LibGuides: Native American and Indigenous Communities: Articles

Articles on Native Americans

"Frozen in Time": The Impact of Native American Media Representations on Identity and Self-Understanding Mass media plays a substantial role in the way social groups understand themselves and are understood by others. Some social groups, like Native Americans, are rarely portrayed in mass media and, in the rare cases they appear, they are typically depicted in a stereotypical and historical fashion. The lack of contemporary representation of Native Americans in the media limits the ways in which Native Americans understand what is possible for themselves and how they see themselves fitting in to contemporary domains (e.g., education and employment) of social life. In this article, we contend that the invisibility of Native Americans in the media undermines self‐understanding by homogenizing Native American identity, creating narrow and limiting identity prototypes for Native Americans, and evoking deindividuation and self‐stereotyping among contemporary Native Americans.
Agricultural adaptation in the native North American weed waterhemp, Amaranthus tuberculatus (Amaranthaceae) There is increasing interest in documenting adaptation of weedy plant species to agricultural ecosystems, beyond the evolution of herbicide resistance. Waterhemp (Amaranthus tuberculatus) is a native plant of the Midwestern U.S. that began infesting agricultural fields in the 20.sup.th century within the central portion of its range. We hypothesized that the vegetative growth and reproductive traits of waterhemp from this heavily infested central region provide differential fitness benefits in agricultural environments. We collected seeds from across the species' native range, representing regions with varying degrees of waterhemp infestation, and planted them together in common garden soybean plots. A 2010 common garden experiment was conducted within the range of agriculturally weedy waterhemp (in Missouri), and a 2011 common garden experiment was conducted outside of this range (in Ohio). Days to flowering and flowering plant height, mature plant size data (height, number of branches, and length of the longest branch), and above-ground biomass were measured to estimate relative fitness. In both common garden locations, plants from regions where waterhemp occurs as an agricultural weed - including those from the heavily infested Mississippi Valley region (Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri) and the less severely infested Plains region (Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma) - had higher relative performance in almost all fitness-related measures than plants from the Northeast region (Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario), which had little to no agriculturally weedy waterhemp at the time of our study. Further analysis revealed that fewer days to flowering in the Northeast populations can be largely accounted for by latitude of origin, suggesting a strong genetic influence on this reproductive trait. These findings suggest intraspecific variation in agricultural adaptation in a native U.S. weed, and support the use of agricultural weeds to study adaptation.
The Existence Value of a Distinctive Native American Culture: Survival of the Hopi Reservation We measure the value placed by the American public on ensuring the continued existence of the traditional Hopi culture and way of life at the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. The Hopi are the oldest living culture in the United States. The continued existence of the Reservation is threatened by depletion of the groundwater resource underlying the reservation. In the future, without a new source of water, the Hopi will run out of water to support the villages and continue their traditional Hopi agricultural practices. Many Hopi will have to move off the Reservation and give up their traditional culture and way of life. The Reservation will no longer serve as a permanent home for the Hopi Tribe. An expensive pipeline would be required to convey a new source of water to the Reservation, for which the Federal government might pay. The question is: would the expenditure by the federal government to convey water that would ensure the continued existence of the traditional Hopi culture at the Hopi Reservation be justified by the existence value of that culture to the American people? This paper describes the results of a study undertaken to measure that existence value. We show that a simple stated preference design, using only a single monetary amount, is sufficient to provide a bound.
Forced Coexistence and Economic Development: Evidence from Native American Reservations Studying Native American reservations, and their historical formation, I find that their forced integration of autonomous polities into a system of shared governance had large negative long-run consequences, even though the affected people were ethnically and linguistically homogenous. Reservations that combined multiple sub-tribal bands when they were formed are 30% poorer today, even when conditioning on prereservation political traditions. The results hold with tribe fixed effects, identifying only off within-tribe variation across reservations. I also provide estimates from an instrumental variable strategy based on historical mining rushes that led to exogenously more centralized reservations. Data on the timing of economic divergence and on contemporary political conflict suggest that the primary mechanism runs from persistent social divisions through the quality of local governance to the local economic environment.
