Native tradition, environment, and community health: Reframing environmental health in tribal communities

Environmental health as a scientific discipline is based on principles derived from mainstream Western science and industry. It seeks to understand how human health can be negatively impacted by exposure to hazards in the environment, and works to mitigate those exposures to protect individuals from harm. It is based on a dominant worldview in which the individual (subject) seeks to control the environment (object) in order to protect human health. By contrast, indigenous peoples around the world have sophisticated ways of conceptualizing human-environment interactions based on the premise that humans and the environment are inextricably intertwined. This presentation will highlight two community-based collaborations in Washington State that seek to better understand, share, and celebrate Native wisdom and traditions related to human-environment interactions. The Native TEACH (Tradition, Environment, And Community Health) project is a partnership between a regional Tribal college and a university-based research center in Washington State. The partnership used qualitative research methods to explore how tribal college students conceptualize the relationship between human health and the environment. The team analyzed the resulting data, identifying three core concepts of Native environmental health science. The partners then created a traditional story to communicate the research findings to a broader audience. The second project that will be highlighted is a food sovereignty project currently being implemented on the Muckleshoot reservation in Washington State. This collaborative project focuses on the role tribal culture can play in successfully defining healthy food behaviors and the importance of revitalizing traditional food systems.