Wood Lydia, Kamper David, Swanson Kate
Department of Geography, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, United States.
Department of American Indian Studies, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-6036, United Stated.
Health Place. 2018 Mar;50:137-145. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2018.01.010. Epub 2018 Feb 22.
This article addresses an apparent paradox between academic and policy depictions of American Indian reservations as "broken" and "unhealthy" places, and Indigenous youth perceptions of reservations as spaces of "health" and "wellness." Public health literature often frames reservations as damaged, health-denying places, chronicling the extraordinarily high rates of suicide, substance abuse, as well as vast health disparities. Despite these dire statistics, our research with Native youth in San Diego County found that young people chose to primarily emphasize their positive experiences with, and attachments to, their reservations. In this article, we share strength- and desire-based narratives to explore how reservations can serve as spaces of wellness for Indigenous youth, despite ongoing settler colonial harm. We seek to expand the discussion on the unintended consequences of deficit-centered scholarship by arguing that health research should also engage with the narratives of hope and desire that are reflective of the way many Native youth feel about their communities. In this article, we urge scholars and practitioners to rethink how we conduct health research to include methodologies that listen to the narratives and experiences of those who, day in and day out, navigate settler colonial landscapes, while continuing to create spaces of hope and healing.
本文探讨了学术和政策层面将美国印第安人保留地描绘为“破败”和“不健康”之地，与原住民青年将保留地视为“健康”和“ wellness ”空间这两种观点之间明显的矛盾。公共卫生文献常常将保留地描述为受损的、剥夺健康的地方，记录了极高的自杀率、药物滥用率以及巨大的健康差距。尽管有这些严峻的数据，但我们对圣地亚哥县原住民青年的研究发现，年轻人主要选择强调他们在保留地的积极经历以及对保留地的情感纽带。在本文中，我们分享基于力量和愿望的叙述，以探讨尽管定居者殖民伤害持续存在，保留地如何能够成为原住民青年的健康空间。我们试图通过论证健康研究也应关注反映许多原住民青年对其社区感受的希望和愿望的叙述，来扩大对以缺陷为中心的学术研究意外后果的讨论。在本文中，我们敦促学者和从业者重新思考我们进行健康研究的方式，纳入倾听那些日复一日在定居者殖民环境中生活的人们的叙述和经历的方法，同时继续创造希望和治愈的空间。