Discrimination in the United States: Experiences of Native Americans To examine reported racial discrimination and harassment against Native Americans, which broadly contribute to poor health outcomes. Data Source and Study Design Data come from a nationally representative, probability‐based telephone survey including 342 Native American and 902 white US adults, conducted January‐April 2017. Methods We calculated the percent of Native Americans reporting discrimination in several domains, including health care. We used logistic regression to compare the Native American‐white difference in odds of discrimination and conducted exploratory analyses among Native Americans only to examine variation by socioeconomic and geographic/neighborhood characteristics. Principal Findings More than one in five Native Americans (23 percent) reported experiencing discrimination in clinical encounters, while 15 percent avoided seeking health care for themselves or family members due to anticipated discrimination. A notable share of Native Americans also reported they or family members have experienced violence (38 percent) or have been threatened or harassed (34 percent). In adjusted models, Native Americans had higher odds than whites of reporting discrimination across several domains, including health care and interactions with the police/courts. In exploratory analyses, the association between geographic/neighborhood characteristics and discrimination among Native Americans was mixed. Conclusions Discrimination and harassment are widely reported by Native Americans across multiple domains of their lives, regardless of geographic or neighborhood context. Native Americans report major disparities compared to whites in fair treatment by institutions, particularly with health care and police/courts. Results suggest modern forms of discrimination and harassment against Native Americans are systemic and untreated problems.
The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences to PTSD, Depression, Poly-Drug Use and Suicide Attempt in Reservation-Based Native American Adolescents and Young Adults Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with numerous risk behaviors and mental health outcomes among youth. This study examines the relationship between the number of types of exposures to ACEs and risk behaviors and mental health outcomes among reservation-based Native Americans. In 2011, data were collected from Native American (N = 288; 15–24 years of age) tribal members from a remote plains reservation using an anonymous web-based questionnaire. We analyzed the relationship between six ACEs, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, physical and emotional neglect, witness to intimate partner violence, for those
The Existence Value of a Distinctive Native American Culture: Survival of the Hopi Reservation We measure the value placed by the American public on ensuring the continued existence of the traditional Hopi culture and way of life at the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. The Hopi are the oldest living culture in the United States. The continued existence of the Reservation is threatened by depletion of the groundwater resource underlying the reservation. In the future, without a new source of water, the Hopi will run out of water to support the villages and continue their traditional Hopi agricultural practices. Many Hopi will have to move off the Reservation and give up their traditional culture and way of life. The Reservation will no longer serve as a permanent home for the Hopi Tribe. An expensive pipeline would be required to convey a new source of water to the Reservation, for which the Federal government might pay. The question is: would the expenditure by the federal government to convey water that would ensure the continued existence of the traditional Hopi culture at the Hopi Reservation be justified by the existence value of that culture to the American people? This paper describes the results of a study undertaken to measure that existence value. We show that a simple stated preference design, using only a single monetary amount, is sufficient to provide a bound.
The role of self-evaluated pain sensitivity as a mediator of objectively measured pain tolerance in Native Americans: findings from the Oklahoma Study of Native American Pain Risk (OK-SNAP) Native Americans (NAs) are at increased risk for chronic pain. One mechanism contributing to this pain disparity could be personal pain beliefs, which may influence actual pain sensitivity. Thus, we examined whether self-evaluated pain sensitivity (SEPS) mediates the relationship between ethnicity [NAs vs. non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs)] and objectively-measured pain tolerance, and whether catastrophic thinking and pain-related anxiety influence these pain beliefs. 232 healthy, pain-free NAs and NHWs completed questionnaires measuring SEPS, catastrophizing, and anxiety. Objective pain tolerance was also assessed. Results suggested: (1) NAs reported higher levels of SEPS, catastrophizing, and anxiety, (2) catastrophizing may have enhanced anxiety and both catastrophizing and anxiety were associated with higher SEPS, and (3) anxiety and SEPS were associated with lower pain tolerance. A significant bootstrapped mediation analysis suggested NAs experienced higher pain-related anxiety, which may have promoted higher SEPS, that in turn reduced pain tolerance. Longitudinal research is needed to confirm this.
