Discussion Board

Indigenous Peoples Oppression

First Nations/Native American/American Indian/Alaska Native

Native Americans • 1.2% of US, 8.9% of Oklahoma • History steeped in exploitation

through the westward expansion. • Historical Discriminatory Policy: • Land usage • Child welfare • War policy • Boarding Schools

Native Americans • Forcibly moved to Indian Territory from homelands • Long history of European Cultural Racism and Colonialism.

Native Peoples Inventions/Contributions • Almanacs • American Football • Anesthetics • Apartment blocks • Aqueducts • Aspirin • Beans • Bulletproof vest • Calendars • Canals • Chewing gum • Chocolate • Dams • Dog breeds • Embalming • Freeze drying

• Hamocks • Harpoons • Hickey • Horse breeds • Igloos • Inca road systems • Jerky • Lacrosse • Longitude and Latitude • Maple syrup • Mathematics with a Zero • Metallurgy • Painting • Parkas • Peanuts

• Petroleum • Pineapple • Potato chips • Pottery • Pyramids • Rubber • Snow shoes • Sundials • Suspension bridge • Syringe • Tobacco • Tug of War • Unbrellas • Vanilla • Water Gun • Whoopee cushion • Writing system

Native Americans • 567 federally acknowledged tribes (2017)

• Over 200 languages • Over 50% live in urban, suburban, or rural non-reservation areas

Crazy Horse Memorial 16 miles from Mt. Rushmore

Native Americans

• History from Columbus forward: • Removal from their land • False or broken treaties • Location and relocation to

reservations • Forced boarding schools • Outlawing of native language • Banning spiritual traditions • Banding former enemies into same

tribal space

Native American history • The Allotment Act of 1887 • Cultural assimilation and genocide • Congress legislatively terminated 109 Indian

tribes • Ethnocide through creation of boarding

schools • Children forcibly sent • Cut hair • Forbidden to wear cultural clothes • Forbidden from speaking native language • Forbidden from forming minority cultural identity

• Attempt to “civilize” Native Americans produced considerable generational trauma

Social and Health Problems • Poverty and acculturation have negatively impacted health practices

• Disproportionate number of social and health problems • Overrepresented in the child welfare system • Higher rates of certain health problems • Among the poorest people • Drug and alcohol use • High suicide rates • Chronic Unemployment • Child/elder abuse and neglect • Victims of violent crime (more than twice the national average)

• 31% of Native Americans die before 35th birthday • Poverty and acculturation have negatively impacted health practices

Mental Health and Substance

Use

Pain Fear

Anxiety Depression Frustration

Low Self-Esteem Economic uncertainty

Discrimination

Racism

Oppression Social Injustice

Ethnocentrism

Economic Instability

Diversity in Traditions • Remember that there are many difference among

indigenous groups. • Culture is bound by geography, nationality, history, food, etc. • Differences in cultural practices and meanings are to be

expected • Differences in food:

• Indians of the Northwest lived on Salmon, whaling, shellfish and gathering fruits and vegetables

• Indians of the California foothills survived on acorns and small game

• Indians of the Southwest grew corn • Plains Indians hunted buffalo

• Differences in Housing: Wigwams, Longhouses, Tepees, Lodges, Igloos, Daub houses, Chickees, Adobe Houses, Plank houses

• Family centered collectivist attitude is often a reflection of religious orientation

• Generally spirituality emphasizes deep attachment to the land: derive meanings from the rivers, mountains, and valleys

• Emphasize biological, spiritual and physical connections

Native American Family Beliefs and Rituals • Native Americans are not homogenous

• Great diversity between groups

• Kinship ties are a central cultural aspect • Primacy of the extended family • Grandparents remain important influence

• Responsible for youth acquiring traditions and beliefs

• Society discounts Native American religious traditions role in health problems and healing practices • Healing connected with religion and

culture.