• Login
    View Item 
    •   Athenaeum Home
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Athenaeum Home
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    "So that the people may live--hecel lena oyate kin nipi kte"

    Thumbnail
    Date
    2001-12
    Author
    Satterfield, Dawn Wannamaker
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Type 2 diabetes is spiraling upward around the world, ensnaring adults and youth from societies in the throes of industrialization. Over time, uncontrolled diabetes leaves in its wake people facing renal failure, blindness, or heart disease, and communities with little hope for preventing this "new," chaotic phenomena. Westernized lifestyles (e.g., physical inactivity, processed foods), in concert with human genomes yet being mapped, are recognized explanations for the escalating prevalence. The web of causation, however, is woven by complex interactions with environmental, sociological, and historical roots. Reservoirs of adaptive capability reside in the knowledge systems of indigenous elders who have, in their lifetimes, known the rarity of diabetes and the epidemic’s impact on their people. The purpose of this ethnographic study was to document, understand, and support Lakota and Dakota elder women’s beliefs and knowledge about health protection and diabetes prevention. In-depth interviews among 9 elders served as the primary method to answer these research questions: 1) To what connected factors do Lakota and Dakota elders attribute diabetes? 2) What narratives do they offer that reveal health protection and diabetes prevention as culturally constituted practices, both in the past and the present? and 3) How do these elders express their concern and share their wisdom? Secondary methods included exploratory fieldwork, observation, and documentary photography. This study revealed diabetes as an “outside,” or externalizing, disorder for which attributions were both externalizing (e.g., environmental damage, sadness, boarding school eating habits) and internalizing, involving personal imbalance (e.g., inactivity, indiscriminate eating). Chaos narratives were balanced with narratives of restitution, testimony, quests for cures and meaning, and health wisdom. Emergent themes included: the “place” of place, local knowledge, storytelling, and memory in emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical health; the goodness of the land; water as a gift of life; respect for all things, including food; gratitude to God; generosity and sharing. Health messages need to be rooted in understanding and cultural values, including hope.
    URI
    http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/uga_etd/satterfield_dawn_w_200112_phd
    http://hdl.handle.net/10724/20430
    Collections
    • University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations

    About Athenaeum | Contact Us | Send Feedback
     

     

    Browse

    All of AthenaeumCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    About Athenaeum | Contact Us | Send Feedback