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Native American Holocaust
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Many people believe that Native Americans are a disadvantaged group of individuals in many ways. Culturally, in that many of the cultures of the various tribes across the Americas were taken from them by Europeans and their descendants. Socially, in that they are unlike other minorities in the United States because of their extra-constitutional status; and even medically, stemming from the general belief that Natives are at a higher risk for disease than other ethnicities due to tobacco and alcohol use, especially when used together (Falk, Hiller-Sturmhöfel, & Yi, 2006). Mental illness is an addition to all of the previously listed perceived disadvantages of Native Americans by those of other ethnicities. Many believe that Native Americans are at a higher risk for mental illness than those of European descent. Many also believe that Native Americans have more people suffer from depression than their white counterparts (Stark & Wilkins, American Indian Politics and the American Political System, 2011). There have been studies conducted to test whether or not this is the case, with mixed results. Some studies say that Natives are at a higher risk and others say they are not. This discrepancy makes the answer unclear. If Natives are actually at a higher risk for and have more people suffering from depression than individuals of European descent, the question to ask is, “why?” Several factors play into depression and other mental illness, including biology, social standing, history, family, and any preexisting/comorbid diseases that could contribute to or cause depression. It is not common knowledge, but people can be genetically predisposed to develop depression during their lives. Depression runs in families. It can be passed d... ... middle of paper ... ...h/boarding/carlisle.htm Miriam, L. (1928). The Problem of Indian Administration. Maryland, MD: The Lord Baltimore Press. Retrieved from Alaskool. Rhoades-Kerswill, S. (2013, November 24). American Indian Studies. Retrieved from Online Classroom: https://oc.okstate.edu/d2l/le/content/906677/Home Samaan, R. A. (2000). The Influences of Race, Ethnicity, and Poverty on the Mental Health of Children. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 100-110. Stark, H. K., & Wilkins, D. E. (2011). American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Walker, C. A. (2001). Native illness meanings: Depression and suicide. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1. Yellow Horse Brave Heart, M., & DeBruyn, L. M. (2013). THE AMERICAN INDIAN HOLOCAUST: HEALING HISTORICAL UNRESOLVED GRIEF. The American Indian Holocaust, 63.
Wooster R. (1998). The Military and United States Indian policy 1865-1903 (pp. 43, 47). West
suffering the Native Americans are plagued with as a result of the lack of acceptance towards
Atiwaneto “Speech Resisting Colonial Expansion 1752”, in The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America, ed. Colin G. Calloway (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1994), 127
American Indians have had health disparities as result of unmet needs and historical traumatic experiences that have lasted over 500 hundred years.1(p99) Since first contact American Indians have been exposed to infectious disease and death2(p19), more importantly, a legacy of genocide, legislated forcible removal, reservation, termination, allotment, and assimilation3. This catastrophic history had led to generational historical traumas and contributes to the worst health in the United States.2 American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) represent 0.9 percent of the United States population4(p3) or 1.9 million AI/AN of 566 federally recognized tribes/nations.5 American Indians/Alaska Natives have significantly higher mortality rates of intentional and unintentional injuries, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease and chronic lower respiratory disease than other American.6
Owens, Lewis. Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel. Norman, OK: U Oklahoma P, 1994.
Brown, Dee, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, New York, Bantam Press,1970
Guerin, B. & Guerin, P. 2012, 'Re-thinking mental health for indigenous Australian communities: communities as context for mental health', Community Development Journal, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 555-70.
Johansen, Bruce E (1996). Native American Political Systems and the Evolution of Democracy: an Annotated Bibliography. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
In his fictional book Reservation Blues, Sherman Alexie, a Native American himself, describes the lives of Native Americans on a Spokane reservation in Washington State. In the book, alcoholism on this reservation is discussed in meticulous detail. For example, Alexie indicates that one of the reasons for such a high rate of alcohol abuse among the Spokane tribe members is the socioeconomics of the reservation. Poverty, unemployment, and low schooling levels often encourage alcohol consumption. For example, Simon, one of the characters in Alexie’s story, cannot afford to repair his truck, so he drives his pickup truck backward, put...
Yoshikawa, H., Aber, J. L., & Beardslee, W. R. (2012). The effects of poverty on the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children and youth: Implications for prevention. American Psychologist, 67(4), 272.
Stensland, Anna Lee. “Indian Boyhood by Charles A. Eastman’” The English Journal 66, no. 3 (1977): 59.
5) Williams , Timothy. "For Native American Women, Scourge of Rape, Rare Justice." New York Times 22 May 2012, n. pag. Print. .
There are many cultural and traditional factors that should be considered in understanding the current Native American youth suicide crisis. Cultural preferences for care and historical traumas play a role in depression as well as in the perception of illness and treatment choices. (Borowsky et al, 1999) Native American’s view of health traditionally signifies a holistic perspective in which mental health is regarded as a part of the overall health and well-being of an individual. (Borowsky et al, 1999) In addition, a huge disparity exists in accessing mental health care among Native Americans driven by cultural insensitivities and barriers to care formed by the present mental health system for Native Americans. Native American youth are also stricken with a community-wide grief over the loss of their
The roles anthropology plays is that they responding to mental health issues is very crucial because they are the ones who can really observe, report , interpret and explain the world perspectives on mental illness. They can identify issues according to race, ethnicity, age, geography and socioeconomic status. Discovering this factor would allowed them to teach the world that every disease or mental illness isn’t the same. We see that depression exists universally, but the way it is understood, treated and experience is very different from culture to culture. For example it would be the preconceived ideas that all culture outside of the West believe depression is the same for every individual and the role of the anthropology is to remove
The effects of poverty can affect a parent’s mental health that can directly impact children. Mental health problems that parents in poverty face can be related to the stress of not having enough money to care for the children. Other mental health problems, like depression, can als...