Trauma and Resilience in the Lives of Contemporary Native Americans

Reclaiming our Balance, Restoring our Wellbeing

Hilary N. Weaver

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781351614658
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Psychiatry & Mental Health
• Index: Social Sciences

Indigenous Peoples around the world and our allies often reflect on the many challenges that continue to confront us, the reasons behind health, economic, and social disparities, and the best ways forward to a healthy future. This book draws on theoretical, conceptual, and evidence-based scholarship as well as interviews with scholars immersed in Indigenous wellbeing, to examine contemporary issues for Native Americans. It includes reflections on resilience as well as disparities. In recent decades, there has been increasing attention on how trauma, both historical and contemporary, shapes the lives of Native Americans. Indigenous scholars urge recognition of historical trauma as a framework for understanding contemporary health and social disparities.

Accordingly, this book uses a trauma-informed lens to examine Native American issues with the understanding that even when not specifically seeking to address trauma directly, it is useful to understand that trauma is a common experience that can shape many aspects of life. Scholarship on trauma and trauma-informed care is integrated with scholarship on historical trauma, providing a framework for examining contemporary issues for Native American populations.

It should be considered essential reading for all human service professionals working with Native American clients, as well as a core text for Native American studies and classes on trauma or diversity more generally.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Examining the impact of trauma
• 2. A brief history of Native Americans
• 3. Contemporary experiences of Native Americans
• 4. Our hopes for the future: The wellbeing of Indigenous children and families
• 5. Holders of knowledge and protectors of communities: The wellbeing of elders and veterans
• 6. Education for a contemporary world: Learning and knowing from Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives
• 7. To be well: Explorations of health and balance
• 8. The wellbeing of communities, Peoples, and the natural world
• Conclusion
• References
• Index