Constructing an Indigenous Model of the Self to Address Cultural and Mental Health Issues in the Canadian Subarctic


Autoria(s): Marquina Márquez, Alfonso; Vírchez, Jorge; Ruiz-Callado, Raúl
Contribuinte(s)

Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Sociología I

Población, Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo (POMADE)

Observatorio Sociológico de la Educación (OBSOEDU)

Data(s)

13/11/2014

13/11/2014

2013

Resumo

Since the last decades, academic research has paid much attention to the phenomenon of revitalizing indigenous cultures and, more precisely, the use of traditional indigenous healing methods both to deal with individuals' mental health problems and with broader cultural issues. The re-evaluation of traditional indigenous healing practices as a mode of psychotherapeutic treatment has been perhaps one of the most interesting sociocultural processes in the postmodern era. In this regard, incorporating indigenous forms of healing in a contemporary framework of indigenous mental health treatment should be interpreted not simply as an alternative therapeutic response to the clinical context of Western psychiatry, but also constitutes a political response on the part of ethno-cultural groups that have been stereotyped as socially inferior and culturally backward. As a result, a postmodern form of "traditional healing" developed with various forms of knowledge, rites and the social uses of medicinal plants, has been set in motion on many Canadian indigenous reserves over the last two decades.

This article derives from two research projects: I+D+i SEJ2005-09344/SOCI, financed by the Ministry of Education and Science (Spain); and I+D+i CURA/NORTHERN, financed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada).

Identificador

Arctic & Antarctic. International Journal of Circumpolar Sociocultural Issues. 2013, 7(7): 41-62

1851-4685

http://hdl.handle.net/10045/42231

A7450546

Idioma(s)

eng

Publicador

Foundation for High Studies on Antarctica and Extreme Environments

Faculty of Social Sciences - Universidad del Salvador

Direitos

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Palavras-Chave #Mental health #Indigenous identity #Self #Cultural models #Canadian subarctic #Sociología
Tipo

info:eu-repo/semantics/article