Illness and medicine are among a limited number of topical domains which cross-cultural researchers have for some time described as organized bodies of cultural knowledge (e.g., Clements 1932; and see Conklin 1972:363–392 for a bibliography).
This commentary presents an “in
digenist” model of Native women’s
health, a stress-coping paradigm
that situates Native women’s health
within the larger context of their status
as a colonized people. The
model is grounded in empirical evidence
that traumas such as the
“soul wound” of historical and contemporary
discrimination among
Every culture has traditionally had ways of dealing with psychological
distress and behavioral deviance. For example, in the United States
for the last century, counseling has evolved into a formal profession
designed to help individuals resolve both situational and developmental
problems in various aspects of their lives.