Historical Oppression and Indigenous Families: Uncovering Potential Risk Factors for Indigenous Families Touched by Violence

Headnote

Violence against Indigenous women in the United States is higher than for any other racial group. Indigenous women tend to rely on families for support and recovery, yet the risk factors related to Indigenous families affected by violence are unknown. Therefore, interviews from a critical ethnography were used to uncover the perspectives of Indigenous women who have experienced intimate partner violence, along with the professionals who serve them, to understand potential risk factors that create vulnerability to and impair recovery from violence. Several themes emerged from pragmatic horizon analysis of interviews with 49 Indigenous women and professionals who work with tribal members affected by violence, including family divisions and parental impairments (i.e., intergenerational patterns of absent parental figures, parental alcohol abuse, and impaired bonding). Future research should examine these potential risk factors related to families affected by violence and their connections with historical oppression.

KeyWords: American Indians, domestic violence, family risk factors, family violence, historical oppression or trauma, intimate partner violence, Native Americans.

In this article I explore how historical oppression has been imposed on and has been internalized into the daily lives of many Indigenous American families (Burnette, 2015), heightening Indigenous women's vulnerability to violence. Historical oppression is defined as the intergenerational, chronic, and insidious experiences of subjugation experienced by Indigenous communities. The term Indigenous was chosen because it acknowledges the distinct social, political (e.g., sovereign status in the United States based on a legal and trust responsibility from the federal government to safeguard the lives of Indigenous peoples; Committee on Indian Affairs, 2007), and diverse cultural histories of Indigenous peoples who share a history of colonization (Gray, Coates, & Bird, 2013).

Violence against Indigenous women in the United States is higher than for any other racial group and has been characterized as an urgent public health and safety issue (Crossland, Palmer, & Brooks, 2013), but less is understood about violence experienced by Indigenous peoples than by any other racial group (Matamonasa-Bennett, 2014). This lack of understanding limits practitioners' ability to address and treat this injustice. The present study focused on understanding Indigenous families affected by violence; families are highly salient for Indigenous communities (Red Horse, 1997), and Indigenous women who have experienced violence overwhelmingly rely on families for support and recovery (Dalla,...