INTRODUCTION American Indians have become an increasingly urban population in the twentieth century, moving away from their rural home communities and reservations in search of jobs or schooling. This movement to cities has resulted in higher rates of intermarriage with non-Indians for urban Indians than for rural Indians and consequently higher numbers of mixed bloods in urban areas than on reservations. Today, many of those urban mixed bloods are interested in claiming their Indian identity and learning more about their culture, but they often lack both physical characteristics and cultural knowledge that would allow them readily to assert their Indianness. Consequently, they turn to kinship-an important component of American Indian communities, whether urban, rural, or reservation- to provide an entry into the urban Indian community. By aligning themselves with a larger structure of family and relations, mixed bloods fit into an existing framework and community. This paper examines the effectiveness and the limitations of kinship based identity for mixed bloods in urban Indian communities. The population under study here is mixed bloods who, because of their parents’ or grandparents’ move to the city and subsequent marriage to non-Indians, have lost ties to their tribal communities. They may be a single generation removed from their tribes or many generations, but they are defined for purposes of this study as a population with mixed ancestry, urban for one or more generations, without clear ties to a reservation or tribal community. This study examines those people who are hoping to establish or reestablish ties to their Indian identity, and one strategy for doing so - through kinship - and excludes mixed bloods who have maintained community ties as well as full bloods who have lost ties to their tribal communities through relocation or adoption. This paper is concerned specifically with the problems of mixed bloods in urban areas, whose biological and cultural heritage is mixed, but who are choosing to identify with their Indian heritage.

Urbanization is a relatively recent (post–World War II) phenomenon for most Indian people, and it is only the current generation of elders who have chosen to remain in the city rather than return to their home communities on reservations. Urban American Indian elders are a population whose well- being has not been fully examined. This study focuses on a small convenience sample of urban Indian elders in the Rochester, New York, area who are active in the local Native community. Initially, we observed that many of these elders enjoy a high degree of physical, mental, and emotional well-being, despite some chronic health conditions. We suggest that their strong extended family support network, involvement in the community, and a sense of cultural continuity contribute to a sense of overall well-being. We have chosen to focus on wellness, looking at overall health, rather than simply at illness. Health in this sense refers to “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,” as defined by the World Health Organization. Weibel-Orlando used a similar approach to look at Indian elders in Los Angeles, as did Blandford and Chappell to study Native elders in Winnipeg. Carstensen has urged researchers to focus on the strengths of elders, as well as the problems, noting that “we need to study not just the frail and sick senior citizens, but also people in the second half of life who are aging well, without an undue amount of illness and disability.” This model is increasingly used by the medical profession, including the World Health Organization, and is particularly important to a holistic Native view of health and well-being.