Year of Award
2013
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
Master of Arts (MA)
Degree Name
Anthropology
Department or School/College
Department of Anthropology
Committee Chair
Richard Sattler
Commitee Members
Kimber Haddix McKay, Richmond L. Clow
Keywords
AlterNative, Healing, Historic Trauma, Brave Heart Society, Activism, Indigenous Feminism, Cultural Anthropology, Oral History, Sioux, Gender, Women, Indigenous Anthropology, Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, Ethnography
Publisher
University of Montana
Abstract
This study examines the Brave Heart Society and the ways in which Brave Heart women collectively approaches trauma-healing outside of the programmatic structures of federally funded tribal systems. National statistics speak to the contemporary struggles impacting most US Indigenous populations in the present-day. Such struggles are residual symptoms rooted in a long history of domination and US imperialism. These data indicate that most tribes have not fully recovered from federally imposed systems of deprivation. Within the context of the Ihanktonwan Dakota community in southeastern South Dakota, the nuanced ways in which trauma impedes development and community wellness is both realized and unrealized by community members. Additionally this small community lacks the available resources to adequately treat trauma through culturally tailored approaches and frameworks. Breaking existing intergenerational cycles of trauma requires both collective and individual action. More clinical approaches integrating cultural practice and spirituality are needed for US Indigenous populations, however such approaches should be developed by the respective populations in need.
Recommended Citation
Spotted Eagle, Brook, "The Brave Heart Society: An Oral History of an Indigenous Women's Society" (2013). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 4209.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/4209
© Copyright 2013 Brook Spotted Eagle