Reference no: EM133455069

Question

Colonial policies have produced their own collective mental disease that affects Indigenous peoples today; however, the impacts of these policies are compounded by colonial mentalities that produce and reproduce detrimental discursive environments. The examples to follow allude to how Indigenous mental health discourse can be both demonstrative and influential. The discourse is demonstrative in that how mental health is conceptualized by various authors, how the very act of explaining, i.e., producing discourse on Indigenous mental health, reflects how mainstream authors construct the "other" (in this case the "Aboriginal"); as well, the discourse elicits the power differentials involved in generating these constructions. The discourse is then influential in that there are potential outcomes of the unquestioned acceptance of these constructions.

Why the focus on mental health? In Revenge of the Windigo (2004), a comprehensive review of mental health literature on Indigenous peoples in North America, medical anthropologist James B. Waldram states that mental health is the most written about sector of Indigenous health. From his research, it becomes apparent that the concept of the "disordered Aboriginal" stems from anthropologists', psychologists' and psychiatrists' interpretations and projections of a contemporary inability of Indigenous peoples to "deal with their problems". Waldram highlights that there is a lack of an anthropologically sophisticated view of culture in mental health research; researchers often reduce the concept to a set of arbitrary characteristics, or worse, blame culture for health outcomes. He also points to the utilization of problematic methodologies and, to a lesser extent, the underlying assumptions of race and biology-such as attributing substance abuse to a genetic predisposition-in much of the existent Indigenous mental health work. He criticizes the fact that much of this work often points to what makes people sick instead of what makes people healthy; hence, although he critiques the inconclusive indicators of cultural continuity described by Chandler and Lalonde (1998), he applauds their seminal piece as significant in addressing what makes suicide a non-issue in some First Nations communities. that affects Indigenous peoples today; however, the impacts of these policies are compounded by colonial mentalities that produce and reproduce detrimental discursive environments. The examples to follow allude to how Indigenous mental health discourse can be both demonstrative and influential. The discourse is demonstrative in that how mental health is conceptualized by various authors, how the very act of explaining, i.e., producing discourse on Indigenous mental health, reflects how mainstream authors construct the "other" (in this case the "Aboriginal"); as well, the discourse elicits the power differentials involved in generating these constructions. The discourse is then influential in that there are potential outcomes of the unquestioned acceptance of these constructions.