Global Indigenous Health


Book Description

Indigenous peoples globally have a keen understanding of their health and wellness through traditional knowledge systems. In the past, traditional understandings of health often intersected with individual, community, and environmental relationships of well-being, creating an equilibrium of living well. However, colonization and the imposition of colonial policies regarding health, justice, and the environment have dramatically impacted Indigenous peoples’ health. Building on Indigenous knowledge systems of health and critical decolonial theories, the volume’s contributors—who are academic and community researchers from Canada, the United States, Sweden, and New Zealand—weave a narrative to explore issues of Indigenous health within four broad themes: ethics and history, environmental and ecological health, impacts of colonial violence on kinship, and Indigenous knowledge and health activism. Chapters also explore how Indigenous peoples are responding to both the health crises in their communities and the ways for non-Indigenous people to engage in building positive health outcomes with Indigenous communities. Global Indigenous Health is unique and timely as it deals with the historical and ongoing traumas associated with colonization and colonialism, understanding Indigenous concepts of health and healing, and ways of moving forward for health equity. Contributors: Sharon Leslie Acoose Seth Adema Peter Butt John E. Charlton Colleen Anne Dell Debra Dell Paul DePasquale Judy A. Dow C. Randy Duncan Carina Fiedeldey-Van Dijk Barbara Fornssler Chelsea Gabel Eleanor Louise Hadden Laura Hall Robert Henry Carol Hopkins Robert Alexander Innes Simon Lambert Amanda LaVallee Josh Levy Rachel Loewen Walker David B. MacDonald Peter Menzies Christopher Mushquash David Mykota Nancy Poole Alicia Powell Ioana Radu Margo Rowan Mark F. Ruml Caroline L. Tait Lisa Tatonetti Margaretha Uttjek Nancy Van Styvendale




Indigenous Knowledge and Mental Health


Book Description

This book brings together Indigenous and allied experts addressing mental health among Indigenous peoples across the traditional territories commonly known as the Americas (e.g. Canada, US, Caribbean Islands, Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil), Asia (e.g. China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Indonesia), Africa (e.g. South Africa, Central and West Africa) and Oceania (New Guinea and Australia) to exchange knowledge, perspectives and methods for mental health research and service delivery. Around the world, Indigenous peoples have experienced marginalization, rapid culture change and absorption into a global economy with little regard for their needs or autonomy. This cultural discontinuity has been linked to high rates of depression, substance abuse, suicide, and violence in many communities, with the most dramatic impact on youth. Nevertheless, Indigenous knowledge, tradition and practice have remained central to wellbeing, resilience and mental health in these populations. Such is the focus of this book.




The Science of the Sacred


Book Description

Indigenous naturopathic doctor Nicole Redvers pairs evidence-based research with traditional healing modalities, addressing modern health problems and medical processes Modern medical science has finally caught up to what traditional healing systems have known for centuries. Many traditional healing techniques and medicines are often assumed to be archaic, outdated, or unscientific compared to modern Western medicine. Nicole Redvers, a naturopathic physician and member of the Deninu K'ue First Nation, analyzes modern Western medical practices using evidence-informed Indigenous healing practices and traditions from around the world--from sweat lodges and fermented foods to Ayurvedic doshas and meditation. Organized around various sciences, such as physics, genetics, and microbiology, the book explains the connection between traditional medicine and current research around epigenetics and quantum physics, for example, and includes over 600 citations. Redvers, who has traveled and worked with Indigenous groups around the world, shares the knowledge and teachings of health and wellness that have been passed down through the generations, tying this knowledge with current scientific advances. Knowing that the science backs up the traditional practice allows us to have earlier and more specific interventions that integrate age-old techniques with the advances in modern medicine and technology.




Determinants of Indigenous Peoples' Health, Second Edition


Book Description

Now in its second edition, Determinants of Indigenous Peoples’ Health adds current issues in environmental politics to the groundbreaking materials from the first edition. The text is a vibrant compilation of scholarly papers by research experts in the field, reflective essays by Indigenous leaders, and poetry that functions as a creative outlet for healing. This timely edited collection addresses the knowledge gap of the health inequalities unique to Indigenous peoples as a result of geography, colonialism, economy, and biology. In this revised edition, new pieces explore the relationship between Indigenous bodies and the land on which they reside, the impact of resource extraction on landscapes and livelihoods, and death and the complexities of intergenerational family relationships. This volume also offers an updated structure and a foreword by Dr. Evan Adams, Chief Medical Officer of the First Nations Health Authority. This is a vital resource for students in the disciplines of health studies, Indigenous studies, public and population health, community health sciences, medicine, nursing, and social work who want to broaden their understanding of the social determinants of health. Ultimately, this is a hopeful text that aspires to a future in which Indigenous peoples no longer embody health inequality.