Wakȟáŋyeža (Little Holy One) - an intergenerational intervention for Native American parents and children: a protocol for a randomized controlled trial with embedded single-case experimental design Trauma within Native American communities compromises parents' parenting capacity; thus, increasing childrens' risk for substance use and suicide over the lifespan. The objective of this manuscript is to describe the Wakȟáŋyeža (Little Holy One) intervention and evaluation protocol, that is designed to break cycles of intergenerational trauma, suicide, and substance use among Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux parents and their children. A randomized controlled trial with an embedded single-case experimental design will be used to determine effectiveness of the modular prevention intervention on parent-child outcomes and the added impact of unique cultural lesson-components. Participants include 1) Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux parents who have had adverse childhood experiences, and 2) their children (3-5 years). Parent-child dyads are randomized (1:1) to Little Holy One or a control group that consists of 12 lessons taught by Indigenous community health workers. Lessons were developed from elements of 1) the Common Elements Treatment Approach and Family Spirit, both evidence-based interventions, and 2) newly created cultural (intervention) and nutrition (control group only) lessons. Primary outcomes are parent (primary caregiver) trauma symptoms and stress. Secondary outcomes include: Parent depression symptoms, parenting practices, parental control, family routines, substance use, historical loss, communal mastery, tribal identity, historical trauma. Child outcomes include, externalizing and internalizing behavior and school attendance. Primary analysis will follow an intent-to-treat approach, and secondary analysis will include examination of change trajectories to determine impact of cultural lessons and exploration of overall effect moderation by age and gender of child and type of caregiver (e.g., parent, grandparent). Many Native American parents have endured adverse childhood experiences and traumas that can negatively impact capacity for positive parenting. Study results will provide insights about the potential of a culturally-based intervention to reduce parental distress - an upstream approach to reducing risk for childrens' later substance misuse and suicidality. Intervention design features, including use of community health workers, cultural grounding, and administration in Head Start settings lend potential for feasibility, acceptability, sustainability, and scalability.
An Exploration of Cultural-Environmental Interactions with Native American Health Literacy
Heterospecific pollination by an invasive congener threatens the native American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens Invasive plants have the potential to interfere with native species' reproductive success through a number of mechanisms, including heterospecific pollination and hybridization. This study investigated reproductive interactions between a native North American woody vine (American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens) and an introduced congener (oriental bittersweet, C. orbiculatus). The decline of C. scandens in the eastern portion of its range is coincident with the introduction and spread of C. orbiculatus, and the two species are known to hybridize. The relationship between proximity and floral production of conspecific and heterospecific males on fertilization and hybridization rates was measured at a field site in northwestern Indiana, USA where both species occur and reproduce. We found that the invasive vine had an extreme advantage in both male and female floral production, producing nearly 200 times more flowers per staminate plant and 65 times more flowers per pistillate plant than the native. Using nuclear microsatellite DNA markers we found that hybridization rates were asymmetric; 39% of the C. scandens seeds tested were hybrids, compared to only 1.6% of C. orbiculatus seeds. The asymmetric hybridization rates were likely not solely due to greater abundance of C. orbiculatus pollen because experimental hand crosses revealed that C. scandens had a higher rate (41%) of heterospecific fertilization than C. orbiculatus (2.4%). We previously reported that few hybrids were observed in the wild, and hybrids had greatly reduced fecundity. Thus, in our system, the threat posed by heterospecific pollen is not replacement by hybrids or introgression, but rather asymmetric reproductive interference. Reproductive interference extended to distances as great as 100 meters, thus, efforts to conserve the native species must reduce its exposure to C. orbiculatus over a relatively large spatial scale.

Google Scholar Inquiries

Other Databases to search for information

JSTOR
JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. Articles published before 1923 are available for free. Articles published after 1923 require a subscription or fee to access.
