Medicine Ways - (Contemporary Native American Communities) by Clifford E Trafzer & Diane Weiner (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Improving the dire health problems faced by many Native American communities is central to their cultural, political, and economic well being. However, it is still too often the case that both theoretical studies and applied programs fail to account for Native American perspectives on the range of factors that actually contribute to these problems in the first place. The authors in Medicine Ways examine the ways people from a multitude of indigenous communities think about and practice health care within historical and socio-cultural contexts. Cultural and physical survival are inseparable for Native Americans. Chapters explore biomedically-identified diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, as well as Native-identified problems, including historical and contemporary experiences such as forced evacuation, assimilation, boarding school, poverty and a slew of federal and state policies and initiatives. They also explore applied solutions that are based in community prerogatives and worldviews, whether they be indigenous, Christian, biomedical, or some combination of all three. Medicine Ways is an important volume for scholars and students in Native American studies, medical anthropology, and sociology as well as for health practitioners and professionals working in and for tribes.

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Review Quotes

The greatest strength of this volume is its breadth, especially with regard to diversity of tribe, historical periods, types of illness, and disciplinary emphases....This volume will surely be of interest to those who would like a sample of the health issues plaguing American Indians from colonization and into the present day.

This volume presents timely, authoritative, and chilling accounts of disease, death, and sociocultural devastation in Native American and Alaskan communities over the past 200 years.

About the Author

Clifford E. Trafzer (Wyandot) is a professor of history and director of Native American Studies at the University of California, Riverside. Diane Weiner is a professional research anthropologist at the American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles.