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I have decided to discuss the topic of Spirituality in Native Americans. To address this topic, I will first discuss what knowledge I have gained about Native Americans. Then I will discuss how this knowledge will inform my practice with Native Americans. To conclude, I will talk about ethical issues, and dilemmas that a Social Worker might face working with Native American people. In approaching this topic, I first realized that I need to look up some general information about Native Americans in the United States. According to the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), there are approximately 564 federally recognized tribes in the United States today (Who we are, n.d). This group does not include tribes that do not have federal recognition but are recognized at the state level. Spirituality Over the history of our country Native Americas have long since been oppressed in trying to practice their Native Religions freely, and openly. It wasn’t until the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) of 1978, which “acknowledged the unique nature of Native spirituality” (Limb & Hodge, 2008, p. 618). This law stated that the policy of the United States would be to protect and preserve the right of Native Americans to believe and practice their traditional religions. This was the first major step in the United States history that sought to protect Native Americans and their rights to self-expression of spirituality. Defining Native American Spirituality Like many Americans I initially grouped all Native Americans into one melting pot. During the Haskell Indian Nations cultural day, on June 21,st 2010, the speakers talked about how different tribes are not the same; they have different beliefs... ... middle of paper ... ...moting Wellness Through Balance and Harmony. The Journal of Contemporary Social Services. 98(4), 615-622 Limb, G., Hodge, D., (2009). Helping child welfare workers improve cultural competency by utilizing spiritual genograms with Native American families and children. Children and Youth Services Review, 32, 239-245 Waller, M., (2006). Strengths of Indigenous Peoples. In D. Saleebey (Eds.), The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice Forth Edition (pp 148-170). Boston. Pearson Publishing. What we do (n.d). Bureau of Indian Affairs Retrieved June 21, 2010 from http://www.bia.gov/WhatWeDo/index.htm Yellow Bird, M., Chenault, V., (1999). The Role of Social Work in Advancing the Practice of Indigenous Education: Obstacles and Promices in Empowerment-Oriented Social Work Practice. In Next Steps: Research and Practice To Advance Indian Education (pp. 201-229)
In George E. Tinker’s book, American Indian Liberation: A Theology of Sovereignty, the atrocities endured by many of the first peoples, Native American tribes, come into full view. Tinker argues that the colonization of these groups had and continues to have lasting effects on their culture and thus their theology. There is a delicate balance to their culture and their spiritual selves within their tightly knit communities prior to contact from the first European explorers. In fact, their culture and spiritual aspects are so intertwined that it is conceptually impossible to separate the two, as so many Euro-American analysts attempted. Tinker points to the differences between the European and the Native American cultures and mind sets as ultimately
Throughout ancient history, many indigenous tribes and cultures have shown a common trait of being hunter/gatherer societies, relying solely on what nature had to offer. The geographical location influenced all aspects of tribal life including, spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices. Despite vast differences in the geographical location, reports show various similarities relating to the spirituality, healing philosophy and healing practices of indigenous tribal cultures.
1) First topic chosen was wellness which is “a conscious, self-directed and evolving process of achieving full potential.” (The National Wellness Institute, para 3) What wellness means to me is being with my family, surrounding myself with your loved ones, or even being with the environment. To Indigenous people it is the exact same with their wellness with each other, or the wellness with their environment. Mental wellness in Indigenous is living a journey along the way being fulfilled in good health. This changed my thoughts because sometimes I don’t always see the good or surround myself in happiness which can create bad health for me.
Many Native American tribes share different spiritual and cultural views on the aspect of life. Belief in God and the things he created depend on what tribe you belong to. Tribes like the Onondaga and the Modoc have several stories that inform us regarding their religious customs and beliefs. The origin myths were written to point out the beliefs among tribes. “The Earth on Turtle’s Back” and “When Grizzlies Walked Upright” provides us with examples of what the Onondaga and Modoc tribes believed in. Since September, we have been learning about the different views of God that tribes have and all the different customs that take place within their cultures. The origin myths that have been chosen along with the “Song of the Hiawatha” and the Part- Time Indian teach us the cultural aspect of the Native Americans.
