Showing results by author "Wilson Bellacoola" in All Categories

Traditional Native Americans view animals as elder brothers who embody the knowledge sets necessary for survival on this Earth. This vantage point facilitates openness within the human to learn from the animals. Animals play the roles of tutelary spirits, helpers, guides, and at times shapeshift from holy person to animal or back again. This emphasizes not only the fluidity between the worlds of spirit and matter but also highlights animals as oriented towards being helpful to humanity in a wide variety of ways.

In fulfilling their traditional roles as leaders in their communities, American Indian women are often at the core of American Indian resistance and struggle for liberation. Native women have a long history of assuming leadership positions within their particular tribes. Their struggles share many of the characteristics of women's struggles associated with feminism in the larger society, yet many Native American women explicitly reject the label of feminism.

Native American historical trauma is similar to other massive generational group traumas. Past examples include the Jewish holocaust, slavery of the African people in the United States, and treatment of the Japanese Americans in the US during World War II. Understanding the history of Native Americans allows for the design of culturally specific preventative and therapeutic interventions. Contrary to what is taught in modern history books, Native Americans were an advanced culture deeply immersed in their environments.