China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Sexual assault of women of color
Published in Rachel E. Lovell, Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Sexual Assault Kits and Reforming the Response to Rape, 2023
To understand where we are in terms of our response to rape, we first must understand how we got here. Traumatic experiences shared by communities can result in cumulative emotional and psychological wounds that are passed down through generations. This concept is called historical trauma. As a result, people within these same historically traumatized communities experience higher rates of mental and physical illness, substance abuse, and current victimization (SAMHSA, 2014). Historical trauma extends beyond what happened in the past—to what is still happening today. Professionals striving to establish a more equitable response to sexual violence must first understand the impact of historical trauma and recognize how we as a society respond differently to the sexual assault of women and girls of color compared to their white counterparts.
Reproductive Justice and Culturally Safe Approaches to Sexual and Reproductive Health for Indigenous Women and Girls
Published in Jane M. Ussher, Joan C. Chrisler, Janette Perz, Routledge International Handbook of Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2019
The discipline of Indigenous psychology has provided evidence that Indigenous self-determination over how Indigenous people’s mental and emotional health is strengthened is a best-practice approach (Chandler & Lalonde, 2004). Healing the complex forms of trauma (i.e., historical trauma, cross-generational trauma, intergenerational trauma) that are the result of the Australian genocide through culturally safe healing programs designed by and for women would strengthen women’s and girls’ well-being (Dudgeon et al., 2014; Wyndow et al., 2018). Within Australia, The Healing Foundation is a national Indigenous-controlled organisation dedicated to healing the survivors of the Stolen Generations (i.e., those impacted by the forced removal of children from families). As they state: “healing programs for women have included the use of traditional healing methods and bush medicines, and cultural renewal activities such as dance, song, craft and rituals”. They support Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation, survivors of the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls, and women’s leadership in the domain of healing. There is evidence that connecting to culture and Country restores emotional and mental health (Biddle & Swee, 2012).
Working with American Indian and Alaska Native Families
Published in Gwen Yeo, Linda A. Gerdner, Dolores Gallagher-Thompson, Ethnicity and the Dementias, 2018
Jan Dougherty, Jordan P. Lewis, Nicole Lomay
Finally, understanding the role of historical trauma is essential, as it relates to working with AI/AN communities and caregivers. AI/ANs were forced to relocate to boarding schools, taken away from their families, homes, and communities while being stripped of their Native languages, traditional foods, history, and cultural practices. These losses to the elders’ identity are also exacerbated among the elders when family caregivers consider placing their loved one in a facility, relocating them from their natal community and family (Griffin-Pierce et al., 2008; Korn et al., 2009; Whitbeck, Adams, Hoyt, & Chen, 2004).
Promoting indigenous cultural responsivity in addiction treatment work: the call for neurodecolonization policy and practice
Published in Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 2023
Carrie LaVallie, JoLee Sasakamoose
Historical trauma is the consequence of disruptive events taking place and then lingering with the person and the generations that follow. Forced negative assimilation practices, colonial stereotyping, and racism must be understood as root causes for some addiction impacted Indigenous peoples. Institutions begin decolonizing by changing Western knowledge structures to include unique and locally understood cultural responses. Culturally responsive Addiction workers incorporate Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness Frameworks into their policies and practices to reconcile failed health systems. We recommend institutions incorporate policies and practices that include an Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness Framework, Neurodecolonization, and education on the negative impact of the colonial legacy. Addiction worker education and service must include policies that benefit Indigenous peoples through their healing practices.
An Indigenous American Conceptualization of Substance Abuse and Its Treatment
Published in Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 2021
Historical trauma has been compounded by historical losses, such as the loss of traditional lands, cultures, languages, family systems, etc. The experience of losses has been associated with substance misuse but also with motivation to change substance misuse, such that losses may represent a double edge sword associated with substance use yet also perhaps promoting readiness to change (Blume & Marlatt, 2000; Blume & Schmaling, 1996). However, the evidence suggests that losses need to be specifically identified by clients as recently occurring consequence of personal substance use in order to potentially motivate change. Many of the losses that Indigenous Americans have experienced from colonialism are not recent or the result of substance misuse, hence will not likely enhance motivation to change substance use. In addition, one might characterize those losses as culturally significant losses that have negatively impacted an essential safety net for Indigenous Americans as communalistic people. Colonialism has historically communicated that Indigenous people are not welcomed by the mainstream culture and simultaneously attempted to strip away the strengths of traditional cultures. The goal was to dehumanize by denying access to cultural strengths. In this way, colonialism has attempted to deprive American Indians and Alaska Natives access to the inherent strengths of cultural safety nets that other clients take for granted. Many non-Indigenous clients have experienced significant personal losses but have not necessarily lost the safety net of their cultures like Indigenous clients have experienced.
La Cultura Cura: Latino Culture, Shared Experiences, and Recovery in Northern Californian Anexos
Published in Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 2021
Victor Garcia, Anna Pagano, Carlos Recarte, Juliet P. Lee
Other Native American and First Nation peoples, including aboriginal people in Australia and New Zealand, have established indigenous recovery systems of their own that draw on traditional cultural beliefs, values and practices, and group experiences. Loss of cultural traditions, mainly as a result of historical trauma, is considered the major cause of SUD, and the renewal of these traditions are the solution (Skewes & Blume, 2019). These recovery systems place value on tribal elders, including native healers, and use tribal history as a tool for creating awareness about SUDs and promoting recovery. There is also a return to traditional ceremonies like spirit dances and purification healing in sweat lodges. Reconnection to as much of the original culture as possible is seen as an indispensable response to overcoming historical trauma and creating much-needed resiliency in families and communities (Matamonasa-Bennett, 2017; Rowan et al., 2014; Whitbeck, Chen, Hoyt, & Adams, 2004). Cultural re-integration also encourages them to recuperate recovery supports, such as elders, family, and the tribe or clan, and to counteract isolation. These practices equip native people with psychological and behavioral capabilities to successfully cope with crisis and chaos in their environments and foster pride, self-respect, abstinence, and recovery from SUD (Donovan et al., 2015; Matamonasa-Bennett, 2017; Radin et al., 2015).