Abstract
Prior to the imposition of patriarchal colonial norms, Native American (NA) gender relations were characterized as complementary and egalitarian; however, little research has explored gender relations within NA communities today. This study used a community-based critical ethnography to explore contemporary NA gender relations with a purposive sample of 208 individuals from the “Coastal Tribe” and 228 participants from the “Inland Tribe.” After participant observation, interviews, and focus groups were conducted, a collaborative approach to reconstructive analysis was used to identify themes in the data. Within these communities, gender relations tended to reflect egalitarian and cooperative but gendered norms, and participants provided examples of how tribal members are transcending patriarchal colonialism. Through the lens of the Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence, we theorize how these gender norms may protect families from risks associated with historical oppression and promote family resilience with implications for research, practice, and policy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2111-2133 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Journal of Family Issues |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2022 |
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Fahs-Beck Fund for Research and Experimentation Faculty Grant Program [grant number #552745]; the Silberman Fund Faculty Grant Program [grant #552781]; the Newcomb College Institute Faculty Grant at Tulane University; University Senate Committee on Research Grant Program at Tulane University; the Global South Research Grant through the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University; the Center for Public Service at Tulane University; Office of Research Bridge Funding Program support, Tulane University; and the Carol Lavin Bernick Research Grant at Tulane University. This work was also supported, in part, by Award K12HD043451 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (Krousel-Wood-PI; Catherine Burnette-Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Scholar) and by U54 GM104940 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health which funds the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center and by National Institutes of Health grant 1R01AA028201-01. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U54 GM104940 | |
| K12HD043451 | |
| 552745 | |
| 552781 | |
| 1R01AA028201-01 | |
| Tulane University | |
Keywords
- Native American
- family resilience
- gender relations
- historical oppression
- patriarchal colonialism