Medicine Ways: Disease, Health, and Survival among Native Americans / Edition 324

by Clifford E. Trafzer, Diane Weiner, Donna L. Akers, Edward D. Castillo, Jean A. Keller

Overview

Improving the dire health problems faced by many Native American communities is central to their cultural, political, and economic well being. However, it is still too often the case that both theoretical studies and applied programs fail to account for Native American perspectives on the range of factors that actually contribute to these problems in the first place. The authors in Medicine Ways examine the ways people from a multitude of indigenous communities think about and practice health care within historical and socio-cultural contexts. Cultural and physical survival are inseparable for Native Americans. Chapters explore biomedically-identified diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, as well as Native-identified problems, including historical and contemporary experiences such as forced evacuation, assimilation, boarding school, poverty and a slew of federal and state policies and initiatives. They also explore applied solutions that are based in community prerogatives and worldviews, whether they be indigenous, Christian, biomedical, or some combination of all three. Medicine Ways is an important volume for scholars and students in Native American studies, medical anthropology, and sociology as well as for health practitioners and professionals working in and for tribes.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742502550
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	03/07/2001
Series:	Contemporary Native American Communities , #6
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Clifford E. Trafzer (Wyandot) is a professor of history and director of Native American Studies at the University of California, Riverside. Diane Weiner is a professional research anthropologist at the American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Chapter 1: Removing the Heart of the Choctaw People: Indian Removal from a Native Perspective Chapter 3 Chapter 2: Blood Came from Their Mouths: Tongva and Chumash Responses to the Pandemic of 1801 Chapter 4 Chapter 3: "In the fall of the year we were troubled by some sickness": Typhoid Fever Deaths at Sherman Institute, 1904 Chapter 5 Chapter 4: Blinded with Science: American Indians, the Office of Indian Affairs, and the Federal Campaign against Trachoma, 1924-1927 Chapter 6 Chapter 5: Infant Mortality on the Yakama Indian Reservation, 1914-1964 Chapter 7 Chapter 6: American Indian Views of Public Health Nursing, 1930-1950 Chapter 8 Chapter 7: Interpreting Ideas about Diabetes, Genetics, and Inheritance Chapter 9 Chapter 8: The Embodiment of a Working Identity: Power and Process in Rarámuri Ritual Healing Chapter 10 Chapter 9: Meeting the Challenges of American Indian Diabetes: Anthropological Perspectives on Prevention and Treatment Chapter 11 Chapter 10: Pathways to Health: An American Indian Breast-Cancer Education Project Chapter 12 Chapter 11: Cancer among American Indians and Alaska Natives: Trouble with Numbers Chapter 13 Chapter 12: The Origins of Navajo Youth Gangs Chapter 14 Chapter 13: Helplessness, Hopelessness, and Despair: Identifying the Precursors to Indian Youth Suicide Chapter 15 Chapter 14: Self-Sufficiency and Community Revitalization among American Indians in the Southwest: American Indian Leadership Training

Editorial Reviews

This volume presents timely, authoritative, and chilling accounts of disease, death, and sociocultural devastation in Native American and Alaskan communities over the past 200 years.

Choice Reviews - E. Wellin

The greatest strength of this volume is its breadth, especially with regard to diversity of tribe, historical periods, types of illness, and disciplinary emphases....This volume will surely be of interest to those who would like a sample of the health issues plaguing American Indians from colonization and into the present day.

Journal Of Nervous and Mental Disease - Lori L. Jervis

The greatest strength of this volume is its breadth, especially with regard to diversity of tribe, historical periods, types of illness, and disciplinary emphases....This volume will surely be of interest to those who would like a sample of the health issues plaguing American Indians from colonization and into the present day.--Lori L. Jervis, (University of Colorado Health Sciences Center) "Journal Of Nervous and Mental Disease "

This volume presents timely, authoritative, and chilling accounts of disease, death, and sociocultural devastation in Native American and Alaskan communities over the past 200 years.--E. Wellin, (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) "CHOICE "

From the Publisher

This volume presents timely, authoritative, and chilling accounts of disease, death, and sociocultural devastation in Native American and Alaskan communities over the past 200 years.
— E. Wellin, (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)

Choice

The greatest strength of this volume is its breadth, especially with regard to diversity of tribe, historical periods, types of illness, and disciplinary emphases....This volume will surely be of interest to those who would like a sample of the health issues plaguing American Indians from colonization and into the present day.
— Lori L. Jervis, (University of Colorado Health Sciences Center)

Journal Of Nervous and Mental Disease

In Native cultures, health is often expressed as a balance between body, mind, and spirit or soul. At a philosophical level, physical wellness is related to cultural, political, and economic well-being. This is a philosophy that is frequently ignored, however, in theoretical perspectives and applied programs that attempt to address Native American health problems. This collection of essays examines the ways people from many indigenous communities think about and practice health care within historical and sociocultural contexts. Chapters explore solutions to the prevalence of medically identified diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, as well as Native-identified problems, such as forced evacuation, assimilation, and poverty. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews