I don't want to use this a space to simply bitch and moan, but...In all seriousness, my job keeps getting in the way of my work. I want to research/write and things that interest me, but my damn job keeps getting in the way. Currently, I'm working with two members of the psychology department on an article examining American Indian suicide on the central plains (ND to TX). The topic is great, and pouring through the information has made me realize a number of things. The suicide rate for Indians is amazingly high (2.5 times the national average) and the way the situation is treated simply compounds the problem. The Indian Helath Service treats suicide like a number of other rez issues (alcholism and homicide). Only recently has the IHS turned its attention to the issue of suicide. In their treatment, they have focused on those suicides that are related to alcohol. However, I contend that the majority of Indian suicides are directly related to the "problem" of colonization. The impact of the destruction of culture (Dave, your comments to the last post were so on point it made me think of this) and the overlaying of another, alien, culture has cycled Indian people into a situation were suicide becomes nearly acceptable. A recent article in the NY Times (5/14/07)looked at suicide among Alaska Natives and found that in the past (before colonization) Alaska natives knew almost no incidences of suicide--since contact, the rate has gone up steaily. Why? Here's an idea--the cutlural genocide faced by Indian people has more far reaching consequences than the actual genocide prepetrated against Indians (say in the 19th century). The destruction of cultural norms and traditions still continues to this day and drives Indian people to a number of self-destructive behaviors. And yet, there is more to the reasons of why Indian people commit suicide. Like the IHS, merely arguing for what I have termed cultural genocide creates a black and white where none exists--rather than an "or problem" suicide seems to an "and problem" by which I mean that there seem to be so many deficits to living on reservations that they are nearly insurmountable (poor education, health care, nutrition, etc).
On a personal note, my great grandma (who went to Carlisle) complained about the state of Indian reservations until the day she died. It was only time she ever talked about her Indian heritage--after Carlisle she hated who and what she was. But she worked with a number of early 20th century "friends of the Indians" organization to help aleviate the condition of rez Indians. I find it disgusting that she was working on the same problems that Indians living on reservations confront today. Here was a woman who hated everything about being an Indian and yet found it in her heart to correct what she saw a gross injustice--this is far more closely related to my first post. The injustices that Indian people still face must be made known. As an historian, I was taught that Indians were active participants in their own fates--this is true, BUT in the 21st century when people live in some of the poorest, most isolated, economically unsustainable regions of the country, a case can be made for victimization.
1 comment:
I have a couple of thoughts on this, that supplement what you've written.
In more natural cultures, daily life is hard and the main life skill is simply survival - not dying of starvation, climate or predation by wildlife or competitors. In cultures that have these priorities, suicide does not exist in any meaningful way, as it is counter-intuitive.
In more artificial cultures, the mind does not have these simple priorities, so it seeks new priorities that equate, like the acquisition of wealth. Failure to meet these goals doesn't result in death, so you get to be around to mull on your lack of success, and as with other life, to fall into a poor state of health. The cultural price of failure is usually the inability to support offspring, and the pressure is to remove yourself. If you have failing offspring, removing yourself removes an adult-sized burden to their upkeep.
This doesn't explain why the suicide rate in native cultures is 2.5x higher than in mainstream western society. This is simply addressed by the order in which these new pressures are instilled/enforced on other cultures. In western society, we have many positive and negative traits that compete and balance to give a certain allowance of failure that we can extend to ourselves. In a newly-westernized culture, the negative cultural lessons are learned quickly, but because of the poverty implicit in joining a culture that defines what has value, and in its own self-interest defines those assets as things you don't have, the positive aspects are harder to achieve.
The irony is that an Indian has nothing in his own culture and is surviving. Expose him to western culture and it's called poverty and he is doing badly, relative to people who are more successful at playing the western lifestlye game, and suddenly, the imperatives change.
This is why there are so many poor Indians. And part of why there are so many dead ones.
I know this is a gross simplification. The planned subsidized alcohol provision to reservations, the stripping and seizing of assets, the destruction of the common good in favor of self-interest...
What do you think?
Post a Comment