This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1534765608321069v1 15/1/11    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Jervis, L. L. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Disillusionment, Faith, and Cultural Traumatization on a Northern Plains Reservation

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lori.jervis{at}uchsc.edu.

	Abstract

Many American Indian people experience traumatization related to their postcolonial status that extends beyond the individual. This article explores experiences of cultural traumatization among 44 Northern Plains American Indians who were part of a population-based psychiatric epidemiological study. Of special interest were the ways in which cultural trauma was expressed in this community’s sociality and worldview (e.g., disillusionment with community leaders, grief about perceived culture loss) and the complex connections between traumatization at the level of the individual and the community. Spirituality/religion served as a primary means for reconnecting with traditional culture, which proved crucial in people’s attempts to cope with community traumatization. The uneasy coexistence of disillusionment, grief over culture loss, and faith cautions against embracing simplistic notions of Native reactions to cultural trauma.

First published on July 10, 2008, doi:10.1177/1534765608321069

Traumatology 2009;15:11.

A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2009


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?