Suchergebnisse

There is a long history of research with Indigenous peoples by outsiders, and many Indigenous communities have felt exploited. Terms such as drive-by research have been used, as well as expressions such as "we have been researched to death." Anthropology itself has been accused of spying, and Vine Deloria asked anthropologists to "become productive members" in an Indigenous community "instead of ideological vultures" treating people as objects. A great many Indigenous communities and organizations are now requesting outside researchers to join their communities in a collaborative research partnership, and some have produced ethical principles for research highlighting this participatory relationship. In this article, I discuss some of this history and current direction, giving examples of Indigenous research partnerships and Indigenous research from the inside. Participatory research is extended beyond Indigenous communities to the social sciences, as positive outcomes are being seen across disciplines.

This work discusses suicide among Inuit in Arctic Canada and what their communities have done to attempt to prevent it. A thesis of this book is that suicide and other social problems among Inuit are caused by the imperialism/colonialism of the Canadian government, with the most negative effect being a dramatic change in Inuit relationships with each other, especially family relationships. When the family is changed in a family-based collectivist culture, many problems arise. Cases of suicidal youth are discussed. Then the text focuses on the positive aspect that when Inuit communities design and run their own activities for suicide prevention, suicides are prevented. Such stories need to be told in order to help indigenous communities with suicide prevention.

Inuit in Canada have among the highest suicide rates in the world, and it is primarily among their youth. Risk factors include known ones such as depression, substance use, a history of abuse, and knowing others who have made attempts or have killed themselves, however of importance are the negative effects of colonialism. This took place for Inuit primarily during the government era starting in the 1950s, when Inuit were moved from their family-based land camps to crowded settlements run by white men, and children were removed from their parents and placed into residential or day schools. This caused more disorganization than reorganization. The most negative effect of this colonialism/imperialism for Inuit has been on their family and sexual relationships. Many Inuit youth feel alone and rejected. Suicide prevention has been taking place, the most successful being community-driven programs developed and run by Inuit. Mental health factors for Indigenous peoples are often cultural. It is recommended that practitioners work with the community and with Inuit organizations. Empowered communities can be healing.

Despite much writing and discussion on suicide that gives credence to the importance of a multidimensional perspective, the current view of suicide continues to be strongly person-centered. Examining suicide from a cultural vantage point, three questions are suggested for investigation concerning (1) the internalization of the idea of suicide, (2) individual and collective vulnerability to this idea, and (3) the 'great origin myth' in suicidology. Although the act of killing oneself is ultimately that of an individual, it is argued here that it is less a solo venture than a product of the collectivity of ideas. A deeper understanding of suicide will be realized through theory incorporating the dialectic of person and culture.

Critiquing contemporary suicidology / Jan Marsh -- A critical look at current suicide research / Heidi Hjekmeland -- Exploring possibilities for indigenous suicide prevention : responding to cultural understandings and practices / Lisa M. Wexler and Joseph P. Gone -- Risky bodies : making suicide knowable among youth / Jonathan Morris -- Speaking of suicide as a gendered problematic : suicide attempts and recovery within women's narratives of depression / Simone Fullagar and Wendy O'Brien -- "Being more than just your final act" : elevating the multiple storylines of suicide with narrative practices / Marnie Sather and David Newman -- "When despair and hope meet the stigma of "manipulation" and "ambivalence" / Yvonne Bergmans ... et al.] -- No regrets / Andrew Rowe -- Hate kills : a social justice response to "suicide" / Vikki Reynolds -- Queer youth suicide : discourses of difference, framing suicidality, and the regimentation of identity / Rob Cover -- Understanding the unfathomable in suicide : poetry, absence, and the corporeal body / Katrina Jaworski and Daniel G. Scott -- Indigenous best practices : community-based suicide prevention in Nunavit, Canada / Michael J. Kral and Lori Idlout -- Reimagining youth suicide prevention / Jennifer White

Arctic peoples today find themselves on the front line of rapid environmental change brought about by globalizing forces, shifting climates, and destabilizing physical conditions. The weather is not the only thing undergoing rapid change here. Social climates are intrinsically connected to physical climates, and changes within each have profound effects on the daily life, health, and well-being of circumpolar indigenous peoples. This paper describes a collaborative effort between university researchers and community members from five indigenous communities in the circumpolar north aimed at comparing the experiences of indigenous Arctic youth in order to come up with a shared model of indigenous youth resilience. The discussion introduces a sliding scale model that emerged from the comparative data analysis. It illustrates how a "sliding scale" of resilience captures the inherent dynamism of youth strategies for "doing well" and what forces represent positive and negative influences that slide towards either personal and communal resilience or vulnerability. The model of the sliding scale is designed to reflect the contingency and interdependence of resilience and vulnerability and their fluctuations between lowest and highest points based on timing, local situation, larger context, and meaning.

As part of a cross-national collaborative study of resilience among circumpolar youth, we examined the life experiences, stressors, and coping or resilience strategies of Inuit youth in the community of Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada. An Inuit steering committee was formed with youth, adults, and one elder. The steering committee led this project in the community, informing community members of progress and helping direct all aspects of the study from research questions to methods to data collection to dissemination. A structured interview used across sites allowed youth to describe what matters to them, that is, what is at stake for them in terms of challenges and successes. Developing stable and secure relationships with one's friends and family members enabled Inuit youth to become more resilient in the face of stresses related to social change in the Canadian Arctic.

This introduction to the Special Issue Indigenous Youth Resilience in the Arctic reviews relevant resilience theory and research, with particular attention to Arctic Indigenous youth. Current perspectives on resilience, as well as the role of social determinants, and community resilience processes in understanding resilience in Indigenous circumpolar settings are reviewed. The distinctive role for qualitative inquiry in understanding these frameworks is emphasized, as is the uniquely informative lens youth narratives can offer in understanding Indigenous, cultural, and community resilience processes during times of social transition. We then describe key shared cross-site methodological elements of the Circumpolar Indigenous Pathways to Adulthood study, including sampling, research design, procedures, and analytic strategies. The site-specific papers further elaborate on methods, focusing on those elements unique to each site, and describe in considerable detail locally salient stressors and culturally patterned resilience strategies operating in each community. The concluding paper considers these across sites, exploring continuities and discontinuities, and the influence of cross-national social policies.