Choosing to Live a Sacred and Healthy Lifestyle:
How Diabetes Affects our Native People
Alyssa N. Kahn
Navajo and Pima/Maricopa
Alyssa N. Kahn
Navajo and Pima/Maricopa
In the article Sharing One Skin by Jeannette Armstrong, she explains the entire existence of her culture and what it means for her to be Okanagan. She briefly begins off by explaining how growing up she was taught the importance of her land and community. The land was something very important to her because there were certain ties she and her people had to it. Those ties were being able to have a source of identity and a place for her wellbeing to be whole. Along with the community she explains the importance of it. She states that without her community a person would feel lost and lifeless. But to be a community means to have family and “individual wellness" (Armstrong). Although she explains the importance of these things, she also describes how these things could be lost. She describes how the world moves in a different way. Many people that live in this type of environment have no connections or ties to hold them down. Instead they are not as grounded with a community and family, they are taken in with technology that dehumanizes. Armstrong further explains how things like this continue to happen are bad and she shows her pessimistic opinion on how things won’t continue to get better until we try to actually go and reunite with the ways that were once good for us long ago.
In the reading Native American Identity by Perry G. Horse, he touches base on what it means to be an “American Indian” today. He elaborates on the basis of “ethic nomenclature, racial attitude, legal/political status, cultural change, and personal sensibility” within Native American experience. He elaborates on how and what the natives peoples identity means in America. He begins off by describing how many native people in America have become accustomed to the factors of “white” government rather than our own ideologies. Here in America, Native Americans feel the need to adopt the ways of white practices because as Horse explains it, “If we accept that American Indians have been or been oppressed, part of our identity is already subordinated. We consciously or unconsciously take on the characteristics of the oppressors.” As he explains this he also mentions how Native Americans also manage to fight this form of oppression by embracing their own culture though college. Overall he explains that our identities are not subjected to what people think about them but rather how our own form of government thinks for it. To identify ourselves as an American Indian or Native American is to our extent and no one else's.
Sanderson, Priscilla R., et al. "A perspective on diabetes from indigenous views." The Fourth World Journal, vol. 11, no. 2, 2012, p. 57+. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A315370965/ITOF?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ITOF&xid=6beb0e2a .Accessed 18 Sept. 2020.
In the article A Perspective of Diabetes from Indigenous Views describes how diabetes came to affect most tribes today as well as what they mean based on an indigenous perspective. What is first explained are the 4 themes emerging around the issue of diabetes. These four themes come from 6 elders each representing their own tribe. The themes discussed are “ a) before contact with Europeans, diabetes was not found among the indigenous peoples; b) outside influence on food choices and activity patterns have been major factors in the rise of diabetes; c) disconnection from cultural roots yielding a state of imbalance or loss of harmony is manifest in negative health outcomes, such as wide-spread diabetes; and d) hope that a solution lies in the core values and knowledge of indigenous cultures.” (Sanderson et al. 1). With this the article then goes to explain what diabetes actually means in a western view and what is explained is how “Diabetes contributes to life-long disabling conditions such as neuropathy followed by amputation, retinopathy, end-stage renal disease, stroke, heart attack, and poor wound healing.” (Sanderson et al. 2). This description then explains how many can approach this putting a greater focus towards managing the disease and allows for a native perspective to come in.
Next off in the article the authors then vitalize each of the elders' stories explaining what diabetes means to them and how they perceive it within the culture. Of the six elders that talk, the tribes represented in the article are the Dine, Hopi, Mayan, Oglala Lakota, Yoeme (Yaqui), and Choctaw. These tribes discuss the various factors of how diabetes came to affect their tribes. For example in the article the Mayan and Yaqui deeply explain how the introduction of the European sedentary lifestyle has deeply affected their diets. The article also describes how the tribes such as the Oglala Lakota and Choctaw have disconnected from their traditional roots of hunting, farming and gathering. This major factor is something not practiced today by their tribes. Lastly the article explains how tribes such as the Dine and Hopi have utilized how important it is to have teachings implemented in today's world. Connections with traditional teachings are an overall factor that needs to be learned today. Overall the article then summarizes how today “The western medical approach to diabetes has not considered the health impact of stress created by spiritual imbalance, loss of language and cultural practices and beliefs, and uncertainty of indigenous identities.” (Sanderson et al. 24).
