Latest Updates Graded A
/. American Indian Demographics - Answer--defining "Indian": by genetic definition—
having a certain percentage of Indian blood as established by the Federal Register of
the United States; by community recognition—being recognized as Indian by other
Indians is paramount, because federal and state governments do not recognize all
tribes; by enrollment in a recognized tribe; and by self-declaration, the method used by
the Census Bureau.
-2.5 million people identified themselves being American Indian, with another 1.6 million
reporting they were Indian and of another race
-562 federally recognized tribes
/.American Indian family structure & Obligations - Answer--cousins are all referred to as
brother and sister
-primary relationship is not the parents, but grandparents
-Families make no distinctions between natural and inducted by marriage family
members once one marries into an Indian family (no term for in laws)
-relationship, not blood, determines family role
-individual tribe determines roles and family obligations.
-Two-Spirit is the contemporary name for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Native
Americans
/.American Indian The Spiritual Relationship of Man and Nature - Answer--Mitakuye
Oyasin, Lakota for "To all my relations," is a salutation and a saying one commonly
hears at the end of prayer
-acknowledges the spiritual bond between the speaker and all people present, affirms
the importance of the relationship of the speaker to his or her blood relatives, the
forbears' tribe, the family of man, and Mother Nature. It bespeaks a life-affirming
philosophy that all life forces are valuable and interdependent
-sacred beings may include animals, plants, mountains, and bodies of water
/.American Indian genocide - Answer--During the 1950s and 1960s the federal
government developed a termination and relocation plan, taking many Indians from their
homes and families and relocating them to urban centers
-suicide, violence, and homicide all increased to epidemic proportions. School dropout
rates, teen pregnancies and high rates of unemployment all became markers of a
legacy of trauma experienced throughout this country by Indian people
-whites victimize native americans
/.American Indian Tribal identity - Answer--Each tribe's customs and values are critical
to individual identity and affect family dynamics
-think in "we" terms, not "I"
-all tribes have distinct world views and practices
, -diversity can lead to conflict
-Each nation has legends about its own warriors, heroes, medicine men, and medicine
women.
/.American Indian communal sharing - Answer--Indians accord great respect to those
who give the most to other individuals and families, and then to the band, tribe, or
community
-notion of sharing can make it hard for business to succeed on tribal land
-families share liquid assets
/.American Indian therapy issues - Answer--family therapy model "Indian way," consists
of extended families and often entire tribal groups working together to resolve problems
-When Indian clients enter a clinician's office, they will more likely look for behavioral
indications of who the therapist is rather than for a particular diploma on the wall.
-must be aware of impact of genocide, understand the differences between the
dominant culture and that of American Indian clients, and consider each individual client
and family's level of assimilation
/.NATIVE AMERICANS TODAY: ROSE P.'S STORY - Answer--lives in shame and feels
oppressed (frustrations of being Native American)
-That raised fist is what comes to mind first when I think about being a Native American
in America today. I have been scorned and squashed down because my culture, my
traditions, and my identity are different from mainstream America's
-teachers and bosses look at her with disgust, only pick people with blonde hair
-government made promises (jobs, security) to her parents, but didn't follow through
-did not grow up enriched in Native culture as a result.
/.DOCUMENTING OUR HISTORICAL LOSS AND THE DYNAMICS OF UNRESOLVED
GRIEF - Answer--at a crossroads, and actively remembering our past and the historic
trauma that is our legacy is one way we can recover a happy, healthy, and productive
existence as a separate and distinct ethnic/cultural group.
-trauma included the destruction of native language and culture (dynamics of unsolved
Grief and trauma response listed in text)
-within the last two decades that historians have begun to detail the legacy of
oppressive and racist federal policies that were aimed at forcibly and nonnegotiably
assimilating and/or annihilating the indigenous peoples of the North American continent
/.LIFE BEFORE CONTACT BETWEEN NATIVE AMERICANAND EUROPEAN
CULTURES - Answer--Prior to any contact with Europeans, the tribes of North America
existed with an intact community self-awareness and purpose that included a complete
educational system for raising their children
-each group lived in isolation from each other, most tribes had a name for themselves in
their own languages that
-other native groups were not always recognized as people; rather, they were identified
as a source of contamination or sometimes as a source of trade goods, slaves, different