Healthy Families on American Indian Reservations: A Summary of Six Years of Research by Tribal College Faculty, Staff, and Students
Abstract
INTRODUCTION This article provides a review and summary of six years of research on food assistance and nutrition issues on Indian reservations across America that was carried out by tribal college faculty, staff, and students. An assessment of the impacts and implications of this unique research program on the tribal colleges and communities involved is also included. The American Indian Studies (AIS) program at the University of Arizona, which provided administration and technical assistance for the research, is one of five small-grants research centers created by the Economic Research Service (ERS) within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Between 1998 and 2004, AIS provided funding to tribal colleges throughout Indian Country for thirteen projects. Research topics varied widely and included, for example, the impacts of food assistance policy and programmatic requirement changes on those utilizing federal, state, local, and tribal food assistance programs; the availability of healthy and nutritious foods at trading posts and convenience stores on reservation lands; and the documentation of the loss of traditional foods in Native peoples’ diets and the feasibility and attendant potential cultural, social, and health impacts of reintroducing those traditional foods into modern and socially complex tribal communities. The authors argue that the overall body of research developed through this small-grants program is unique, important, and groundbreaking when compared to previously available literature for several reasons, including research project design and implementation by tribal college faculty and staff, the utilization of tribal college students in the research process, and the unique and critical roles tribal colleges play in their communities.