In the article Traditions and Diabetes Prevention: A Healthy Path for Native Americans the author Sue McLaughlin highlights the importance of the impact of diabetes among various Native American communities. She first begins off by explaining “Less than 100 years ago, diabetes was virtually unknown in native communities. It was not until after World War II that diabetes cases began to be reported by IHS providers” (p.1). This huge significance of diabetes not being relevant in Native communities until later on, leads to her explanation of how so many native americans began to be affected by diabetes. McLaughlin highlights that the changes of environment and traditional lifestyles are the causes for so many Native Americans to have diabetes. An example of a change of environment is explained, “Unfortunately, the policies that created American Indian reservations resulted in drastic lifestyle changes that had a negative impact on health for native people” (p.2). McLaughlin further describes that this transition for Native people moving to reservations results in “a tremendous loss of opportunity for caloric expenditure, as well as a loss of pride for a lifestyle of hard work.” (p.2). Due to reservations limiting Native people for their traditional line of work this then leads them to lead and live a more sedentary lifestyle. Although McLaughlin describes the limitations and changes these Native communities may face, she also explains the importance of these communities working together to treat and prevent diabetes. With various programs such as “The IHS Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention (DDTP)... established in 1979 ...The approach it has taken to address the epidemic of diabetes in Indian country is one of both clinical and public health and encompasses diabetes surveillance, enhancement and measurement of clinical diabetes care, and promotion of a diabetes network for rapid translation of research into clinical practice.” Overall McLaughlin expresses the importance of health for all Native American communities.
In the article called Investigation of Factors Contributing to Diabetes Risk in American Indian/Alaska Native Youth by the author Kayleen Islam-Zwart and Alvina Cawston, what was described was the study of diabetes amoung younger youth. Authors Islam-Zwart and Cawston explained the importance of how “Modernization has resulted in a decrease in exercise and an increase in caloric and fat intake, which causes obesity – a risk factor for diabetes” (p. 1). With this in mind the authors began by explaining how the study of diabetes among youth was conducted. What was mainly determined was “A 2 (2 hours or more per day spent watching television or playing video games vs. less than 2 hours) x 2 (parent with diabetes vs. no parent with diabetes) analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine whether children who watched television or played video games for 2 hours per day or more and/or had a parent with diabetes would have higher BMI percentiles than children who did not” (p.5). The use of this method led to the conclusion that “In contrast to the expected finding, children who watched television or played video games for 2 or more hours did not have a higher BMI percentile rank than children who did not” (p. 6). Overall the authors concluded that “Thus, in the presence of environmental modulators, their risk for type 2 diabetes is increased, potentially resulting in earlier disease expression” (p. 6).
In the article titled “Traditional knowledge-based lifestyle interventions in the prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes in Indigenous children in Canada: a systematic review protocol” this article explains the studies they plan to conduct as well as the methods involved. They first explain that their study will be conducted on the Indigenous peoples of Canada. As explained, “This systematic review will include studies of boys and girls, less than 18 years of age, and who are of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis descent. Only Indigenous children in Canada will be included, and we will not exclude studies based on language, setting, or timeline of publication. We will exclude children with a current diagnosis of T2DM, as this review aims to assess prevention studies” (Crawford et al., 3). These are mainly the native communities they decide to do their research on. This research will also acknowledge their theory that “Traditional interventions that may have an impact on obesity and diabetes may encompass different components such as dancing, hunting, ceremonies, storytelling, food harvesting and storage, and teachings in an attempt to address the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual domains of health” (Crawford et al., 2). With this said the research will heavily enforce on the traditional teachings of the Native communities in Canada and understand if it contributes to a healthier state of the native adolescent children living in Canada.
In the article “Health Promotion and Diabetes Prevention in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities — Traditional Foods Project, 2008–2014” this article highlights the importance of incorporating traditional based foods back into the ways of life in Native communities. It first starts off by explaining the history of how native health regarding diabetes comes into play. The article goes on to further explain that “For diseases such as diabetes, attention to the social history is as important as learning the natural history (14). Physiologic stress responses have been associated with historical trauma (i.e., cumulative emotional and psychological wounding across generations, including the lifespan, which emanates from massive group trauma) (15) and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) (e.g., abuse and neglect, and serious household dysfunction, and premature death of a family member) (16)” (Satterfield et al.). With this in mind the article further explains how they can determine that these things such as generational trauma are the underlying causes for diabetes and help to address it properly. Furthermore, involving tribes “During 1999–2000, approximately 400 tribal members representing 171 tribal nations helped inform planning” (Satterfield at al.). This quote explains that in order to address these problems throughout many of the various tribes, they all agreed to be a part of a project that could help overcome health disparities in their own Native communities. In the end all collaborators worked together on a huge project that allowed them to make progress involving health problems associated with diabetes.