My Knowledge Of Native Americans Culture Stems From My Parent 's Teachings About The Reservation

During the first half of the 20th century numerous changes went on in the native community. Life on the reservations was bleak and economic opportunities were almost non-existence. Many natives remained on the reservations where they were able to maintain their language and culture (Otten, Dutton). However, some others left the reservations for economic opportunities that the growing U.S economy promised and offered. Native Americans who didn’t live on the reservations chose to make as little reference as possible to their indigenous roots, much like other ethnic groups that migrated into the U.S. That is because though most Native Americans knew that the dominant culture would enjoy the indigenous dances and native jewelry and pottery, etc, it was almost impossible to live a traditional native lifestyle. Several natives

The continuous trauma that they endured has negatively affected the mental health and physical health of the population. Native Americans are at higher risk for depression, physical/sexual abuse, domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues (McLeigh, 2010). Native American youth are three times more likely to commit suicide than the average population. Native Americans in general are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression and five times more likely to have alcoholism. Colonization not damaged natives mentally, but also brought harm to their physical health as Europeans brought diseases (measles, chicken pox, smallpox, etc) to America (McLeigh, 2010). In order for this population to be served to treat their many medical and mental health issues brought on by years of trauma, policies must be implemented to help Native Americans specifically. However, the reality is that natives mental health needs are often ignored (Gone, 2004). There have been policies that have attempted to meet the needs, but much more is needed. In the most recent action towards improving mental health services for natives, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 permanently gave authorization to the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (Ross, Garfield, Brown, & Raghavan, 2015). This policy will be discussed and analyzed to examine further needs for services in this

The modern American society is best defined by its education. The “American dream” is founded on going to school, getting a good job, and becoming successful. Ironically, the actual native peoples of this country are actually the least likely to attain this dream. The largest obstacle they face is lack of proper education. The standard educational practices being used for the instruction of Native American peoples is not effective. There are many pieces to this road-block, and many solutions. This can be rectified by having more culturally aware teachers and parents, and by teaching the general population more about the Native American cultures.

Culture, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is stated as “The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behavior that dpends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. The customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious or social group. The set shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes an institution or organization. The set of values, conventions or social practices associated with a particular field, activity or societal characteristic.” Of these four definitions, I shall be focusing on the second one to discuss what makes up the culture of American Indians.The culture of the various tribes that made up the Native Americans is one of close knit families, highlyspiritual peoples and living together as one with the land they lived on. They believed in spirits, worshiping and honoring them. Some settled into single locations while others were nomadic, but all had a focus on working with the land around them. Because there are so many varying tribes that make up Native

Every culture has their own way of life, their own religious beliefs, their own marriage beliefs, their own values and feelings on life and the options it has to offer. Each culture has their own way to run things within their own government, and own way to keep their economy up to their standards. Also each culture and society have their own primary mode of subsistence that makes them unique. Among the Navajo culture their primary mode of subsistence are pastoralists.   Pastoralists have an impact on different aspects with in the culture.   The aspects that I will be discussing will be the Navajo’s beliefs and values, economic organization, gender relations and sickness and healing.

Though American Indians are enjoying an independent public health system with above $3 billion funds provided by Congress annually for delivering healthcare services to them, still figure and facts on health status of American Indians reveal that they are facing many difficulties and have to suffer from diverse type of illness and disease at a misappropriate level. Since long it was identified by medical communities that there are wide spread diseases diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, unintentional injuries, and other health conditions among American Indian and they are dying of these diseases at shocking rates (American Heart Association [AHA], 2010). Through this essay I want to discuss the healthcare status of American Indians in the perspective of their culture as how it impacted and lead to develop mistrust between amongst the medical community and American Indians.

A history of struggle and isolation from the rest of society has led to the deterioration of Native American cultures and customs and to their rising levels of unemployment, poverty, and crime on reservations. The United States government has had a major role in the coming about of the struggles that persist for Native Americans to this day. As crime and poverty grip the Sioux tribe, they will continue to lose their traditional culture and move farther from who they once were as a people. I will first review how European explorers introduced alcohol to Native American tribes and how this lead to a strong prevalence of alcoholism in the Sioux tribe. Next I will discuss the U.S. government’s use of forced assimilation and boarding schools led to the loss of Native American culture and customs. This led to more anger of the Sioux tribe towards the U.S. government and to outer society as a whole. Third I will analyze the living conditions and complacency felt by the Sioux tribe as seen through the photographs and interviews conducted by journalist Aaron Huey. Lastly, I will assess the efforts taken by the elders and leaders of the Sioux tribe to combat the prevalence of crime on their reservation. The people of the United States and their government have caused many struggles for the Sioux tribe since their existence in America. For these problems to be resolved, the United States needs to take an active role in acknknwoldeging the problem and allocating the necessary resources

The Native American culture is the original culture of the United States. Members of Native American tribes live throughout the country. “There are an estimated 4.9 million persons, in 565 federally recognized tribes who are classified as American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AI), alone or in combination with one or more other designated racial classifications. This demographic group compromises 1.6% of the U.S. population” (Horowitz, 2012). Wisconsin is home to the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), Ojibwa (Chippewa), and the Potawatomi tribes (“American”, 2014). It is important for nurses within this state, as well as any other state, to understand the Native American belief system in order to provide a quality healthcare experience. Nurses are the primary point of contact in the healthcare setting. Client advocacy is one of the nurse’s major roles. Therefore, the nurse should have the highest level of diversity understanding for the cultures within the local region.

