The medicine is still a useful concept in Aboriginal healing and many First Nations bands including the Plains Cree people of Thunderchild First Nation support the concept of the traditional teachings of the Medicine Wheel (Graham & Leesberg, 2010). Also Etowa, Jesty, & Vukic (2011), indicated that Aboriginal people have a holistic definition of health that involves a balance of emotional, mental, spiritual and emotional health which has its origins in the medicine wheel and that cultural traditions such as sweat lodges, talking circles, drumming circles, and smudging are crucial elements of healing and empowerment. The medicine wheel is used as a tool to emphasize the need for bal¬ance between these dimensions of life, as well as the holistic
In a healthcare setting you will see different cultures that will come and go. It is very important to know how to deal with each culture so that you can help them while still making sure they are comfortable. Native Americans have many different characteristics because of the different tribes from all over the world. Healthcare providers should be familiar with them so they know how to distinguish them if needed. While knowing their characteristics they should also know how to interact with Native Americans as well since their culture is a lot different than ours, we want to make sure that we don’t disrespect them.
This lead to the creation of the medicine chest. Therefore these few aspects have allowed Aboriginal people to become part of something larger and transition into a new era.
‘The spirit catches you and you fall down’ was published in 2012 by essayist and reporter Anne Fadiman. This introductory book review analyzes the way in which different cultures perceive illnesses and diseases. It focuses on the story of the Lees a Hmong family, who moved to the United States and experiences difficulties with language, culture and biomedicine method of healing, which contradict to Hmong’s way of healing. The chapters describe the differences between the ways childbirth is conducted in Hmong society compared to the western society. As well as the struggle the Lees family has with the cultural differences in diagnoses and treatment of their ill daughter.
Anne Fadiman’s book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, explicitly illustrates the cultural divide between a Hmong family, the Lees, and the physicians treating their daughter, Lia Lee, at the Merced Community Medical Center. Lia first begins to experience seizures when she is about three months old. This is initially when the conflict arises between the physicians and the Lees. In contrast to Lia’s Western medicine diagnosis of epilepsy, her parents interpret epilepsy, or quag deb peg in the Hmong language, as both a serious and dangerous disease and a sign of distinction, indicating that she could potentially become a shaman (Fadiman 20-21). On the other hand, the physicians are continuously trying to prevent and treat Lia’s seizures,
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, explores cultural competence, ethics in medicine, and the provision of culturally competent health care in the United States by following a family of Hmong culture in their struggles with mainstream U.S. society and healthcare. Fadiman has implemented her studies to highlight the differences between Hmong and Western practices and perspectives on health care, illness, spirituality, and the body. Through her extensive research, Fadiman is able to express cultural differences and the impact ignoring this crucial piece can have. Healthcare in the U.S. is described as the best in the world, but Fadiman is able to highlight the weaknesses this healthcare system has in regards to culturally
Like many articles on Aboriginal Peoples issues, Anna Banerji’s CBC article “Improving Indigenous Health Starts With Reconciliation” (Banerji, 2015), is a critique on the treatment of Native Peoples in Canada. Her main thesis focuses on the inequality that exists in Canada, by underscoring the biases and discriminations perpetrated on Indigenous Peoples, in terms of basic human rights. Banerji’s advocacy, although commendable, leaves an empty space, in terms of both a governmental (policy) perspective, and her own assertion’s credibility, due to her writing style and content. These ingredients are essential for an understanding by the target audience (Canadians, in general), as it could allow for a powerful critique on the human rights violations
Examples from third world countries were given and the paper concluded that arts are relevant to health, wellbeing and quality of life, giving an Aboriginal community in Australia as an example. Art is a communicative medium that allows a togetherness and heals fragmentation. When external reality is harsh and negative, it drives from the mind the capacity for imaginative dreaming. The process of art creation allows the formation of emotional links (in terms of Bion’s model) and negotiated interactive moments. This is one of the unique gifts the Aboriginal people had and it is this imagining that is allowed to be reawakened through the colour process mode of art.
Something called “Medicine Men and Women” are spiritual leaders who use herbs to heal sick people. It’s very important to have spiritual leaders because they are the one’s to provide for the sickness of people, they play a huge role in people's lives so that’s why they're so important to the Native Americans religion. Now in closing, I have learned a lot of new things that I have never seen or heard of
Title: Part A Reflective Journals Student Name: Hannah Warren Student ID Number: 17759577 Email Address: Hannah.warren@student.curtin.edu.au School/Department: Unit: Indigenous Cultures and Health INDH1000 Tutor Name: Due Date: Monday 30th March, 2015 by 11.55pm Declaration: I declare that this assignment is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another unit, degree or diploma at any university or other institute of tertiary education.
Aboriginal identity, mental health and suicide rates were outlined throughout this analysis along with the disgusting lack of government aid. As stated above, the aboriginals from the Kattawapiskak River have a strong sense of identity. The persons on these reserves are proud of their traditions and practice resilience in their faith and values, however, the physical and emotional pain these people are put through will soon break their spirits. They can only ask for help from the government so many times before it will be too
Canada is known for its amazing healthcare and it is considered one of the best in the world. In Canada, healthcare is ‘universal’ to its citizens under the Heath Care Act. However, not everyone has equal access to healthcare, Aboriginals being some of them. Aboriginals have trouble getting the access they need because of socio-economic status, geography, lack of infrastructure and staff, language or cultural barriers an more. Aboriginals on reserve face many barriers when it comes to access to healthcare, they include cost, language, distance, climate, education and more.
In the documentary, “The Split Horn: Life of a Hmong Shaman in America,” portrays the journey of an immigrant Hmong family battling to maintain their cultural traditions alive in the United States. In the Hmong culture, it is believed that every individual has seven souls and if they have an illness, for example sickness, it means that their soul has departed or taken by evil spirits. Hmong people believe in Shamans, who are gifted and respected people who can make contact with their ancestors and return the lost souls of people. In this documentary, the main character Paja Thao is a shaman who is challenged by American customs to keep his cultural Hmong traditions alive and pass it down to his children. Paja becomes sick because he feels like his children don’t care about the Hmong tradition anymore because they don’t participate in his rituals and realizes his children have assimilated to the American culture.
In traditional aboriginal culture, circles have a great a powerful meaning, each having its own specific and unique meaning, for example The Medicine wheel symbolizes “The vital power or personal power within oneself which enables one to become whole or complete”. In Richard Wagamese’s novel “Indian Horse “, these circles hold a very special purpose. Richard uses the continual figure of circles to represent the main character of novel Saul Indian Horse, and his journey for individuality with nature and the rituals of naturalism religion; the Canadian government’s appoint religion, education, and culture that Saul’s spirit and everything that was lost along the way, in which that is important to the survival of his culture and spirit. The
The problem appears to become evident right from birth with aboriginal woman twice as likely as non-indigenous woman to have a stillborn baby and twice as likely to give birth to an underweight baby (ed. Healey 2000, p.4). During the period between 1991 and 1996, life expectancy for indigenous people was around 20 years than that of their non-indigenous counterparts. The lives of indigenous people are affected by many other health factors, one of most concern is alcohol related problems that impact on their well-being, family structure, and even aboriginal traditional life because they tend to drink more haphazardly. Some of the health risks to which indigenous people are exposed can be attributed the differences between the health of indigenous and non-indigenous people.
The colonization of Indigenous peoples has dramatically affected their health, and health-seeking behaviours, in a myriad of ways. The Indian Act of 1876 was, in essence, created to control the Indigenous population. The Indian Act laid out laws and regulations that tightly regulated the lives of natives economically, ideologically, and politically. This included a wealth of ways in which their identities were stripped away, and in which they were taken advantage of by the Government of Canada. This has resulted in a reduced quality of life for Canada 's indigenous population, as well as adverse health problems, and prejudicial perceptions that we still see the impact of today.