Native Americans have faced increasing encroachment by European and Euro-American settlers since the discovery of the Americas by Europeans in 1492. Beginning with the Caribs, mistakenly labeled as Indians by Christopher Columbus, continuing with the ‘Indian Wars’ waged by the U.S. government against such tribes as the Lakota and Apache, and lasting until today, native peoples have had to adjust and adapt constantly to survive. Native peoples have had to use and balance their ‘historical agency,’ or the ability of a people to affect the world around them throughout history, against the ‘structural forces’ set up by outsiders and foreign governments, which seek to limit their impact on the world. Both Andrew Fisher and Jeffrey Ostler have written about native groups, the Columbia River Indians and the Lakota, respectively, which have balanced historical agency against external structural forces over time. According to Fisher and Ostler, both the Lakota and the Columbia River Indians have used legal and illegal means to promote their historical agency. Both have a central cultural issue at the heart of their struggle against external structural forces. Ultimately, however, both groups have used the struggle between their historical agency and external structural forces to forge an identity that allowed them to adapt and survive into the twenty-first century.
It has been estimated that the population of Native Americans living on or very near reservations in the United States ranges from about 1.1 to 1.3 million, and is distributed across more than 330 Indian nations in America (16). American Indian nations display an incredibly wide variety of social and economic characteristics. Although “American Indian” is identified as a single race category on the US Census, each tribe boasts its own culture and values. Members of two separate tribes may be as different as the populations of China and Africa.
...al departments actually reaches first nations” (Assembly of First Nations 2007:1), with 11 percent of funding being spent on INAC departmental overhead (Assembly of First Nations 2007). In order to improve the conditions of Aboriginal life, and subsequently improve the parenting abilities of Aboriginals, we must first address and repair the underlying psychological, emotional, and social problems within Native communities. This process of repair should be facilitated through the development of a long-term strategy, designed to increase government spending towards beneficial social and medical programs, with a primary focus on addressing the traumas inflicted by the residential school system. In the words of Lloyd Robertson (2006: 21), “Concomitantly, community development work needs to be done to mitigate the disastrous effects of the residential school experiment.”
The history of Native American reservations is devastating and many Native Americans are still bitter about their people’s mistreatment. People of Native American heritage are still discriminated against in certain parts of the country.
...are extremely spiritual and hold customs and traditions very close to them. We need some knowledge of these customs in order to properly care for them. These deeply imbedded beliefs were taken away from them by the American Government and I believe it is especially important to keep that in mind when caring for the Native American People.
In Native American communities, there is a great belief in balance and respect. This can be seen in most, if not all, aspects of their lives, from hunting rituals, where they would set aside a period of time around the hunt to thank the animal so that its descendants would still allow themselves to be hunted, to the roles each person plays in the tribe, where each are different, but viewed as equal. This belief remains even in the modern day. In a 2010 survey completed for a dissertation by Randy Woodley, Native American tribes were asked, “Are you familiar with a concept or way of living and being in harmony/balance that relates to many of your Native American values?” To this question, 92.7% of the survey takers answered either “yes” or “somewhat”
While the media and educational institutions use the term “Native American” at times this term has been controversial.
Bennett, B., Green, S., Gilbert, S., & Bessarab, D. (2013).Our Voices: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Work. South Yarra, Victoria: Palgrave Macmillan.
I feel as though this article will be helpful towards my own knowledge and will cover the importance of Indigenous health and wellbeing. However, this article can also strengthen any individual’s standpoint, knowledge and outlook of indigenous
The social work profession discusses and attempts to redress many different types of social injustice. Social work intervention may take many forms in order to comprehensively assist clients depending on the circumstances of the situation. One problem that is incredibly detrimental within contemporary Canadian society, is the over incarceration of Indigenous populations. I propose a social work program to combat the undeniable fact that Indigenous populations within contemporary Canadian society are incarcerated at alarming rates (Government of Canada; Public Safety Canada, 2013). The social work intervention that I propose to redress and hopefully combat the over criminalization of the Indigenous community, is a group based therapy session,
I felt it was a good idea to ask my next question when I did because of the interest I got in Native Americans in a previous question. “Do you know anything about the religious beliefs of Native Americans?” For this question, I felt everyone had the same general idea about Native American beliefs. Many of them believed the Native Americans worshiped nature and had a deep respect for it. Lynne had said “I know they believed things had a spirit, everything is alive and that everything worships God. What I loved about them when I was younger was that if for example, if they were to hunt and kill something they would thank it for feeding them.” Very similarly Frank said, “They would thank nature, like if they had to kill an animal for food they would thank it for its services.” Marie had said “I think they believe in the sun and the seasons, I