Indigenous peoples of the United States tend to experience the most severe social, behavioral, and physical health disparities of any ethnic minority. This critical ethnography uses the framework of historical oppression, resilience, and transcendence to examine indigenous peoples’ perspectives on and experiences with subsistence living, investigating how subsistence living may contribute to well-being and resilience by promoting physical exercise, a healthy diet, and psychological health. Thematic analysis of data from 436 participants across two southeastern tribes reveals three overarching themes: fostering fond memories and family bonding through “living off the land,” enabling experiential intergenerational teaching and learning, and promoting resourcefulness and offsetting economic marginalization. Results indicate that subsistence is an important avenue to promote sustainable and organic approaches to health and well-being within indigenous communities by facilitating positive nutrition and diet, exercise, and subjective well-being.
This paper explores the role of public architecture in anchoring Cherokee communities to particular points within the southern Appalachian landscape in the wake of European contact in North America. Documentary evidence about Cherokee public structures known as townhouses demonstrates that they were settings for a variety of events related to public life in Cherokee towns, and that there were a variety of symbolic meanings associated with them. Archaeological evidence of Cherokee townhouses—especially the sequence of six townhouses at the Coweeta Creek site in southwestern North Carolina—demonstrates an emphasis on continuity in the placement and alignment of public architecture through time. Building and rebuilding these public structures in place, and the placement of burials within these architectural spaces, created enduring attachments between Cherokee towns and the places in which they lived, in the midst of the geopolitical instability created by European contact in eastern North America.
The purpose of this article is to explore how food and other cultural traditions promote wellness, cultural continuity, enculturation, and family resilience within tribal communities in the U.S. Using the Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence (FHORT), this critical ethnography examines Indigenous peoples' perspectives on and experiences with food and cultural traditions. Thematic analysis of data from 436 participants (approximately 2/3 rds of which were women) across two Southeastern tribes revealed a theme of "fostering the transmission of tribal knowledge and intergenerational family bonding." Traditions such as dancing, food, sewing, beadwork, basket-weaving, music, and tribal sports were some important facets of tribal culture that participants described. Food and cultural practices promoted wellness, pro-social values, and health by fostering physical activity, traditional food practices, enculturation, and social support. Cultural practices offset historical oppression and health disparities. Programs that utilize the strengths of experiential learning through family and cultural practices are highly recommended.
This article emerged as the human species collectively have been experiencing the worst global pandemic in a century. With a long view of the ecological, economic, social, and political factors that promote the emergence and spread of infectious disease, archaeologists are well positioned to examine the antecedents of the present crisis. In this article, we bring together a variety of perspectives on the issues surrounding the emergence, spread, and effects of disease in both the Americas and Afro-Eurasian contexts. Recognizing that human populations most severely impacted by COVID-19 are typically descendants of marginalized groups, we investigate pre- and postcontact disease vectors among Indigenous and Black communities in North America, outlining the systemic impacts of diseases and the conditions that exacerbate their spread. We look at how material culture both reflects and changes as a result of social transformations brought about by disease, the insights that paleopathology provides about the ancient human condition, and the impacts of ancient globalization on the spread of disease worldwide. By understanding the differential effects of past epidemics on diverse communities and contributing to more equitable sociopolitical agendas, archaeology can play a key role in helping to pursue a more just future.
Topics of current interest to anthropological archaeologists include the relationships between people and place, interactions between people and past environments, and responses by past societies to changes in the natural environment. In this article, I focus on recent considerations of past landscapes and the built environment.This research concentrates on such topics as architecture, the utilization of different environmental zones, and transitions from foraging to farming, one of the long-standing topics of interest to anthropological archaeology.Recent archaeological research also emphasizes climate change and warfare, topics that have relevance to current events and conditions in the modern world.
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