Original Article

Lakota Health and Healing

Authors: Raymond A. Bucko, PhD, Stella Iron Cloud, RN

Abstract

This article examines the nature of Lakota health and healing in its traditional form, how the Lakota both adapted to and resisted western medicine, and the state of contemporary healthcare, traditional and western, on the Pine Ridge Reservation and among the Lakota people of South Dakota.

This content is limited to qualifying members.

Existing members, please login first

If you have an existing account please login now to access this article or view purchase options.

Purchase only this article ($25)

Create a free account, then purchase this article to download or access it online for 24 hours.

Purchase an SMJ online subscription ($75)

Create a free account, then purchase a subscription to get complete access to all articles for a full year.

Purchase a membership plan (fees vary)

Premium members can access all articles plus recieve many more benefits. View all membership plans and benefit packages.

References

1. Sword G. Treating the sick, in DeMallie RJ, Jahner EA (eds): Lakota Belief and Ritual. Lincoln, University of Nebraska, 1980, pp 91–93.
 
2. Reifel N. American Indian view of public health nursing, 1930–1950. Am Indian Cult Res J 1999;23:143–155.
 
3. Bergman AB, Grossman DC, Erdrich AM, et al. A political history of the Indian Health Service. Milbank Q 1999;77:571–604.
 
4. Kemnitzer LS. Research in health and healing on the plains, in Wood WR, Liberty M (eds): Anthropology on the Great Plains. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1980, pp 272–283.
 
5. Voss RW, Douville V. Wo'Lakol Kiciyapi: traditional philosophies of helping and healing among the Lakotas: toward a Lakota-centric practice of social work. J Multicult Soc Work 1999;7:73–94.
 
6. Voss RW, Douville V, Soldier AL, et al. Tribal and Shamanic-based social work practice: a Lakota perspective. Soc Work 1999;44:228–242.
7. Lang GC. Contemporary native American health issues: how can anthropologists contribute? High Plains Appl Anthropol 1986;6:1–7.
 
8. Zontek K. Buffalo Nation: American Indian Efforts to Restore the Bison. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
 
9. Kavanagh KH, Absalom K, Beil W, et al. Connecting and becoming culturally competent: a Lakota example. ANS Adv Nurs Sci 1999;21:9–31.
 
10. Vogt HB, Jerde OM. Pine Ridge IHS primary care resident rotation: a summary. SD J Med 1996;49:365–368.
 
11. Kemnitzer LS. Structure, content, and cultural meaning of Yuwipi: a modern Lakota healing ritual. Am Ethnol 1976;3:261–280.
 
12. Powers WK. Yuwipi: Vision and Experience in Oglala Ritual. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1982.
 
13. Simons SR. Healing Among the Lakota Sioux: Towards an Understanding of Indigenous Healing Ceremonies [PhD dissertation]. Southern Illinois, University at Carbondale, 2002.
 
14. Zimmerly D. On being an ascetic: personal document of a Sioux medicine man. Pine Ridge Res Bull 1969;10:46–71.
 
15. Mohatt GV, Eagle Elk J. The Price of a Gift: A Lakota Healer's Story. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
 
16. Catches PSS, Catches PVJ. Sacred Fireplace: Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man. Santa Fe, NM, Clear Light Publishers, 1999.
 
17. Mails TE, Chief Eagle D. Fools Crow. New York, Doubleday & Co., 1979.
 
18. Niese H. The Man Who Knew the Medicine: The Teachings of Bill Eagle Feather. Rochester, VT, Bear and Company, 2002.
 
19. Deloria V Jr. The world we used to live, in Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men. Golden, CO, Fulcrum Pub., 2006.
 
20. Erdoes R, Crow Dog L. Crow Dog: Four Generations of Sioux Medicine Men. New York, Harper Collins, 1995.
 
21. Erdoes R, Lame Deer AF. Gift of Power: The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man. Santa Fe, NM, Bear & Co, 1992.
 
22. Erdoes R, Lame Deer J. Lame Deer-Seeker of Visions. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1972.
 
23. Maynard E, Twiss G. Hechel lena oyate kin nipi kte. That These People May Live; Conditions Among the Oglala Sioux of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Pine Ridge, SD, Community Mental Health Program Indian Health Service, 1969.
 
24. Strong Heart Study. Publications by Strong Heart Study. Available at: http://strongheart.ouhsc.edu/pip/SHS%20Papers%20in%20Print.html. Accessed April 7, 2008.
 
25. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Broken Promises: Evaluating the Native American Health Care System. Washington, DC, US Commission on Civil Rights, 2004.
 
26. Locust CS. Overview of health programs for Canadian aboriginal peoples, in Galloway JM, Goldberg BW, Alpert JS (eds): Primary Care of Native American Patients: Diagnosis, Therapy, and Epidemiology. Boston, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999, pp 17–21.