America: History & Life with Full Text
The definitive database of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. With selective indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to present, this database is without question the most important bibliographic reference tool for students and scholars of U.S. and Canadian history.

Articles on Indigenous Communities

Facilitating Sustainable Disaster Risk Reduction in Indigenous Communities: Reviving Indigenous Worldviews, Knowledge, and Practices through Two-Way Partnering The Sendai Framework of Action 2015-2030 calls for holistic Indigenous disaster risk reduction (DRR) research. Responding to this call, we synergized a holistic philosophical framework (comprising ecological systems theory, symbolic interactionism, and intersectionality) and social constructionist grounded theory and ethnography within a critical Indigenous research paradigm as a methodology for exploring how diverse individual and contextual factors influence DRR in a remote Indigenous community called Galiwinku, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Working together, Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers collected stories in local languages using conversations and yarning circles with 20 community members, as well as participant observations. The stories were interpreted and analysed using social constructivist grounded theory analysis techniques. The findings were dialogued with over 50 community members. The findings deeply resonated with the community members, validating the trustworthiness and relevance of the findings. The grounded theory that emerged identified two themes. First, local Indigenous knowledge and practices strengthen Indigenous people and reduce the risks posed by natural hazards. More specifically, deep reciprocal relationships with country and ecological knowledge, strong kinship relations, Elder's wisdom and authority, women and men sharing power, and faith in a supreme power/God and Indigenous-led community organizations enable DRR. Second, colonizing practices weaken Indigenous people and increase the risks from natural hazards. Therefore, colonization, the imposition of Western culture, the government application of top-down approaches, infiltration in Indigenous governance systems, the use of fly-in/fly-out workers, scarcity of employment, restrictions on technical and higher education opportunities, and overcrowded housing that is culturally and climatically unsuitable undermine the DRR capability. Based on the findings, we propose a Community-Based DRR theory which proposes that facilitating sustainable Indigenous DRR in Australian Indigenous communities requires Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners to genuinely work together in two-directional and complementary ways.
Substance Use Research with Indigenous Communities: Exploring and Extending Foundational Principles of Community Psychology Highlights Indigenous Peoples are concerned with previous experience of substance use research as disempowering. Community psychology principles may inform ethical community‐driven substance use research. We explore these principles through seven Indigenous substance use studies across the U.S. and Canada. Indigenous substance use research reflects, expands, and challenges community psychology principles. We discuss implications for Indigenous substance use research and community psychology. Many Indigenous communities are concerned with substance use (SU) problems and eager to advance effective solutions for their prevention and treatment. Yet these communities also are concerned about the perpetuation of colonizing, disorder‐focused, stigmatizing approaches to mental health, and social narratives related to SU problems. Foundational principles of community psychology—ecological perspectives, empowerment, sociocultural competence, community inclusion and partnership, and reflective practice—provide useful frameworks for informing ethical community‐based research pertaining to SU problems conducted with and by Indigenous communities. These principles are explored and extended for Indigenous community contexts through themes generated from seven collaborative studies focused on understanding, preventing, and treating SU problems. These studies are generated from research teams working with Indigenous communities across the United States and Canada—inclusive of urban, rural, and reservation/reserve populations as well as adult and youth participants. Shared themes indicate that Indigenous SU research reflects community psychology principles, as an outgrowth of research agendas and processes that are increasingly guided by Indigenous communities. At the same time, this research challenges these principles in important ways pertaining to Indigenous–settler relations and Indigenous‐specific considerations. We discuss these challenges and recommend greater synergy between community psychology and Indigenous research.
