Medicine Ways Disease, Health, and Survival among Native Americans

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 force 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 world-views, whether they be indigenous, Christian, biomedical, or some combination