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Published
2018-11-30
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Section
Literature Reviews
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Potential health impacts due to cultural changes from manoomin ( Zizania palustris ) loss for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
Jennfier Ballinger
University of Minnesota School of Public Health
Abstract
Many tribes have concepts of health that acknowledge how their culture is a factor of and affects overall health of an individual and community [1, 2]. Impacts to American Indian culture, most notably disruptions in traditional practices, have affected a variety of health aspects related to physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual wellbeing [3, 4, 5]. For the Ojibwe people, manoomin (Z. palustris) is a cornerstone of traditional and modern culture including but not limited to spirituality, history, traditional knowledge, economics, and Ojibwemowin [6].
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa recognizes the importance that manoomin has for its community members. Given the integral role that manoomin has in Anishinaabe culture, it can be presumed that loss of this resource would in turn impact the Fond du Lac culture in some manner, posing concerns for the health of tribal members and the community. The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa conducted a health impact assessment utilizing multiple pathways to determine how the loss of manoomin could affect community and individual health of its tribal members. This literature review found evidence of a positive association between American Indians’ perception of enculturation and improved health outcomes, while damages to culture, such as loss of indigenous language fluency, were associated with decreased health outcomes. This suggests that manoomin loss and ensuing changes to cultural aspects highly connected to manoomin would most likely have negative health impacts for the Fond du Lac Band.