An overview of research on natural resources and indigenous communities: a bibliometric analysis based on Scopus database (1979–2020) Indigenous people constitute an important section of society in many countries. Despite being a numerically smaller section, they are culturally diverse and distributed mostly in valuable natural resources-rich regions worldwide. In the era of globalization, industrialization, and trade liberalization, indigenous communities have become more vulnerable to displacement, land alienation, cultural erosion, and social exclusion. During the last few decades, researchers have tried to evaluate and document their problems and prospects. The present study analyzes the trends and characteristics of research and development conducted about indigenous communities. The research hotspots based on keywords, productive researchers, and journals during 1979–2020 were mapped using the Scopus database. The analysis was carried out using the bibliometrix R-package and VOSviewer software tool. Consistent growth in the number of studies and citations on indigenous communities concerning environmental conservation, natural resources, and economic development was observed during the last four decades. The present findings reveal that research on the indigenous community has attracted the attention of the scientific community in recent years. Qualitative studies with methodological rigor, having potential for social and policy implications, are warranted to understand and respect ingrained cultural and socio-economic diversity among these communities.
Is the effect of precipitation on acute gastrointestinal illness in southwestern Uganda different between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities? Acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) is a global public health priority that often disproportionately effects Indigenous populations. While previous research examines the association between meteorological conditions and AGI, little is known about how socio-cultural factors may modify this relationship. This present study seeks to address this research gap by comparing AGI prevalence and determinants between an Indigenous and non-Indigenous population in Uganda. We estimate the 14-day self-reported prevalence of AGI among adults in an Indigenous Batwa population and their non-Indigenous neighbours using cross-sectional panel data collected over four periods spanning typically rainy and dry seasons (January 2013 to April 2014). The independent associations between Indigenous status, precipitation, and AGI are examined with multivariable multi-level logistic regression models, controlling for relative wealth status and clustering at the community level. Estimated prevalence of AGI among the Indigenous Batwa was greater than among the non-Indigenous Bakiga. Our models indicate that both Indigenous identity and decreased levels of precipitation in the weeks preceding the survey period were significantly associated with increased AGI, after adjusting for confounders. Multivariable models stratified by Indigenous identity suggest that Indigenous identity may not modify the association between precipitation and AGI in this context. Our results suggest that short-term changes in precipitation affect both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations similarly, though from different baseline AGI prevalences, maintaining rather than exacerbating this socially patterned health disparity. In the context of climate change, these results may challenge the assumption that changing weather patterns will necessarily exacerbate existing socially patterned health disparities.
Implementation framework for chronic disease intervention effectiveness in Māori and other indigenous communities About 40% of all health burden in New Zealand is due to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes/obesity. Outcomes for Māori (indigenous people) are significantly worse than non-Maori; these inequities mirror those found in indigenous communities elsewhere. Evidence-based interventions with established efficacy may not be effective in indigenous communities without addressing specific implementation challenges. We present an implementation framework for interventions to prevent and treat chronic conditions for Māori and other indigenous communities. The He Pikinga Waiora Implementation Framework has indigenous self-determination at its core and consists of four elements: cultural-centeredness, community engagement, systems thinking, and integrated knowledge translation. All elements have conceptual fit with Kaupapa Māori aspirations (i.e., indigenous knowledge creation, theorizing, and methodology) and all have demonstrated evidence of positive implementation outcomes. A coding scheme derived from the Framework was applied to 13 studies of diabetes prevention in indigenous communities in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States from a systematic review. Cross-tabulations demonstrated that culture-centeredness (p = .008) and community engagement (p = .009) explained differences in diabetes outcomes and community engagement (p = .098) explained difference in blood pressure outcomes. The He Pikinga Waiora Implementation Framework appears to be well suited to advance implementation science for indigenous communities in general and Māori in particular. The framework has promise as a policy and planning tool to evaluate and design effective interventions for chronic disease prevention in indigenous communities.
