Women are the thread: Keetoowah elders’ experiences of becoming a mother

Abstract

Becoming a mother can simultaneously be a shared experience while having cultural distinctions. Indigenous motherhood, for example, has been heavily influenced by colonisation, medicalisation and Western imperialism. Historical and generational trauma has contributed to shifts in Indigenous practices surrounding becoming a mother and a disconnection from traditional birthing practices that has impacted maternal mental health. Nevertheless, recovering traditions can be beneficial for contemporary Indigenous mothers. This study utilised a culturally appropriate method, Story Inquiry. Using this approach, the paper coalesces community stories about a health challenge across time to better understand elders’ experiences of becoming a mother in one Indigenous tribe, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee. The results of this inquiry illustrate the acute effects of colonialism and the historical trauma that resulted from it on Keetoowah experiences of Becoming a Mother and the cultural transmission of practices and beliefs surrounding maternal role transition. At the same time, it demonstrates the strategies that have shaped women’s experiences of motherhood and made possible community persistence: especially the relationships between female kin within the Keetoowah tribe that have been integral to tribal resilience. Findings stress the value of healthcare approaches that include cultural traditions surrounding becoming a mother and more culturally informed perinatal care.

Keywords:

• Indigenous
• motherhood
• cultural reproduction
• cultural well-being

Acknowledgements

We thank the United Keetoowah Band (UKB), Victoria Holland (UKB), and Jim Henson (UKB) for their support and engagement with this project.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Funding

The author(s) report no funding was associated with the work featured in this article.