Commentary: A Movement to Reclaim American Indian Health through Tribal Sovereignty, Community Partnerships, and Growing Tribally-Driven Health Research.

Abstract

Indigenous peoples have been engaged in resistance against the destructive effects of colonialism on Indigenous land, lives, all living things, and its impacts on the health and wellbeing of Native peoples since the first arrival of settlers in the Americas. This resistance, at its core, has been a movement to preserve Indigenous peoples, lands, identity, and ways of knowing, learning, respecting, and living harmoniously with the world. In the past half century, the spirit of Indigenous resistance has found its way to the field of health research. Starting with thoughtleaders like Vine Deloria Jr. in 1969, Indigenous scholars have pointed to problematic and harmful research practices that have taken place on tribal lands, and that have sought to expand the Western canon of scientific knowledge without providing solutions to, with, and for Indigenous communities. Since that time, a narrative around collective protection, collaborative research partnerships (i.e., community-based participatory research in all its forms), and tribal sovereignty over research is increasing rapidly. This special issue of American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research takes a giant step forward – beyond a collective resistance against harmful research practices – to a reclamation of collaboration, Indigenous knowledge, strengths, and tribal sovereignty within health research. This group of articles highlights a diverse coalition of tribal communities, transdisciplinary health researchers, academic institutions, community organizations, service providers, and federal agencies that comprise the Collaborative Research Center for American Indian Health (CRCAIH; Kenyon et al., this issue). CRCAIH goals include improving AI health through strategic development of tribal research infrastructure and sustainability of health research with a focus on social determinants (Kenyon et al., this issue). Supported by the National Institutes of Health, the CRCAIH provides a promising pathway to eliminate health disparities among AI communities—Oglala Sioux Tribe, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and Spirit Lake Nation—in the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest regions.