Medicine Ways: Disease, Health, and Survival Among Native Americans

Improving the dire health problems faced by many Native American communities is central to their cultural, political, and economic well being. However, it is still too often the case that both theoretical studies and applied programs fail to account for Native American perspectives on the range of factors that actually contribute to these problems in the first place. The authors in Medicine Ways examine the ways people from a multitude of indigenous communities think about and practice health care within historical and socio-cultural contexts. Cultural and physical survival are inseparable for Native Americans. Chapters explore biomedically-identified diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, as well as Native-identified problems, including historical and contemporary experiences such as forced evacuation, assimilation, boarding school, poverty and a slew of federal and state policies and initiatives. They also explore applied solutions that are based in community prerogatives and worldviews, whether they be indigenous, Christian, biomedical, or some combination of all three. Medicine Ways is an important volume for scholars and students in Native American studies, medical anthropology, and sociology as well as for health practitioners and professionals working in and for tribes.

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Author: Clifford Trafzer
Publisher: Altamira Press
Published: 03/07/2001
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.64d
ISBN13: 9780742502550
ISBN10: 0742502554
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | Native American Studies
- Social Science | Anthropology | Cultural & Social
- History | Indigenous Peoples in the Americas

About the Author
Clifford E. Trafzer (Wyandot) is a professor of history and director of Native American Studies at the University of California, Riverside. Diane Weiner is a professional research anthropologist at the American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles.