INDIGENOUS HEALING PRACTICES: WHAT IS BLOCKING THE WAY?

The impact of European colonisation       

 

The poor health of Indigenous people globally is linked to poverty, malnutrition, unemployment, poor and inadequate housing, low levels of educational attainment, overcrowding, poor hygiene, environmental contamination and prevalent infection, inadequate clinical care, and poor access to programs of disease prevention and management (Sebastian & Donelly 2013).

 

Perhaps one of the biggest impacts on these factors in Indigenous communities can be traced back to the European colonisation of previously unsettled land.  In fact Canadian First Nation researcher, Raven Sinclair, posed “almost every contemporary social pathology or health issue in Aboriginal communities is a result of colonisation”(Sherwood 2013). In the second half of the 19th century, European cartographers began to investigate “unchartered” territories to depict the world as the shared property of a small number of empires (Greene et al 2013). Although the Indigenous populations who lived within the borders met them with initial wariness, the explorers continued to settle on the land, bringing with them a magnitude of issues that would impact these Indigenous communities for life.

 

In Australia, prior to colonisation, Indigenous people were able to define their own sense of existence through controlling aspects of their lives as a part of their community. These aspects included day-to-day traditional ceremonies, spiritual practices, medicine, social relationships, and tribal law. Once the colonisers entered the country, there was an instant impact of introduced diseases and conflict - the fabric of traditional societies was left completely devastated. Traditional life was suppressed by regulations imposed on people to ensure that they lived in a manner according to European standards (Gracey & King 2009). This new way of living also undermined the ability of Indigenous people to lead healthy lives as they managed to devalue their culture, destroy the traditional food, separating families, and dispossessing whole communities (The context of Indigenous health 2015).

 

In New Zealand, from approximately 1800-1840 when colonisation occurred, conflicts between rivals grew. These conflicts were fuelled by the introduction of new technologies that were treated as commodities, such as transport and firearms (Ahukaram & Royal 2015). There was no doubting that there was also an impact on the broader society through the introduction of western diseases as over this period there was a dramatic decline in Maori numbers (Adams 1977). This was a serious period of war and disruption between a number of tribes, which caused considerable upheaval within the Maori world. This warring continued until a treaty between the representatives of the Queen Victoria of England and Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which aimed to bring intertribal conflict to an end and to provide a constitutional basis for the establishment of British law and government (Ahukaram & Royal 2015).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                

 

 

                                    Increased conflicts arose between the Maori and Europeans 

 

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, all Native American tribes were autonomous from each other and conducted their own affairs and depended on no source of power to uphold their laws. This all changed once colonisation began. The governments used treaties to gain access to Native land, with reservations created as a space for them to exist under the control of an overarching government. In a short period of time, the Native Americans found their land gone, their chiefs departed, and their lives controlled by an external force.  This lethal combination not surprisingly soon led to extreme poverty and a feeling of hopelessness on most reservations (Longie 2015).

 

Although there are only a small number of examples listed here, it is clear that the colonial construction of categorized divisions between ethnic groups has been the building blocks leading to many sources of violence and conflict to this day (Hanna & Kleinman 2013). 

 

As you read on, you will see just how much of an impact colonisation has had on many other aspects of Indigenous way of life.

 

Movement from hunter-gatherer to agriculturally based societies

 

It is well known that traditional Indigenous people globally were very vigilant in looking after their wider environment as they understood the role it had in giving them, and future generations, sustenance in the form of water, plants and animals (Gracey & King 2009). Hunting and gathering were collective activities designed to be inclusive of all members of the society, with the land skillfully and systematically managed through the creative use of fire (Sebastian & Donelly 2013).

 

Colonisation unfortunately changed this. When they settled, they changed the wide-open vast land into methodical rectangles and squares, which were turned into house blocks and farming properties to which Indigenous people were largely excluded (New South Wales Department of Environment & Climate Change 1998). It blocked the way for traditional owners to access their land, which in turn destroyed their ability to gather food through traditional hunting and gathering methods that had been handed down for generations. It ultimately led to the loss of Indigenous people’s food knowledge, individual identity and culture (Sebastian & Donelly 2013). This abrupt change in day-to-day life forced the Indigenous inhabitants dependent on colonisers for food and other nutrients, and led the Indigenous community to begin the unfamiliar process of agricultural expansion to help feed themselves (Gracey & King 2009).

 

In the current day, mainstream public food policies continue to ignore cultural and social factors that influence the relationship Indigenous people have with food.  Mainstream society continues to disempower these groups through having complete control over their access to food, which is in complete contrast with the sustainable food practices that existed pre-colonisation (Sebastian & Donelly 2013). 

 

 

 

 

                   But don't worry, for those who

                live near the ocean, catching crabs is

                still the best way of finding tucker

                   

 

 

 

Imposition of Christianity

 

The social determinants underlying the past and current health status of Indigenous people include a history of dispossession, racism, social exclusion and, within Australia, a legal framework supporting removal of children from families (Wilson et al 2010). The effects of these social determinants began with the process colonisation, and continued with the introduction of the missionaries into the colonies.

 

In Australia and New Zealand in the 1800’s, schools and mission stations were established across the country to bring the Christian message to the Indigenous population (Ahukaram & Royal 2015). Christian missionaries began to influence Indigenous people through non-institutional forms such as acting as role models, the giving and/or withholding of rations, and encouraging perceived appropriate behaviours (Wilson et al 2010). Missionaries found their role in Maori society as peacemakers, which, although it showed the true humanitarian spirit of a missionary, increased the dependence on foreigners as mediators of disputes (Adams 1977) – a role that had not seen to be needed prior to the introduction of these new missionary behaviours. Regardless of the perceived humanitarian basis on which these missionaries held themselves, the reality was that they needed to destroy certain elements of Indigenous society to improve their chances of successfully dictating where and how they can live (Adams 1977). This ongoing structural adjustment also stimulated demands and needs that traditional resources were not able to meet - western diseases called for cures and the missionaries were the healers (Adams 1977). The major goal of the mission was to assimilate the Indigenous population to contribute to the bureaucratic systems that were being rapidly developed around them, and this was done through the use of mechanisms akin to biopower (Greene et al 2013).

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Native American Indians initially objecting                                 Australian Indigenous bush school circa 1947

to the introduction of missionaries

 

The merging of cultures and attempted removal of traditional cultural ties has been evident on both sides of the globe. In Australia following World War II, a short-lived assimilation policy was introduced that involved a widespread removal of children from their families into the homes of Europeans to assist in reducing their Indigenous identity to better fit in with the preferred culture of existence. In America in the 1880’s, the government decided that the only way to educate Native children was to forcibly take them away from their homes for at least four years and school them in a boarding setting. These generations of people who were forcibly removed under these policies continue to show the devastating impact that these had on their Indigenous families through their ways of life and other difficult issues still facing them today (Wilson et al 2010).

 

This amalgamation of culture, time and Indigenous identity produces the continuous ending of indigeneity and the perpetual new-ness of modernity, with the Indigenous population forever stuck in between the two concepts (Purdy 2015).

 

 

Introduction of Alcohol and other harmful substances

 

Along with changing the day-to-day hunting and gathering habits of Indigenous inhabitants, colonisers also managed to successfully introduce a number of harmful substances such as tobacco and alcohol into the Indigenous society. Post colonisation, the volume and availability of alcoholic beverages increased significantly, and it became an unavoidable part of colonial life to which many Indigenous people developed a taste (Wilson et al 2010).

 

Once the direct impact of colonialism, which included dispossession, and an increased number of illness’s and deaths began to be realised, it lead more and more Indigenous people to turn towards alcohol as a means to escape the significant structural adjustment facing them (Wilson et al 2010).

 

These patterns of substance abuse, particularly for alcohol, have continued on to the present day. In New Zealand, alcohol related morbidity for Maori is at a higher rate than for non-Maori with recent data suggesting that Maori men have been found to be 2.7 times more likely to die of an alcohol-related problem than non-Maori males (Mancall et al 2000).  In America, there are estimates that approximately 75% of Native American men and one third of Native American women can be classified as alcohol abusers (Purdy 2015). In Australia, data from the 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2014) indicates that although Indigenous Australians were more likely to abstain from drinking alcohol than non-Indigenous Australians (28% compared with 22% respectively), a significantly higher proportion of Indigenous Australians drank at risky levels. Clearly, these figures all reflect a common theme of alcohol misuse amongst these Indigenous populations.

 

Simply acknowledging that substance abuse is an issue in these populations does not even begin to reflect the wide range of health and social problems including violence, social disorder, family breakdown, child neglect, unemployment, mental illness and other social and emotional disorders to which it can be directly associated (Wilson et al 2010; Purdy 2013). All of these issues directly contribute to the social suffering cycle that currently envelops the existence of Indigenous populations.

 

In conclusion, the introduction of these damaging substances has had serious long-term effects on Indigenous health and have caused severe social, psychological, and emotional damage for individuals, which, in turn, have significantly impacted the health and social systems currently in place globally (Gracey & King 2009). 

 

Reduced cultural transmission and the onset of disparate health outcomes

 

The social and psychological devastation experienced by Native and Indigenous people as a result of acculturation and trauma are well documented within the literature (Wilson et al 2010). Prior to colonisation, Indigenous people had defined roles and responsibilities within the community, with every person contributing something of importance to the Indigenous society (National Health and Medical Research Council 1997). Today, this is not the case. It is a much more individualized society, and most of these tasks that were so vigilantly undertaken are no longer important.

 

This change of focus from community towards a more individualistic way of thinking has led to a dramatic decline in the use of Indigenous languages around the world. For example, in Australia alone there are at least 250 documented Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language groups, but only 60 languages that are actively spoken as a primary language today (Korf 2015). Taking into consideration that each of these languages that are now extinct embody cultural, traditional and ecological knowledge unique to those who speak the language (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010), it can be argued that this loss of language can be directly associated with a significant loss of culture and connection to ancestors.

 

Language is not the only important aspect of an Indigenous identity. For Maori, the basis of their sense of belonging is known as tangata whenua, or ‘people of the land’, which expresses the importance of the original occupation of their land, as well as their distinctive relationship to it. It makes land both a birthplace and source of identity (Meredith 2015), and is also serves as the basis for many rituals and ceremonies (Grabosky 1989). Prior to colonisation, when an individual passed away, Indigenous Australians remembered their deceased members of the community through the presence of delicately carved trees, or through the use of other similar naturally occurring landmarks. However, once the colonisers moved through the countryside, many of these trees were pulled down to make way for the division of land, and traditional ceremonial lands were destroyed (NSW DECC 1998). Unfortunately, the neoliberal and economic focus that western society continues to hold has rendered Indigenous sacred places still vulnerable to desecration to this day, further destroying any links to traditional culture.

 

"It's like setting fire to white fellas' libraries. Or your museums and churches. There will be nothing left to show our children."

 

Aboriginal leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu on the Northern Territory Government's

Aboriginal Sacred Sites Protection Act 1989 (Grabosky 1989)

 

The ongoing legacy of colonisation is also demonstrated through increased rates of infectious diseases, suicide and mental health problems of Indigenous people. There also continues to be a significant gap in the rates of mortality and morbidity between Indigenous people living in colonised countries and their countries’ wider non-Indigenous populations (Freemantle et al 2007).  In fact, despite living in countries with advanced health and social systems, in America the Native Americans have a profile similar to that of developing countries – high birth rates, young median age and a life expectancy that is far less than the non-Indigenous population (Freemantle et al 2007), something that is also true of Indigenous Australians. More recently these social, economic and cultural changes over the past several decades can also be associated with an increase of cardiovascular disease as well as other ‘lifestyle diseases’ such as Type-2 diabetes and obesity for Indigenous populations (Sebastian & Donelly 2013). This wide disparity of health outcomes in these various population groups clearly demonstrates the pressing social justice issue that somehow needs to be addressed – why are the traditional custodians of the land not sharing equally in the benefits of comprehensive health systems, and why can’t more culturally appropriate health care also be included for these populations?

 

The topics listed on this page only just scratch the surface in explaining the challenges faced by Native and Indigenous communities around the world. Their resilience and existence in the current day is remarkable considering centuries of negligence, persecution, repression and attempts at integration (Purdy 2015), and access to culturally appropriate healthcare is just a minor step towards an attempt to rectify all the social suffering that has been imposed upon them.