Risk and Resilience Among Families in Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Communities

Dr. Daniel Dickerson from UCLA is already one of my favorite researchers because of his work on drumming and recovery among Native Americans. He has also written about the Native Drum, Dance, and Regalia (NADDAR), a health-promoting intervention recently developed for urban American Indian/Alaska (AI/AN) families that provides workshops on drumming, dancing, and regalia making. I recently stumbled upon Daniel’s new qualitative paper on risk and resilience among AI/AN young adults.

The paper is full of interesting quotes. For example, this one about intergenerational trauma:

“My mom came from the reservation. She came down here, and I think so many bad things happened to her
and her family that she didn’t want that element with us. And so … we obviously didn’t learn any traditional
practices either.”

And this quote, about therapy:

“We did get him into therapy and then they did talk to him about stressors, like how to relieve that stress. …
Within his group of friends, the parents, we’re all connected, and we know each other very well”.

Parents described using family tradition to reinforce Native identity, by reiterating statements to their children
about family lineage, for instance:

“I told my youngest daughter, ‘I know you don’t know your grandpa, but your grandma and your grandpa are
full-blooded Navajo.’ And then I said, ‘See that picture up there? That’s my dad. That’s your grandpa. He’s
full-blooded Navajo. … You’re not Mexican, you’re Native American.’”

I think this paper is very important because it gets a good look at the root causes of trauma and some potential solutions which are applicable beyond the American Indian/Alaska Native community.

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