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The Cree Tribes Understanding Of Health Essay

Decent Essays

The Cree tribes understanding of health is something very much different from what a

modern North American society would understand it as. This is because health is not a

universal entity, but it is a social reality constructed by different people using different social

meanings and symbols. Health can then be seen as a complex, dynamic process that can

incorporate religion in contrast to the baseline standard thought of health as a biomedical or

epidemiological practice. The Cree’s practice of health is political in a sense where it acts as a

strategy for cultural assertion and resistance with a balance of power between the state, the

individual, and disenfranchised groups. The Cree’s understanding of health cannot be seen

outside of colonialism. The forced displacement, pervasive racism, and failed attempts of

assimilation have set up a historical, cultural, and social context that subsists today. Health to

the Cree is identification, a realization of self that exists because of historical confrontations

that developed beliefs and practices over time. The term white man or waamstikuushiiu

represents how through history and even today, the constant oppression colonization has had

on the Cree’s way of life. The Cree have given meaning to this idea of white man that is beyond

the universal meaning through the senses. Through changes and threats, each generation has

been able to learn, embody and envision ways of life and being Cree. The idea of health and

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