Trials of Navajo Youth: Identity, Healing, and the Struggle for Maturity

Abstract

In this article, we examine the experiences of Navajo youth living on the contemporary Navajo reservation with the aim of conceptualizing how they position themselves between overarching discursive tensions of what it means to be Navajo and the everyday constraints of existence on the Navajo reservation. We take up three topics in particular: the categorical problems and processes of Navajo youth specifically in terms of their use of such organizing terms as tradition, the multifaceted reservation and off‐reservation worlds that Navajo youth move through, and the mediating role of Navajo ritual healing in cultivating a sense of connectedness for adolescents, which in turn feeds into the broader task of negotiating a uniquely Navajo identity. This article is based on interviews with 11 adolescents and postadolescents who took part in the larger Navajo Healing Project

A Space of Vulnerability in Poverty and Health: Political-Ecology and Biocultural Analysis

“…Second, I note basic themes in a political-ecology of biology and health (global-local contexts, relations of power, and agency)-focusing particularly on an analysis of vulnerability. The focus on vulnerability resonates with the articles in this special issue, and is a broader concern of psychological anthropology (e.g., Dole and Csordas 2003;Handwerker 2003) as well political-ecology. Third, I provide a case study drawn from earlier research on the political-ecology of health and household economy in the Peruvian Andes.…”

Contextual influences on acculturation processes: The roles of family, community and society

“…The absence of a stable ethnic community to join has been linked to poor mental health and well-being (Frisbie, Cho & Hummer, 2001;Salant & Lauderdale, 2003). Involvement in the ethnic community, conversely, provides a context in which the heritage values and behaviours can be learned and supported (Dole & Csordas, 2003;Belcourt-Dittloff, 2006). The community also provides social supports for coping with anxiety and alienation in a society that appears emotionally cold and threatening (Neto, Barros & Schmitz, 2005;Schmitz, 2001) and for resilience in times of adversity (Belcourt-Dittloff, 2006;Sutton & Nose, 1996).…”

Sobriety and its Cultural Politics: An Ethnographer's Perspective on “Culturally Appropriate” Addiction Services in Native North America

“…Likewise, as Brady (1995) especially notes, assertions that ''tradition'' can help to ameliorate substance abuse problems may posit universalized meanings that distort local complexities. Ethnographers of substance abuse services can examine how such claims emerge from the social positioning of indigenous peoples in relation to the dominant societies that surround them (O'Nell 1996), and how localized debates resist overgeneralization (e.g., Dole and Csordas 2003). Given the prominence of indigenous spiritual practices in how ''tradition'' is identified as a therapeutic resource for substance abuse, the example of Recovery Center at Northern Cheyenne demonstrates that finding a way to acknowledge and accommodate localized debates surrounding such practices can also be essential to providing culturally appropriate services.…”