Quantitative Ethnobotany of Medicinal Plants Used by Indigenous Communities in the Bandarban District of Bangladesh This study documents information on significant ethnomedicinal plants, which was collected from the traditional healers of three indigenous communities of Bangladesh. The documented data were quantitatively analyzed for the first time in this area. The information was obtained through open-ended, semi-structured questionnaires. The benefits, importance and coverage of ethnomedicine were expressed through several quantitative indices including Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), Use Value (UV), Frequency of Citation (FC), Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC) and Relative Importance Index (RI). The agreement of homogeneity between the present and previous studies and among the indigenous communities was evaluated using the Jaccard Index (JI). A total of 159 ethnomedicinal plant species, which were distributed in 132 genera under 62 families, were documented from 174 informants. Of these, 128 plants were native and 31 were exotic. Of a majority of documented species, herbs and leaves were the most utilized plant parts for the preparation of ethnomedicines (45.28%) whereas pastes (63.03%) were the most popular formulations. Among the documented species, the dominant families were the Asteraceae (14 species) and the Lamiaceae (12 species). The highest ICF value was 0.77 for digestive system disorders. Based on UVs, the five most commonly used ethnomedicinal plant species in the study area were (0.43), (0.41), (0.40), (0.33) and (0.28). The highest RFC was recorded for (0.25). The highest RI value was calculated for both and (0.83). Importantly, 16 species were reported with new therapeutic uses and to our knowledge, 7 species described herein have never been ethnobotanically and pharmacologically studied, viz: and . The present study showed that traditional treatment using medicinal plants is still widespread in the study area. Documentation of new ethnomedicinal species with their therapeutic uses shall promote further phytochemical and pharmacological investigations and possibly, lead to the development of new drugs.
HPV vaccine: uptake and understanding among global Indigenous communities - a qualitative systematic review Indigenous populations have a high prevalence of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection and a high incidence of HPV associated cancers, such as cervical and oropharyngeal cancer. There is an effective HPV vaccination program in almost all developed countries to prevent the incidence of cervical cancer, but reports suggest that the uptake of these vaccinations by Indigenous populations is low. The objective of this qualitative systematic review was to explore the knowledge and beliefs of global Indigenous populations regarding HPV vaccines. This review was performed to identify the barriers faced by Indigenous peoples and to provide evidence for more effective and acceptable execution of vaccination policies for Indigenous peoples. Two investigators independently searched MEDLINE, PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science databases using a pre-specified search strategy to identify qualitative studies on narratives of Indigenous peoples regarding HPV vaccine awareness, knowledge and experiences across all geographic and income-level settings. After performing the literature search and quality appraisals 5 papers were included in the final review. Three core synthesised findings were identified: reasons for acceptance or hesitancy, and areas for improvement. Lack of correct knowledge and mistrust in the healthcare system were important categories observed in all papers included in the review. Other categories within the conceptual model included prioritising disease prevention, health professional guidance, family support and supportive community environment. Qualitative systematic reviews are an excellent means of exploring the gaps in current healthcare practices. Indigenous healthcare research should be grounded in community experiences and feedback. This review provides insights into HPV vaccination understanding and acceptance amongst Indigenous populations, from which recommendations for increasing resonance of vaccination strategies with Indigenous communities can be formed.
Indigenous Science, Climate Change, and Indigenous Community Building: A Framework of Foundational Perspectives for Indigenous Community Resilience and Revitalization This essay presents an overview of foundational considerations and perceptions which collectively form a framework for thinking about Indigenous community building in relationship to the tasks of addressing the real challenges, social issues, and consequences of climate change. The ideas shared are based on a keynote address given by the author at the International Conference on Climate Change, Indigenous Resilience and Local Knowledge Systems: Cross-time and Cross-boundary Perspectives held at the National Taiwan University on 13–14 December 2019. The primary audience for this essay is Indigenous Peoples and allies of Indigenous Peoples who are actively involved in climate change studies, sustainable community building, and education. As such, it presents the author’s personal view of key orientations for shifting current paradigms by introducing an Indigenized conceptual framework of community building which can move Indigenous communities toward revitalization and renewal through strategically implementing culturally responsive Indigenous science education, engaging sustainable economics and sustainability studies. As an Indigenous scholar who has maintained an insider perspective and has worked extensively with community members around issues of culturally responsive science education, the author challenges all concerned to take Indigenous science seriously as an ancient body of applied knowledge for sustaining communities and ensuring survival over time and through generations. The author also challenges readers to initiate new thinking about how to use Indigenous science, community building, and education as a tool and a body of knowledge which may be integrated with appropriate forms of Western science in new and creative ways that serve to sustain and ensure survival rather than perpetuate unexamined Western business paradigms of community development.
