American Indians, Alaska Natives, and the psychology of men and masculinity.

Abstract

American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN 1 ) men 2 are one of the most underserved groups in health care (Whitbeck, 2009). They are also quite possibly the most historically reticent group, by race and ethnicity, to seek help from mainstream caregivers (Joe, 2001). AI/AN men experience unique ecological circumstances that distinguish them from other groups in the United States. Issues such as a traditional 3 worldview that is intensely divergent from that of the mainstream, hundreds of years of colonization and occupation for the now 566 Sovereign Nations, and population numbers that are relatively small compared with those of other racial groups in the United States all contribute to the further oppression, marginalization, and objectification of AI/AN men.The literature pertaining to AI/AN men and masculinity is scant at best (Wong, Steinfeldt, Speight, & Hickman, 2010). No empirical efforts have examined the applicability of the Western hegemonic masculinity construct 4 (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005) or of other constructs such as the male gender role stress paradigm (GRSP) 5 (Levant, 2011;Pleck, 1981Pleck, , 1995 and gender role conflict (GRC) 6 (O'Neil, 2008). 7 Existent publications tend to be conceptually based and deficit oriented, devoid of the language and voice of traditionally oriented AI/AN peoples-those who have completed spiritual rites of manhood and embody age-old cultural roles (Duran & Duran, 1995). Thus, long-held stereotypes of AI/AN men permeate the common psyche and perpetuate the false belief that AI/AN populations are alike and have lost their traditional knowledge holders (e.g., Lazur & Majors, 1995). "Hegemonic discourse through the propagation of psychological literature 1The terms American Indian and Alaska Native are used herein to denote the groups of distinct original inhabitants of North and South America and the Caribbean. These groups have been referred to variously as Native Americans, Alaska Natives, First Nations, and Indigenous or aboriginal peoples. The diversity of peoples represented by this term is immense, and regional differences are formidable. In the United States, there are currently 566 federally recognized Sovereign Nations and scores of communities navigating the U.S. federal system seeking that government-to-government relationship status. It is impossible to make generalizations regarding gender that would encompass all AI/AN groups. This chapter focuses on the most common factors related to gender that apply to most AI/AN groups. 2As used in this chapter, the terms man and men, woman and women, and masculine and feminine convey the mainstream construct, given the lack of binary gender in most AI/AN languages. 3The use of the term traditional in this chapter signifies the worldview of Indigenous origin, not that of the mainstream traditional male (Pleck, 1995). 4 This phrase refers to the dominant masculinity ideology-the social and behavioral mainstream norms for the Western male gender role, with the purpose of propagating privilege for well-to-do, White...

The intersection of race, ethnicity, and masculinities: Progress, problems, and prospects.

“…although the warrior stereotype is highly sexualized, the wise elder is desexualized. these binary stereotypes were also noted by Rouse (2016), who observed that the polar opposite stereotypes of warrior chief and mystic shaman reflected an imposition of the traditional gender paradigm to native american cultures. the warrior chief is brutal, while the mystic shaman is highly romanticized.…”

“…thus, american indian/native american men may adopt a broader range of normative gender possibilities than men from other races, who follow prescribed and restricted gender norms. their flexible definition of gender may allow american indian/native american men to assume roles or responsibilities that are traditionally considered to be for women (Rouse, 2016). despite these postulations, empirical research on the unique masculine norms and subjective meanings of manhood among native americans is sorely lacking.…”

“…Far more research has been conducted on asian, Black, and latino american men than on ethnic groups such as asian indian, Jamaican, and cuban american men. additionally, psychological research is lacking on native american and alaskan men (Rouse, 2016) and boys of color, as well as on racial minority men in countries beyond the united States. clearly, more research is needed on these populations.…”

“…Finally, there is an overall lack of intersectional uniqueness research on native american men. linguistic scholars have documented that native american worldviews and languages do not recognize the gender binary (Rouse, 2016). Rather, they recognize three or four genders.…”