Native American Resources

native nations

video – “Rethinking Columbus” encourages students to think critically about the man who most school books portray as the intrepid explorer who discovered the American continents:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/culture/explore-the-banned-curriculum/16309/

Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
by Nathaniel Philbrick, 2007
Mayflower rethinks the events and players that gave rise to a national mythology about Pilgrims living harmoniously with their Indian neighbors. Instead, Philbrick tells a story of ethnic cleansing, bloody wars, environmental ruin, and the deterioration of English-Indian relations.

Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America
by Jack Weatherford, 1991
Conventional American history holds that the white settlers of the New World re-created the societies they had known in England, France, and Spain. But as anthropologist Jack Weatherford, author of INDIAN GIVERS, brilliantly shows, the Europeans actually grafted their civilization onto the deep and nourishing roots of Native American customs and beliefs. Our place names, our farming and hunting techniques, our crafts, the very blood that flows in our veins–all derive from American Indians ways that we consistently fail to see.

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Flying Horse: Stories of Healing the Soul Wound 
by Donna Schindler, 2020
A white psychiatrist shares the truths she has learned about historical trauma in this book which has been called ‘prophetic’ by Reverend Mathew Fox. Starting with her childhood in South Texas and Bermuda, she takes us on a journey during which she had to confront her own racial biases and denial of the truth in order to work as a cross-cultural psychiatrist with a Maori mental health team in New Zealand, the Navajo Nation and California Native Americans. Painful stories intermingled with otherworldly encounters and her own dreams inform her work in trying to help heal what has been called by some Native elders, ‘the soul wound.’ After three decades of work with indigenous peoples, the author knows the power of sharing stories.
https://www.amazon.com/Flying-Horse-Stories-Healing-Wound/dp/0578425122

video – Valentin Lopez discusses the California Missions and Canonization of Junipero Serra
Chairperson Valentin Lopez of the Amah Mutsun tribe of California speaks at a symposium on canonizing Fr. Junipero Serra at UC Riverside on March 13, 2015. Chairperson Lopez speaks about how his tribe continues to suffer from historical trauma as a result of the mission system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EACHWwgxNeQ

video – Here and Now – Bay Area Open Space Council
Here and Now is a short film that tells the story of four innovative partnerships between Native Americans and land conservation organizations. This stirring film weaves together social justice, land conservation, human history, and scientific knowledge into a cohesive and moving story about what’s possible by working together.
https://vimeo.com/139467688

A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California’s Indians by the Spanish Missions
by Elias Castillo, 2015
The Spanish missions of California have long been misrepresented as places of benign and peaceful coexistence between Franciscan friars and California Indians. In fact, the mission friars enslaved the California Indians and treated them with deliberate cruelty. “A Cross of Thorns” describes the dark and violent reality of Mission life. Beginning in 1769, California Indians were enticed into the missions, where they and their descendents were imprisoned for 60 years of forced labor and daily beatings.

The Navajo Nation
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-navajo.html

The Navajo Nation’s Own ‘Trail Of Tears’
http://www.npr.org/2005/06/15/4703136/the-navajo-nation-s-own-trail-of-tears
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-navajolongwalk.html

video – Hozhonahaslíí: Stories of Healing the Soul Wound
This film was made as part of the healing process occurring on the Navajo Nation and in many other parts of the world in regards to historical trauma. In it, the personal testimonies, memories, and reflections of the Dine’ (the Navajo) from a community in Northern Arizona are interwoven with commentaries by Dr. Eduardo Duran, noted Native American psychologist who has done groundbreaking work in the area of postcolonial healing for many years. While it focuses on the Dine’, the story is true for many Native peoples who have been colonized. In October, 2012, this DVD was approved for use in healing the soul wound by the Association of Navajo Medicine Men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjKrg6vySXs

Healing the Soul Wound: Counseling with American Indians and Other Native Peoples
by Eduardo Duran, 2006
Eduardo Duran—a psychologist working in Indian country—draws on his own clinical experience to provide guidance to counselors working with Native Peoples. Translating theory into actual day-to-day practice, Duran presents case materials that illustrate effective intervention strategies for prevalent problems, including substance abuse, intergenerational trauma, and internalized oppression.