Global Indigenous Media


Book Description

In this exciting interdisciplinary collection, scholars, activists, and media producers explore the emergence of Indigenous media: forms of media expression conceptualized, produced, and created by Indigenous peoples around the globe. Whether discussing Maori cinema in New Zealand or activist community radio in Colombia, the contributors describe how native peoples use both traditional and new media to combat discrimination, advocate for resources and rights, and preserve their cultures, languages, and aesthetic traditions. By representing themselves in a variety of media, Indigenous peoples are also challenging misleading mainstream and official state narratives, forging international solidarity movements, and bringing human rights violations to international attention. Global Indigenous Media addresses Indigenous self-representation across many media forms, including feature film, documentary, animation, video art, television and radio, the Internet, digital archiving, and journalism. The volume’s sixteen essays reflect the dynamism of Indigenous media-making around the world. One contributor examines animated films for children produced by Indigenous-owned companies in the United States and Canada. Another explains how Indigenous media producers in Burma (Myanmar) work with NGOs and outsiders against the country’s brutal regime. Still another considers how the Ticuna Indians of Brazil are positioning themselves in relation to the international community as they collaborate in creating a CD-ROM about Ticuna knowledge and rituals. In the volume’s closing essay, Faye Ginsburg points out some of the problematic assumptions about globalization, media, and culture underlying the term “digital age” and claims that the age has arrived. Together the essays reveal the crucial role of Indigenous media in contemporary media at every level: local, regional, national, and international. Contributors: Lisa Brooten, Kathleen Buddle, Cache Collective, Michael Christie, Amalia Córdova, Galina Diatchkova, Priscila Faulhaber, Louis Forline, Jennifer Gauthier, Faye Ginsburg, Alexandra Halkin, Joanna Hearne, Ruth McElroy, Mario A. Murillo, Sari Pietikäinen, Juan Francisco Salazar, Laurel Smith, Michelle Stewart, Pamela Wilson




Global Indigenous Health


Book Description




The Arts of Indigenous Health and Well-Being


Book Description

Drawing attention to the ways in which creative practices are essential to the health, well-being, and healing of Indigenous peoples, The Arts of Indigenous Health and Well-Being addresses the effects of artistic endeavour on the “good life”, or mino-pimatisiwin in Cree, which can be described as the balanced interconnection of physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental well-being. In this interdisciplinary collection, Indigenous knowledges inform an approach to health as a wider set of relations that are central to well-being, wherein artistic expression furthers cultural continuity and resilience, community connection, and kinship to push back against forces of fracture and disruption imposed by colonialism. The need for healing—not only individuals but health systems and practices—is clear, especially as the trauma of colonialism is continually revealed and perpetuated within health systems. The field of Indigenous health has recently begun to recognize the fundamental connection between creative expression and well-being. This book brings together scholarship by humanities scholars, social scientists, artists, and those holding experiential knowledge from across Turtle Island to add urgently needed perspectives to this conversation. Contributors embrace a diverse range of research methods, including community-engaged scholarship with Indigenous youth, artists, Elders, and language keepers. The Arts of Indigenous Health and Well-Being demonstrates the healing possibilities of Indigenous works of art, literature, film, and music from a diversity of Indigenous peoples and arts traditions. This book will resonate with health practitioners, community members, and any who recognize the power of art as a window, an entryway to access a healthy and good life.




Globalization and the Health of Indigenous Peoples


Book Description

In 70 countries worldwide, there is an estimated 370 million indigenous peoples, and their rich diversity of cultures, religions, traditions, languages and histories has been significant source of our scholarships. However, the health status of this population group is far below than that of non-indigenous populations by all standards. Could the persisting reluctance to understand the influence of self-governance, globalization and social determinants of health in the lives of these people be deemed as a contributor to the poor health of indigenous peoples? Within this volume, Ullah explores the gap in health status between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples by providing a comparative assessment of socio-economic and health indicators for indigenous peoples, government policies, and the ways in which indigenous peoples have been resisting and adapting to state policies. A timely book for a growing field of study, Globalization and the Health of Indigenous Peoples is a must read for academics, policy-makers, and practitioners who are interested in indigenous studies and in understanding the role that globalization plays for the improvement of indigenous peoples’ health across the world.




Indigenous Health Ethics: An Appeal To Human Rights


Book Description

This book examines the intersections of bioethics, human rights and health equity. It does so through the contextual lenses of nation states while presenting global themes on rights, colonialism and bioethics. The book is framed by the following propositions on indigenous health: it is a human rights issue; it is located within the politics of colonization; and subjugated indigenous knowledges require restoring.




Indigenous Health and Well-Being in the COVID-19 Pandemic


Book Description

This book investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples and assesses the policy responses taken by governments and Indigenous communities across the world. Bringing together innovative research and policy insights from a range of disciplines, this book investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples across the world, with coverage of North America, Central America, Africa, and Oceania. Further, it explores the actions taken by governments and Indigenous communities in addressing the challenges posed by this public health crisis. The book emphasises the social determinants of health and well-being, reflecting on issues such as self-governance, human rights law, housing, socioeconomic conditions, access to health care, culture, environmental deprivation, and resource extraction. Chapters also highlight the resilience and agency of Indigenous Peoples in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the legacy of colonialism, patterns of systemic discrimination, and social exclusion. Providing concrete pathways for improving the conditions of Indigenous Peoples in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, this book is essential reading for researchers across indigenous studies, public health, and social policy.