Donald Trent Jacobs (born 1946) is an American college professor and writer whose subject matter includes American Indian rights, Indigenous worldviews, wellness, and counter-hegemonic education. He lives in Mexico. He adopted the name "Wahinkpe Topa," a Lakota term translating as Four Arrows.

Early life and education

Donald Trent Jacobs was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1946. Jacobs has a bachelor's degree from Southwest Missouri State University, an Ed.D. from Boise State University, and a Ph.D from Columbia Pacific University. His public biography states that he has "Cherokee, Muscogee Creek, and Scots-Irish ancestry."

Career

Jacobs is a faculty member in the School of Educational Leadership for Change at Fielding Graduate University. He was formerly a tenured associate professor at Northern Arizona University and prior to that Dean of Education at Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. In 2014 he was put on the International Fulbright Scholars list. In 2004 he received the Moral Courage Award from the Martin Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University for his activism. In 2009, the American Education Resource Organization selected him as one of "27 visionaries in education" for their text, Turning Points.

Works

Jacobs (Four Arrows) has written and published 23 books and numerous articles and invited book chapters, including: