American Indian Culture and Research Journal

INTRODUCTION Native Americans have been subjected to colonial domination by European nations for five centuries, resulting in a radical destabilization of their sociocultural and economic systems, a general deterioration of health, and rapid depopulation. The resulting effects of cultural differences and conflicts, learned dependency, poverty, and feelings of powerlessness and low self-regard have impacted dramatically the health and quality of Native life. American Indians in the United States today are facing major health and social problems such as diabetes, substance abuse, poor nutrition, obesity, vehicular accidents, and suicides. Alcohol abuse, for example, is implicated in four of the ten leading causes of death among Native Americans. Entire communities are crippled by health problems, which ultimately feed into a cycle of despair, cultural dislocation, and lack of self-sufficiency. This article explores how participants in a self-empowerment program have understood and translated the training into self-sufficiency both at the personal and community levels. In analyzing this process we will listen to the participants’ voices, the words and the meanings they give to what they have learned from the program, and what enabled them to do something for themselves and others.