Our nation’s history has been deep rooted in the conflict involving Native Americans, ever since the beginning of America and it is one hard to get rid of even as the days go by. The impact of colonialism can be seen in Native American communities even today, and it can only be understood through a cultural perspective once you experience it. Aaron Huey, who is a photographer, went to Pine Ridge reservation and it led him to document the poverty and issues that the Sioux Indians go through as a result of the United States government’s long term actions and policies against them. One must question all sources regarding these topics because there is a lot of biased and misinformation about Native American struggles, and sometimes schools do not thoroughly teach the truth so students can get an insight. There are also different sociological perspectives in this conflict, along with many differing opinions on how to approach the problem and deal with it. This is where ideas clash because people believe their views are right regarding how to handle it.

I learned how troubled many reservations are and how much they suffer. I found this to be extremely sad and disheartening as I heard one of the riders make this statement, “There is something that we suffer from”. Reservations suffer from poor income, drug issues, alcohol issues, and many broken families. One of the riders explained their situation like this, “A deep imbedded genetic depression. See, our people at one time, the Dakota people, or all Native Americans, had a very strong connection with the Creator.

Native reservations have some health issues because they don’t have access to clean running water. According to Becky Norton, “We have a very high rate of strep throat, bad colds and other illnesses that come with the poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water” (Risen). For Natives getting water is highly important to ensure them that themselves and kids are healthy and in good shape. Health problems are not the only issues Native Americans

For most of my life, the word “Native American” had immediately made me think of feathers, powwows, and a society uncorrupted by civilization. However, in watching the movie Smoke Signals, a movie that depicts the modern Native American culture, I learned many other things. For one, I learned that many of the customs that modern Native Americans have are very similar to my own. I also saw that the family life of the Native Americans in the film had many of the same problems that my family had undergone in the past years. This film was unlike any that I have ever seen; therefore, it reached me on a very personal level.

In this case, the most important issues are inadequate access to health care, environmental hazards, behavioral risk factors, and building trust with the Narragansett community. The first three issues are important because they directly affect the health of the Native American population. Additionally, building trust with the Narragansett tribe in order to perform research and collaborative planning is the key to designing successful care programs specifically for the Narragansett Indian Tribe. The first key issue is regarding Native Americans’ insufficient access to health care. With the percentage of unemployment within the Native American population in Rhode Island as high as 26 percent (The Office of Minority Health, 2015), “one-third of Native American adults said there was a time in the past year when they could not afford to see a doctor” (Parrish, 2012). There is not many people from the tribe can afford health access due to the fact that 42.2 percent of the Native American population is living in poverty (The Office of Minority Health, 2015). Aside from inadequate access to health care, some of the environmental health hazards that Native Americans are often exposed to include “surface and groundwater pollution, air pollution, hazardous waste, highway run-off, illegal dumping, lead paint, radon, and biological and chemical contamination of drinking water” (Parrish, 2012). According to the Environmental

While experiencing life of confinement on a Native American reservation, Natalie Diaz has developed a remarkable interpretation of the personal effects resulting from such a cultural oppression. She illustrates the troublesome experience through a compilation of empowering poems in her book, When My Brother Was An Aztec. In conjunction with Native American culture being marginalized since the discovery of America, the culture of Natives have been consistently disrespected and suppressed because of confinement on reservations. As America shifted towards becoming ‘civilized,’ Diaz became trapped in a small world where she faced an uncontrollable transition towards total culture loss. Issues that are constantly faced on reservations are similar to those of the developing world. According to a 2000 Census the two most poverty stricken counties in the United States of America are home of two of the largest reservations. Not only did confining a diverse culture to small areas of land negatively impact the entire image of Native Americans, but confinement maximized cultural oppression and indefinitely led to the development of a variety of significant personal struggles for all families living life on reservations. Drowning in cultural comparison eventually led Diaz to construct a collection of poems, in attempt to offer even the slightest preservation of her Native American culture with acknowledgment from the inside out. Implementing elegant and mature style, Diaz descriptively

"Alexie asks three questions across all of his works: ‘What does it mean to live as an Indian in this time? What does it mean to be an Indian man? Finally, what does it mean to live on an Indian reservation?’” (Basso). Indeed, he does, but does that necessarily imply that he does a good job of it? Certainly, he moves us beyond the many ridiculous stereotypes of Native Americans, that they’re alcoholics and lazy, that they all live on reservations and receive special treatment from the government, that they’re all chanting medicine men waving rattles (or giant black dildos) in teepees while their child roams through the woods, high on the peace pipe, searching for a talking elephant while mom is trying to figure out ways to use every part of the buffalo. These ridiculous stereotypes and generalizations are ripped apart in Alexie’s work, to great praise. And yet his work is left wanting. He wipes away the generalizations passed down by generalization, bringing Native American characters into the modern world, but ignores what makes each tribe different. Sure, he guides us to the realization that they aren’t all liquored up, and that the rate of Native Americans who achieve a secondary education continue to rise, and only 22% of Native Americans live on reservations, but he doesn’t point out that there are 566 federally recognized tribes. He doesn’t even give any specific detail about his own tribe, the Spokane, which he most often uses as the background of his