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American Indian Historical Trauma: Community Perspectives from Two Great Plains Medicine Men

  • Original Article
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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

The field of community psychology has long been interested in the relations between how community problems are defined, what interventions are developed in response, and to what degree power is distributed as a result. Tensions around these issues have come to the fore in debates over the influence of historical trauma (HT) in American Indian (AI) communities. After interviewing the two most influential medicine men on a Great Plains reservation to investigate how these tensions were being resolved, we found that both respondents were engaging with their own unique elaboration of HT theory. The first, George, engaged in a therapeutic discourse that reconfigured HT as a recognizable but malleable term that could help to communicate his “spiritual perspective” on distress and the need for healing in the reservation community. The second, Henry, engaged in a nation-building discourse that shifted attention away from past colonial military violence toward ongoing systemic oppression and the need for sociostructural change. These two interviews located HT at the heart of important tensions between globalization and indigeneity while opening the door for constructive but critical reflection within AI communities, as well as dialogue with allied social scientists, to consider how emerging discourses surrounding behavioral health disparities might be helpful for promoting healing and/or sociostructural change.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Lemelson/Society for Psychological Anthropology Pre-Dissertation Award, made possible by a generous donation from The Robert Lemelson Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 1012 East Hall, 530 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1043, USA

    William E. Hartmann & Joseph P. Gone

Authors
  1. William E. Hartmann
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  2. Joseph P. Gone
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to William E. Hartmann.

Appendix

Appendix

Medicine Man Interview Guide

  1. 1.

    ID#: _______

  2. 2.

    Date of Interview: ______________

  3. 3.

    Location of Interview:

    1. 1.

      Place of work

    2. 2.

      Interviewee’s home

    3. 3.

      Other: __________________________________

  4. 4.

    Age: ________

  5. 5.

    Gender: M F T-S Other

  6. 6.

    How would you describe your cultural background?

  7. 7.

    Could you describe some of the roles you play in this community?

  8. 8.

    How does the history of your people matter for your community today?

  9. 9.

    How does history continue to influence the lives of community members today [for better or worse]?

  10. 10.

    [Ask whenever convenient] What does the term “historical trauma” mean to you?

  11. 11.

    How could these negative effects of history on the present generation best be addressed?

  12. 12.

    How does the concept of historical trauma relate your understanding of what it means to be [tribe]?

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Hartmann, W.E., Gone, J.P. American Indian Historical Trauma: Community Perspectives from Two Great Plains Medicine Men. Am J Community Psychol 54, 274–288 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9671-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-014-9671-1

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