Working With Native Americans in a Social Work Setting
Certain aspects of Native American cultures may affect the process and outcome of Native Americans who seek out assistance from social workers. The values and norms inherent in many Native American cultures often present unique circumstances when individuals from those cultures deal with the dominant culture. There are at least 550 different Native American tribes in the United States, and within those tribes are unique and distinct cultural variables to assess. Because all of those tribes combined are broadly defined as Native Americans, and for the purposes and scope of this paper, the information discussed is in reference to those hundreds of tribes as one set of cultures commonly referred to by the dominant culture as American Indians or Native Americans. As with most cultures, the Native American culture has its own set of values (different tribes have their own specific and independent set of standards which can vary greatly in certain aspects ). American middle -class and American Indian cultural values differ in major areas . How individuals in these two groups view man's relationship with nature, relations with people and time are actually opposite. According to Giordano, McGoldrick and Pearce (1982), Mid
Thus, in the Indian world, traditional stories, dances, or rituals are not to be described or share with outsiders, lest they be lost (Earle, 1999). 9 percent of all Americans (Russell, 1996). Villages were destroyed and people were murdered. When America gained control of British forces, Native American lands continued to be stripped from their owners. For a Native American who does not speak and understand English clearly, it may be quite difficult to attempt to access available resources. It is important to be mindful of the fact that our way (American culture) is not necessarily the right way, it is only a different way. Aside from that, even when the said individual is receiving services, there may be confusion about various implications and formalities due to language barriers. The Native Americans went from a group of tribes free to live on their own land to a segmented group of segmented tribes forced to give in to the dominant (white) culture. There are many different variables that can affect how a Native American individual experiences involvement as a client in a social work setting. The historical events encountered by Native Americans can be connected to them being wary and untrusting of bureaucracies, as government institutions have never protected them in the past, and have (debatably) done nothing but take things from them and attempt to strip them of their culture. These conflicting forces of the dual perspective can create internal conflict in Native American individuals, and ultimately help to keep the cycle of poverty rates among the population high. Many theorize that because of the negative history between the 'white man' and 'Indians', today Native American people are still wary of assistance from the dominant culture. According to information collected in the 1990 national census, 23 percent of Native Americans speak a language other than English and 38. '"The most painful myth is that we don't exist anymore," says Rudy Martins, "You never see any contemporary images of Native Americans in the media. Our culture is totally separate from that" (Tarshis, 1991).
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