American Indian Culture and Research Journal

I would like to begin by sharing with you an excerpt from a poem called ”Knots” by R. D. Laing that will express how some feel about our lack of understanding: There is something I don’t know that I am supposed to know. I don’t know what it is I don’t know, and yet I am supposed to know, and feel I look stupid if I seem both not to know it and not to know what it is I don’t know. . . I feel you know what I am supposed to know but you can’t tell me what it is because you don’t know that I don’t know what it is. We must share with each other, which I hope to do this afternoon, in order to enable us to have a better understanding of Native American culture as it relates to the care of cancer patients. The attitudes and beliefs of Native Americans are as diverse as are the tribes throughout the United States. I have often addressed descriptions of Native Americans based upon modified sociological definitions: traditional, transitional, assimilated, and dualistic. The traditional folks follow their traditional ways and customs. The transitional folks are in the process of accepting the ways of the mainstream culture in which they have relocated. The assimilated folks have become alike or similar to the environment and culture which they have adopted as their new lifestyle. The dualistic folks, which I believe many successful people of ethnicity have found to be most satisfying, live in and adapt to both cultures and consciously adjust to each with flexibility.