes start Monday! There is still time to register! If you are interested in attending this year's DLSI @ SBC, please visit othokahe.com/local/pages/dlsisbc to see our list of classes!
