American Indians and Alaska Natives

AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES
American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) are persons descended from the original inhabitants of North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean. Those who occupy what is now the State of Alaska are referred to as Alaska Natives. The colonization experience of Alaska Natives is originally seeded in Russian occupation, but their experience mirrors that of the tribes in the lower 48 states. As a group, tribal peoples of the Continental United States are referred to herein as First Nations persons. In the United States, there are more than 560 federally recognized nations and an untold number of non-federally recognized groups. These First Nations are culturally distinct and include populations speaking more than 300 discrete languages. The 2000 U.S. Census Bureau reported First Nations persons of full or partial decent comprise roughly 1.5% of the total U.S. population, accounting for slightly more than 4 million persons. In 1987, Russell Thornton estimated the population had exceeded 72 million in 1492. By 1800, according to Thornton, the number had been reduced by roughly 95% as a result of disease, warfare, and oppression. Systemically, the fields of education, mental and behavioral health, and medicine are products of this historical context. A conscious endeavor to comprehend the First Nations experience is essential to any professional working with this population. Sadly, this process is generally not undertaken during academic pro-fessional training. Following is a discussion of the historical implications for First Nations persons in relation to their inter- and multigenerational experience. Cultural resiliencies and treatment implications are considered, as well as best-practice frameworks.
Historical Context
It is widely recognized that Columbus was not the first European to make contact with the Americas. Regardless, this discovery myth persists and permeates presumptions about the First Nations in many fields, including educational psychology. The consequences of Columbus's contact, however, have been significant. One of the earliest outcomes of his arrival was the enslavement of Indigenous inhabitants. European-modeled slavery directly contributed to the mass disruption of many tribes' gender role structures and systems of government. Tribes were impacted differently by slavery depending upon the era in which they interacted with the newcomers; however, contact generally magnified intertribal disputes and fostered a divide-and-conquer stance toward the First Nations. Perhaps at the height of irony, some First Nations even adopted a pseudo-European model of slavery after years of intermingling with those of European and African descent. When slavery was abolished in the United States, all but one slave-holding tribe extended full tribal citizenship to newly freed slaves. This entitled former African slaves the right to acquire land, tribal representation, and protection under tribal laws, therefore requiring the U.S. government to deal with such persons as African Indians. Slavery historically correlates with the introduction of blood quantum as a measure of ethnic identity and belongingness for First Nations persons, a concept formalized within the federal reservation system. The impact of European-modeled slavery in the Americas is complex and ongoing, and its understanding changes the completion of what has traditionally been perceived as a Black and White element of American history.
More devastating than slavery to the First Nations and their ways of living was the impact of disease post-1492. Of the many diseases brought to the Americas by Europeans, the greatest killer was smallpox. This disease followed trade and warfare routes and struck in repeated waves of pandemic, decimating the vulnerable immune systems of the First Nations. Thornton has identified scores of other diseases introduced by Europeans, including measles, the bubonic plague, cholera, several variations of venereal disease, and rare forms of influenza and respiratory disease. Likewise, the introduction of African slaves to the Americas saw the presentation of diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. Thus, the clear conqueror of the First Nations was the repeated exposure to dis-eases by which they were decimated at a horrific and incomprehensible rate.
As the First Nations population decreased and the number of Europeans increased, the competition for land and resources became a focal point for conflict. Warring European groups, such as the French and English, capitalized on traditional rivalries between some First Nations tribes and forged alliances with opposing tribes. Most alliances were relatively short lived and dissipated once the First Nations were no longer of benefit to their White allies. Tensions soared between Europeans and the First Nations as the United States of America declared its independence. With the cultural integration of European tools of war such as the horse and firearms, conflicts between the two groups became more intense and lethal. The United States adopted a strategy of treaty making and entered into agreements with First Nations tribes, promising to cease hostilities in return for land concessions on the part of First Nations persons. Between the years of 1775 and 1890, hundreds of treaties were signed between the First Nations and the United States, though few were honored by the United States for any meaningful length of time in their original form. Tribes continued to be encroached upon, and armed conflict flourished. The U.S. Bureau of the Census indicated in 1894 that more than 53,500 American Indians were killed in wars between the United States and First Nations tribes. This number is likely in the hundreds of thousands if one includes the numbers who died as a result of Indian against Indian warfare as an outcropping of some tribes' alliances with the U.S. government. Acts of genocide add to First Nations casualties. Genocide includes acts intended to destroy (partly or wholly) a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, including killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm, instituting living conditions highly correlated with death, preventing births to the group, and/or forcibly transferring children of one group to another. Both the U.S. government and its citizens committed acts of genocide. Often cited are incidents of germ warfare via infected blankets given to some First Nations; however, it is difficult to determine how many deaths may have occurred in this fashion, if any. Clear examples of genocide against the First Nations are found in incidents such as the hunting down and murder of First Nations persons during raids in the California and Texas territories, where American Indians were commonly viewed as less than human. In addition, scores have died as a result of harsh governmental policies that fostered little chance for sustenance and survival. It is difficult to discern where acts of warfare end and genocide begins. Many of the incidents of the Indian Wars once described as battles, such as those at Sand Creek and Wounded Knee, have now come to be known as massacres of First Nations persons instead.
