Family as the Conduit to Promote Indigenous Women and Men’s Enculturation and Wellness: “I Wish I Had Learned Earlier”

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to explore how food and other cultural traditions promote wellness, cultural continuity, enculturation, and family resilience within tribal communities in the U.S.

Method: Using the Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence (FHORT), this critical ethnography examined Indigenous peoples’ experiences with food and cultural traditions. Thematic analysis of qualitative data with 436 participants (approximately 2/3^rds of which were women) across two Southeastern tribes revealed several themes.

Results: A central theme of “fostering the transmission of tribal knowledge and intergenerational family bonding” emerged. Traditions such as dancing, food, sewing, beadwork, basket-weaving, music, and tribal sports were some important facets of tribal culture. Food and cultural practices promoted wellness, pro-social values, and health by fostering physical activity, traditional food practices, enculturation, and social support.

Discussion: Programs that utilize the strengths of experiential learning through family and cultural practices are highly recommended.

KEYWORDS:

• Indigenous
• Native American/American Indian
• health disparities
• health equity
• enculturation
• resilience
• wellness

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the dedicated work and participation of the tribes who contributed to this work. This work was supported by the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation Faculty Grant Program [grant number #552745]; The Silberman Fund Faculty Grant Program [grant #552781]; the Louisiana Board of Regents; the Newcomb College Institute Faculty Grant at Tulane University, University Senate Committee on Research Grant Program at Tulane University, the Global South Research Grant through the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University, The Center for Public Service at Tulane University, and the Carol Lavin Bernick Research Grant at Tulane University. This work was supported, in part, by Award K12HD043451 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (Krousel-Wood-PI; Catherine Burnette – Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Scholar). Supported in part by U54 GM104940 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, which funds the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences [U54 GM1049];Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [K12HD043451].