Native American & Alaska Native Cultural Project
Cultural Project: Native Americans and Alaska Natives
Introduction
The outline and presentation for this assignment generally follows the presentations from Giger’s (2009) Application of Assessment and Intervention Techniques to Specific Cultural Groups.
There are over 500 Federally Recognized tribes in the U.S., plus some additional tribes recognized by states, plus unknown number of smaller unrecognized tribes. Many are also divided into clans and loosely categorized into major groups. While it is impossible to totally generalize across such a broad spectrum, the scope of this project and the focus of the information compiled are of the generalized Native American/Alaskan Native. Where appropriate the Alaskan Native is separated within a topic, but there is no separate Alaskan Native chapter. This was done because it would be impossible to compare and contrast even the several largest tribes, as much of the statistical data and research is lumped together as “American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN)”.
For this paper the decision was made to use the term Native American rather than American Indian, as it more accurately identifies the current populations with the original indigenous peoples who were their ancestors. There may be uses of the term American Indian where a table or direct source information is used.
Dedicated to KE, Native American and good friend
CONTENTS
Introduction 2
History and Heritage 6
Pre-Contact (Pre-Columbian) Period 6
Post-Contact 8
Biological Variations 10
Health Risk Factors 10
Nutritional Preferences 14
Physical Characteristics 15
Culture and Customs 16
Social Culture and Customs 16
Family 16
Religious Practices 17
Education and Work 17
Communication 18
Cultural Health Care Practices 19
Protection 19
Native Healers and Folk Medicine 19
Health Care 20
Responsibility 20
Introduction
The outline and presentation for this assignment generally follows the presentations from Giger’s (2009) Application of Assessment and Intervention Techniques to Specific Cultural Groups.
There are over 500 Federally Recognized tribes in the U.S., plus some additional tribes recognized by states, plus unknown number of smaller unrecognized tribes. Many are also divided into clans and loosely categorized into major groups. While it is impossible to totally generalize across such a broad spectrum, the scope of this project and the focus of the information compiled are of the generalized Native American/Alaskan Native. Where appropriate the Alaskan Native is separated within a topic, but there is no separate Alaskan Native chapter. This was done because it would be impossible to compare and contrast even the several largest tribes, as much of the statistical data and research is lumped together as “American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN)”.
For this paper the decision was made to use the term Native American rather than American Indian, as it more accurately identifies the current populations with the original indigenous peoples who were their ancestors. There may be uses of the term American Indian where a table or direct source information is used.
Dedicated to KE, Native American and good friend
CONTENTS
Introduction 2
History and Heritage 6
Pre-Contact (Pre-Columbian) Period 6
Post-Contact 8
Biological Variations 10
Health Risk Factors 10
Nutritional Preferences 14
Physical Characteristics 15
Culture and Customs 16
Social Culture and Customs 16
Family 16
Religious Practices 17
Education and Work 17
Communication 18
Cultural Health Care Practices 19
Protection 19
Native Healers and Folk Medicine 19
Health Care 20
Responsibility 20
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