Cultural Transmission

Cultural Transmission

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Cultural Transmission

Native Americans have faced various losses in the past which resulted in generational trauma transmission. Various historical loss symptoms like unemployment, depression, diabetes, substance dependence, dysfunctional parenting have been observed due to the historical loss of culture, land, population and many others. All these elements resulted in intergenerational trauma transmission. The main purpose of the essay is to identify the variables that are responsible for the intergeneration transmission of the trauma. It is important to analyze because health quality among racial groups is far worse than white Americans.

In contemporary times, African Americans have lots of social, economic, and psychological health issues that are not because of the present situation but the impact of problems that their past generation has faced. The first variable that is linked with the intergenerational trauma is the loss of land. African Americans had to leave the authority of their land when the European started colonizing in Africa. This act left the generation with the feeling of helplessness and powerlessness which can be observed in the present generation where African Americans face the issue of racism and do not talk about it because they still believe that they are helpless and this issue cannot be resolved. On the other hand, white Americans have got a feeling of power and dominance over other races people ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"N15S6VEa","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Evans-Campbell, 2008)","plainCitation":"(Evans-Campbell, 2008)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1417,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/QS9PZM9Z"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/QS9PZM9Z"],"itemData":{"id":1417,"type":"article-journal","title":"Historical Trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska Communities: A Multilevel Framework for Exploring Impacts on Individuals, Families, and Communities","container-title":"Journal of Interpersonal Violence","page":"316-338","volume":"23","issue":"3","source":"DOI.org (Crossref)","DOI":"10.1177/0886260507312290","ISSN":"0886-2605, 1552-6518","title-short":"Historical Trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska Communities","journalAbbreviation":"J Interpers Violence","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Evans-Campbell","given":"Teresa"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2008",3]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Evans-Campbell, 2008).

The second variable is the loss of culture. When Columbus first arrived in America, people were living for food and shelter only. There was no concept of economical transaction, agriculture, and struggle for power. They lived in the forest in small houses with family and used to acquire food from trees and hunting. However, white people destroyed their culture and imposed their traditions and norms with the mindset that black Americans were uncivilized and they were trying to civilize them. This part of history resulted in the emergence of feeling shame, low self-esteem, and inferiority complex ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"D2cRVRSa","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Bombay, Matheson, & Anisman, 2009)","plainCitation":"(Bombay, Matheson, & Anisman, 2009)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1418,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/RN6XTRES"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/RN6XTRES"],"itemData":{"id":1418,"type":"paper-conference","title":"Intergenerational Trauma : Convergence of Multiple Processes among First Nations peoples in Canada","source":"Semantic Scholar","abstract":"Stressful events may have immediate effects on well-being, and by influencing appraisal processes, coping methods, life styles, parental behaviours, as well as behavioural and neuronal reactivity, may also have long lasting repercussions on physical and psychological health. In addition, through these and similar processes, traumatic experiences may have adverse intergenerational consequences. Given the lengthy and traumatic history of stressors experienced by Aboriginal peoples, it might be expected that such intergenerational effects may be particularly notable. In the present review we outline some of the behavioural disturbances associated with stressful/traumatic experiences (e.g., depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance abuse disorder), and describe the influence of several variables (age, sex, early life or other experiences, appraisals, coping strategies, as well as stressor chronicity, controllability, predictability and ambiguity) on vulnerability to pathology. Moreover, we suggest that trauma may dispose individuals to further stressors, and increase the response to these stressors. It is further argued that the shared collective experiences of trauma experienced by First Nations peoples, coupled with related collective memories, and persistent sociocultural disadvantages, have acted to increase vulnerability to the transmission and expression of intergenerational trauma effects.","DOI":"10.18357/ijih53200912337","title-short":"Intergenerational Trauma","author":[{"family":"Bombay","given":"Amy"},{"family":"Matheson","given":"Kim"},{"family":"Anisman","given":"Hymie"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Bombay, Matheson, & Anisman, 2009).

Later on, Black Americans had to face the loss of generation when white Americans get involved in the trafficking of young black Americans. Children of black Americans were stolen from their families and loaded to England for slavery and labor. This incident had a great impact on the lives of black Americans. They were left with constant fear, sorrow, grief, and the disruption of families.

Slavery is another factor that shaped the psychological development of black Americans. They were unable to oppose this oppression because the punishment was so harsh in case of rebel and mistake that black Americans slowly and slowly accepted that they cannot come in power and will remain dependent on white people.

When the world came to know about the discrimination with black Americans, white people had to give them rights and opportunities to come back into normal life. However, inequality never ended. Black children were not allowed to study with white children. Besides, they were not allowed to perform their rituals in boarding which led that generation unconnected with the religious practice and living traditionally.

All these variables lead to intergenerational trauma in the present generation who also have feelings of helplessness, inferiority complex, fear, dependency, and shame. Present generation is facing the issue of various psychological disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder, mood disorders, depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"KsZtzLvS","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ward, Wiltshire, Detry, & Brown, 2013)","plainCitation":"(Ward, Wiltshire, Detry, & Brown, 2013)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1421,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/83HJFZCL"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/mlRB1JqV/items/83HJFZCL"],"itemData":{"id":1421,"type":"article-journal","title":"African American Men and Women’s Attitude Toward Mental Illness, Perceptions of Stigma, and Preferred Coping Behaviors:","container-title":"Nursing Research","page":"185-194","volume":"62","issue":"3","source":"DOI.org (Crossref)","DOI":"10.1097/NNR.0b013e31827bf533","ISSN":"0029-6562","title-short":"African American Men and Women’s Attitude Toward Mental Illness, Perceptions of Stigma, and Preferred Coping Behaviors","journalAbbreviation":"Nursing Research","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Ward","given":"Earlise C."},{"family":"Wiltshire","given":"Jacqueline C."},{"family":"Detry","given":"Michelle A."},{"family":"Brown","given":"Roger L."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ward, Wiltshire, Detry, & Brown, 2013). The suicide rate is higher in African Americans than white Americans. Spending on the healthcare of African Americans, America is still far behind obtaining a high-quality health level in the nation. It indicates that history has a great influence on the new generation which cannot be eliminated in their lives in a short period. Therefore, the government has to take more initiatives to motivate African Americans in every field of life.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Bombay, A., Matheson, K., & Anisman, H. (2009). Intergenerational Trauma: Convergence of Multiple Processes among First Nations peoples in Canada. https://doi.org/10.18357/ijih53200912337

Evans-Campbell, T. (2008). Historical Trauma in American Indian/Native Alaska Communities: A Multilevel Framework for Exploring Impacts on Individuals, Families, and Communities. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(3), 316–338. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260507312290

Ward, E. C., Wiltshire, J. C., Detry, M. A., & Brown, R. L. (2013). African American Men and Women’s Attitude Toward Mental Illness, Perceptions of Stigma, and Preferred Coping Behaviors: Nursing Research, 62(3), 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNR.0b013e31827bf533