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Though resistance continued on a relatively small scale after 1890, that year is generally recognized as the end of the Indian Wars. As the First Nations fell under the control of the United States, relocation and removal were increasingly used to deal with "the Indian problem." Removals persisted for decades following 1890, and nearly every First Nations group was affected by relocation as the United States strove to accommodate its encroaching settlers. These forced moves separated individuals from their families, communities, and traditional lands upon which entire ways of life and worldview systems resided. During marches, tribes often endured harsh treatment and conditions, cutting to the core of the human capacity to make meaning of what was being endured. High rates of mortality were recorded, and historical writings reveal the emergence of modern-day disorders such as refugee syndrome and concentration camp syndrome, conditions currently recognized as manifestations of posttraumatic symptoms. The First Nations were faced with repeated and persistent stress, trauma, loss, and grief to which they were forced to respond. A core source of resilience and coping was found in the pan-Indigenous value system and worldview. The First Nations turned to their spiritual leaders for guidance and hope. As the U.S. government sought continually to manage its Indian problem, it resorted to an apartheid approach of diplomacy—the reservation system. Tribes were generally removed from traditional lands and given dominion over a smaller tract. The life on reservations was often appalling, with starvation, violence, and death all too frequent. The changes First Nations persons faced were pervasive and affected their mental, behavioral, and physical health. The impact of this paternalistic treatment by the United States persists, and First Nations persons continue to struggle with the implications.
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As American Indians and Alaska Natives fell under the increased control of Whites, acculturation and assimilation pressures mounted. This is particularly true in respect to the education of First Nations youth. The boarding school era is recognized by First Nations scholars and professionals as the most destructive period in U.S. Indian policy. During the 1800s and 1900s, First Nations children were removed from their homes, as early as age 5, and sent to Christian mission and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools for European-oriented education with a focus on assimilation into White culture. Probably the most famous school was Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, the first off-reservation government-sponsored boarding school. The school was established in 1879 by Henry Pratt, a veteran of the American Civil War and the Indian Wars, whose goal was the complete assimilation of the First Nations. Pratt's motto was "Kill the Indian and save the man." This stance toward Indian education continued well into the 1900s, and First Nations youth were trained in domestic and labor tasks via the school's outing system that prepared them for their place in White society. Children were not allowed to practice traditional culture and were prevented from speaking traditional languages and wearing traditional hairstyles and clothing. First Nations youth were forced to practice Christianity and forbidden, often in the face of physical threat, to practice their traditional religions. Children were subjected to harsh punishment in the military fashion of the schools' educational philosophy, and many children endured emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. This era saw generations torn from their traditional, holistic ways of learning and knowledge acquisition and reared instead in a militaristic, institutional setting virtually devoid of the caretaker bonds now recognized as fostering healthy attachment and relationships. The full effect of the boarding school era continues to be examined in respect to both the costs to and the resiliencies drawn upon by First Nations persons.
As failed Indian policies became apparent to the mainstream citizenry, the political tide turned from paternalism to that of fostering self-determination. One failed attempt at this goal was that of Termination. Termination policy was instituted in the early to mid-1900s to defederalize tribes, dissolving their political status as sovereign nations within the United States and thus their trust relationship with the government. The naive intention was to end governmental paternalism, but what was actually instituted was another form of forced assimilation. First Nations persons were subjected to state laws, and tribal lands were converted to private ownership by former tribal members. First Nations persons were forced to own land individually versus communally and were often forced to utilize it for farming, though virtually no provisions were made for helping tribes obtain the needed capital for such an endeavor. Much of the land made its way to White owners when the Indigenous owners were forced to sell it to support themselves and their families. Virtually overnight, First Nations persons in as many as 100 reservations, bands, and rancherias became not Indian as defined by mainstream law. Termination policy has resulted in significant identity struggles for many American Indians and Alaska Natives, as one's ethnicity is defined by another, seemingly at whim and on a continuous basis. An additional outcome of Termination was the mass removal of First Nations persons from reservation areas to urban areas with the promise of employment, education, medical care, and improved quality of life. Unfortunately, what many First Nations families found was poverty and an increased sense of marginalization, as they were now separated from their tribal communities.
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The 1960s marshaled in an era of societal and political change in the United States. Self-determination for the First Nations emerged as a priority, and the coming decades saw increased emphasis on fostering sovereignty. The Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed, prohibiting states from assuming jurisdiction over federally recognized tribal peoples and their lands under Public Law 280. The Indian Education Act of 1972 was an initial effort to require specialized training for educators in an effort to produce and fund cultural competency and to stimulate local attention to First Nations issues. The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 encouraged tribes to assume control over federally funded program provided additional funding. The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 was a response to the massive removal and institutionalization of First Nations children via foster care, adoption, and detention in juvenile facilities. First Nations children were to be preferentially placed with First Nations families under the jurisdiction of tribal courts. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 recognized the right of First Nations persons to practice their religions and required federal entities to adopt policies of noninterference. In 1988 the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act further defined tribal sovereignty. Also in 1988, Section 5203 of the Tribally Controlled Schools Act added to the intent of the Indian Civil Rights Act and fully repudiated Termination policy. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 acknowledged the profound impact that centuries of objectiflcation have wrought upon the First Nations. The remains of First Nations persons and their burial sites were recognized as sacred, and scores of the deceased were released from museums around the world and returned for proper rites among their peoples. Finally, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 furthered the de-objectification of First Nations peoples and helped turn the tide of cultural acquisition.


EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.