The Role of Culture
This collection includes links to research, case studies, and examples that illustrate the diverse ways in which tribal leaders and planners have incorporated culture into the design and delivery of programs that address housing, health, education, and nutrition. But in the context of nation building and of healing from trauma, culture is more than a guide to program and policy design. Culture is present in language, tradition, spirituality, a shared world view, and countless other social and psychological ways of being. Culture gives meaning to all of community life and to the experiences of Native nation citizens.
The term “cultural connectedness” often is used to describe the multiple ways that culture ties an individual to a personal identity, to others, and to a community or communities. Cultural connectedness contributes to and influences a sense of belonging and connection to something larger than one’s self. While many different kinds of activities and experiences can create and reinforce an individual’s sense of belonging and identity, opportunities to learn language and to engage in traditional ceremonies and community celebrations may be among the most powerful.
Two centuries of settler-colonial policies – including forced removal from homelands, war, confinement on reservations, restricted access to sacred places, expropriation of natural resources, suppression of Indigenous languages and ceremonies, forced attendance at Indian boarding schools, exposures to diseases and pollutants, state surveillance of families, and restrictions on tribal government powers, among others – have physically and psychologically separated generations of Indigenous children and adults from their cultures. Efforts to restore and bolster cultural connectedness can provide a bridge from trauma to resiliency when such bonds have been weakened.
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Teresa Rocha Beardall and Frank Edwards. 2021. Abolition, Settler Colonialism, and the Persistent Threat of Indian Child Welfare. Columbia Journal of Race and Law 11(3): 533–574.
Frank Edwards, Teresa Rocha Beardall, Hannah Curtis. 2023. American Indian and Alaska Native Overexposure to Foster Care and Family Surveillance in the US: A Quantitative Overview of Contemporary System Contact. Children and Youth Services Review 149: 106915
In this related pair of articles, the authors identify family separation – initially through forced attendance at boarding schools and later through child removal and involuntary placements in non-Native homes – as a core feature of U.S. settler-colonial policies aimed at assimilating and erasing American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) nations and their cultures. The harms caused by these policies eventually prompted the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), which introduced federal protections against the unnecessary family separations and affirmed the role of tribes as important partners in child welfare proceedings. Yet analysis of aggregate and state-specific data (in Minnesota, Alaska, and Montana) shows that AIAN children remain at high risk of family separation. Differences in child maltreatment reporting and post-investigation removal decisions by child welfare agencies are key drivers of this inequality. This is not to say that ICWA does no good; rather, it is a necessary bulwark in the face of systems designed to over-surveil Native families and to diminish the influence of Native communities and cultures in Native children’s lives. At a minimum, the path forward requires state child protective services entities to respect tribal sovereignty and defer to the authority of tribes in caring for Native children and families. More thoroughgoing change might be accomplished by abolishing the state systems that routinely separate Native children from their families, providing Native families with greater access to social and financial resources, and redirecting state agencies to work cooperatively with Native nations to promote Indigenous communities of care. -
National Indian Child Welfare Association. 2019. Cultural Connectedness and Indigenous Youth Well-Being: Fact Sheet. National Indian Child Welfare Association, Portland, OR.
Opening with the observation that “traditional wisdom of Indigenous communities has long reflected that feelings of being connected to one another, nature, and culture are an important part of well-being,” the National Indian Child Welfare Association’s fact sheet on cultural connectedness and Native youth wellbeing is a brief but valuable reference guide and resource for additional information on cultural connectedness in Native communities. It provides a comprehensive definition, strategies to increase cultural connectedness for tribal youth, and a discussion of culturally adapted methodologies to measure it. The authors also have included references to additional readings on cultural connectedness, including research studies and case studies/examples. -
Angela Snowshoe, Claire V. Crooks, Paul F. Tremblay, and Riley E. Hinson. 2017. Cultural Connectedness and Its Relation to Mental Wellness for First Nations Youth. Journal of Primary Prevention 38(1-2): 67-86.
Research consistently has shown a correlation between positive mental health outcomes for Indigenous youth and feelings of cultural connectedness. This study is one example. Here, 290 First Nations youth were recruited from both urban and rural school settings in Saskatchewan and Southwestern Ontario to participate in a survey addressing cultural connectedness (with questions concerning First Nations identity, traditions, and spirituality) and positive mental health outcomes (with questions concerning self efficacy, a sense of self, school connectedness, and life satisfaction). Regression analysis revealed strong associations between cultural connectedness and various mental health indicators and signal the importance of culture to positive Indigenou youth development. -
Claire V. Crooks, Deinera Exner-Cortens, Sarah Burm, Alicia Lapointe, and Debvie Chiodo. 2017. Two Years of Relationship-Focused Mentoring for First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Adolescents: Promoting Positive Mental Health. Journal of Primary Prevention 38(1-2): 87-104.
While Indigenous youth are disproportionately affected by a range of negative health outcomes, including poor emotional and psychosocial wellbeing, research also shows that Indigenous youth benefit from a suite of culturally specific protective factors, such as cultural connectedness and identity. This article reports on a longitudinal study of the effects of a school-based mentoring program for Indigenous youth focused on promoting cultural identity and mental wellbeing. Adolescents were tracked across the transition from elementary to secondary school and comparisons made between students that received mentoring and those that did not. By the third survey wave, the group receiving mentoring demonstrated improved cultural identity and better mental health, although girls appear to have benefited more from the mentoring program than boys. Further data analysis revealed that the mentoring program helped participants develop intrapersonal and interpersonal skills, enhanced cultural knowledge, and improved young people’s understanding of healthy relationships. Overall, the findings suggest that multiple years of culturally relevant mentoring are a promising approach for promoting wellbeing among Indigenous youth. -
Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development. 2015. “Ohero:kon, ‘Under the Husk’ Rites of Passage, Haudenosaunee Confederacy.” Honoring Nations (Honoring Contributions in the Governance of American Indian Nations Program). Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
The teenage years are an exciting but challenging phase of life. For Native youth, racism and mixed messages about identity can make the transition to adulthood particularly fraught, and may even lead to risky or self-destructive behavior. Within the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, a groundbreaking initiative to restore rites of passage for youth has engaged the entire community. The Ohero:kon ceremonial rite guides youth through Mohawk practices and teachings in the modern context, strengthening their cultural knowledge, self-confidence, and leadership skills.