Authors: William E. Hartmann et al.

Publication Year: 2019

Last Updated: 

Journal: American Psychologist

Keywords: Ethnicity; Minority Groups; Psychology; Historical Trauma; Colonization; Wellness; Indigeneity

Short Abstract: The American Indian historical trauma (HT) concept is an important precursor to racial trauma (RT) theory that reflects the distinct interests of sovereign Indigenous nations but shares much of the same promise and challenge. Here, that promise and challenge is explored by tracing HT’s theoretical development in terms of its anti-colonial ambitions and organizing ideas.

Abstract: The American Indian historical trauma (HT) concept is an important precursor to racial trauma (RT) theory that reflects the distinct interests of sovereign Indigenous nations but shares much of the same promise and challenge. Here, that promise and challenge is explored by tracing HT’s theoretical development in terms of its anti-colonial ambitions and organizing ideas. Three predominant modes of engaging HT were distilled form the literature (HT as a clinical condition, life stressor, and critical discourse), each informing a research program pursuing a different anti-colonial ambition (healing trauma, promoting resilience, practicing survivance) organized by distinct ideas about colonization, wellness, and Indigeneity. Through critical reflection on these different ambitions and dialogue of their organizing ideas, conflict between research programs can be mitigated and a more productive anti-colonialism realized in psychology and related health fields. Key recommendations emphasized clarifying clinical concepts (e.g., clinical syndrome vs. idiom of distress), disentangling clinical narratives of individual pathology (e.g., trauma) from social narratives of population adversity (e.g., survivance stories), attending to features of settler-colonialism not easily captured by heath indices (e.g., structural violence), and encouraging alignment of anti-colonial efforts with constructive critiques establishing conceptual bridges to disciplines that can help to advance psychological understandings of colonization and Indigenous wellness (e.g., postcolonial studies). This conceptual framework was applied to the RT literature to elaborate similar recommendations for advancing RT theory and the interests of ethnic/racial minority populations through engagement with psychology and related health fields.

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Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6338218/

Type of Resource: Peer-reviewed scientific article