Oral Health Programmes in Indigenous Communities Worldwide—Lessons learned from the field: A qualitative systematic review This systematic review examines the evidence on the effectiveness of programmes that aim to improve the oral health of Indigenous populations worldwide, as well as presents a qualitative analysis to explore the design and implementation of these initiatives. Methods MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched. Studies were included if they described an oral health programme for an Indigenous population in any country worldwide. A thematic synthesis of the qualitative findings was undertaken for each study's results and discussion sections. Results Nineteen studies were included. Sixteen studies reported positive results, twelve of which reported statistically significant findings. Three themes regarding design and implementation emerged from the qualitative analysis: (i) elements of successful programmes, (ii) challenges and barriers to successful interventions and (iii) suggestions for improvements. Conclusions Successful programmes considered cultural appropriateness in their design—including extensive community engagement before, during and after implementation to enhance ownership of, and thus participation in the programme. Collaborative approaches were seen as an advantage, not only with Indigenous communities, but also with local health providers and organizations, with particular emphasis on incorporation into existing services. Challenges included low community participation, unstable funding and staffing issues. In addition, future programmes should also incorporate advocacy and community development, focus on changes to public policy, utilize evidence‐based interventions that include traditional models of health, attempt to secure a stable funding base, target strategies to ensure staff retention and develop interventions that target the multilevel causes of general and oral health. This review provides an evidence base that can aid in the successful design, implementation and sustainability of oral health programmes for Indigenous people in the future.
Stakeholder Transformation Process: The Journey of an Indigenous Community The vast majority of indigenous communities are among the world's poorest and are unlikely to be engaged in a thriving, mutually beneficial partnership with an MNC. While there are increasing studies on CSR initiatives in base of the pyramid communities, few—if any—feature the self-initiated stakeholder transition of an impoverished community. This paper examines the factors that motivated the stakeholder transformation process of an indigenous community, from its position as a non-stakeholder, one lacking in power and legitimacy, to the status of being a primary stakeholder of the firm. We applied a constructivist grounded theory approach to longitudinal data to arrive at the conceptual framework. The findings presented are drawn from an in-depth case study of the Maasai, an indigenous community from East Africa. The findings point to the existence of entrepreneurial alertness that is instrumental in propelling the indigenous community to evolve from one stakeholder category to the next. Our research aims to propose a possible foundation for how communities deep in poverty can coalesce themselves to make their social needs salient to multinational organizations.
Moving from research ON, to research WITH and FOR Indigenous communities: A critical reflection on community-based participatory research Research projects conducted on Indigenous communities have largely been developed within a dominant Western research paradigm that values the researcher as knowledge holder and the community members as passive subjects. The consequences of such research have been marginalizing for Indigenous people globally, leading to calls for the decolonization of research through the development of Indigenous research paradigms. Based on a reflexive analysis of a five-year partnership focused on developing capacity for tourism development in Lake Helen First Nation (Red Rock Indian Band), we offer a way of understanding the connection between Indigenous research paradigms and the western construct of community-based participatory research as a philosophical and methodological approach to geography. Our analysis shows that researchers should continue to move away from methods that perpetuate the traditional ways of working ON Indigenous communities to methods that allow us to work WITH and FOR them, based on an ethic that respects and values the community as a full partner in the co-creation of the research question and process, and shares in the acquisition, analysis, and dissemination of knowledge. Our reflection also shows that when research is conducted on a community, the main beneficiary is the researcher, when conducted with, both parties receive benefit, while research for the community may result in benefits mainly for the community. We further contend that any research conducted within a community, regardless of its purpose and methodology, should follow the general principles of Indigenous paradigms, and respect the community by engaging in active communication with them, seeking their permission not only to conduct and publish the research but also with respect to giving results of the research back in ways that adhere to community protocols and practices.