Hi - there is much writing around this topic, although as you probably know it isn't best to try to understand it as a regular "health" topic, and there probably aren't large population studies that could define this - partly because Aboriginal populations (plural) tend to be smallish, diverse culturally and located all over the place rather than in one place. Instead you would be best off reading about general social approaches to understanding health as "wellbeing", that is, "social determinants of health" and definitions proferred by various Indigenous populations themselves, and in light of traditional understandings about a person's belonging within cultural/social/locational frameworks of Aboriginality. This topic cannot be apolitical, or even a-cultural (that is "unbiased", as in "scientific" research). The impacts of colonisation are quite well described, and are quite apparent and visible, despite Indigenous problems being relatively invisibilised for public policy/financial funding contexts. Although I remember myself thinking a similar question to what you've asked, I wonder now what is the reason you would think smaller scale descriptive studies are inadequate to describe this group of problems? (that is, why do you feel there should be a need for a large population study? Is it not adequately "proven" by social/political analyses?) Best wishes.

Hello Tass - and thank you for your prompt and helpful reflections. I am familiar with critical race theory and decolonising research methodologies so I heartily concur with your comments regarding the political and subjective nature of the research and the experience it describes. I am looking to large scale population studies only as part of a lit review for another peice of work - which will be of a methodological nature and intention to fit the realities of indigenous populations as you dscribe them. My intention is simply to show that the argument regarding the impact of colonisation on indigenous peoples's health and wellbeing is established - and while limited and reluctantly admitted in Australia - (perhaps - and often due to the lack of muti-transdisciplinary inquiry methodologies being funded by government or ARC as much as any pscho-scial position of denial, self interst, igndorance, racism and/or neglect) - it is accepted in international locations - Canada, the US and NZ beng obvious possiblities - but the impact of Asian colonisation is of equal interest as European. I am curious to know not only about the health and wellbeing issues - of which there are endless accounts - but whether there is research the links them to the impacts of colonisation. Do you know of any?

Unfortunately I can't help to steer you in the direction of any population studies, but do appreciate what you are trying to do, and wish you all the very best. There may indeed be something out there somewhere. I still sort of feel that your aim: "not only the health and wellbeing issues ... but whether there is research that links them to impacts of colonisation" could be quite adequately described by careful review/citing of the kind of race theory/postcolonial/decolonising literature (Linda Tuhiwai-Smith of course, and others of this kind), with particular regard to indigenous peoples and how they themselves portray their circumstances and opinions (that is, rather than a health perspective, which tends to focus on them drinking too much or having diabetes, etc). I think these statements from indigenous peoples go a long way towards describing what you are attempting to say. Perhaps you could do a kind of meta-ethnography approach to literature review, and refer to studies (and current media/networking) portrayals of various peoples (e.g. Papua, of late, and 'uncontacted' Amazonians, etc). Best of luck. I just recently completed my own PhD (about complementary medicine), and will be interested in future to see what you discover!

Hi Susan, I answered this yesterday and it 

Apologies the answer keeps getting cut off. trying again:

Hi Susan, I answered this yesterday and it seems to have vanished so apologies if this is now duplicative. There are a range of resources that assist here that look at the expression of colonisation in health outcomes as well as decolonising strategies that work. One of the earlier pieces that documented the impact of community control and self determination in settler colonial states was Chandler and Lalonde's work in Canada  which looked at rates of youth suicide in First Nations peoples and the correlation with cultural continuity. In relation to disparities in health management / outcomes the work of colleagues in New Zealand is helpful as listed below. Whilst some of this is implicitly a consequence of colonisation some is an expression of racism. the Utopia study reveals how decolonisation and community control of a range of factors has positive health outcomes. Hope this assists with your enquiry. Dave

Chandler, M. and C. Lalonde (1998). "Cultural continuity as a hedge against suicide in Canada's First Nations." Transcultural Psychiatry 35(2): 193-211.

Curtis, E., M. Harwood, T. Riddell, B. Robson, R. Harris, C. Mills and P. Reid (2010). "Access and Society as Determinants of Ischaemic Heart Disease in Indigenous Populations." Heart, Lung and Circulation 19: 316-324.

Harris, R., D. Cormack, M. Tobias, L.-C. Yeh, N. Talamaivao, J. Minster and R. Timutimu (2012). "The pervasive effects of racism: Experiences of racial discrimination in New Zealand over time and associations with multiple health domains." Social Science and Medicine 74(3): 408-415.

Harris, R., B. Robson, E. Curtis, G. Purdie, D. Cormack and P. Reid (2007). "Māori and non-Māori differences in caesarean section rates: a national review." The New Zealand Medical Journal 120(1250).

Rowley, K., K. O'Dea, I. Anderson, R. McDermott, K. Saraswati, R. Tilmouth, I. Roberts, J. Fitz, Z. Wang, A. Jenkins, J. D. Best, Z. Wang and A. Brown (2008). "Lower than expected morbidity and mortality for an Australian Aboriginal population: 10-year follow-up in a decentralised community." Medical Journal of Australia 188(5): 283-287.

Greetings Tess and Dave - your thought and contributions are greatly appreciated as is sharing the commitment in this space for redressing systemic injustice and suffering. I will indeed stay in touch - and let you what is found. Susie

Interesting discussion thread! Thanks David, for sharing the New Zealand work. There is another article from Canada that may be of interest:

ELIAS B, Mignone J, Hall M, Hong S, Hart L, Sareen J, (2012) Trauma and suicide behaviour histories among a Canadian indigenous population: An empirical exploration of the potential role of Canada’s residential school system, Social Science and Medicine 74:1560-1569.

Brenda Elias, the lead author is also on Research Gate and this article is available on her page as a download. Folks associated with the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy have been doing some really interesting population level quantitative work so there may be more I am not aware of. 

Our team here in Saskatchewan is just completing a paper looking at associations between measures of colonization, such as Residential School attendance and health outcomes such as diabetes and respiratory health (lung function, asthma) in two First Nation communities. We also have measures of individual experiences of racism  (as opposed to structural and systemic) that we have looked at in association with diabetes. We are seeing some interesting relationships which I would be happy to share once we are at that stage (the paper is currently under review by community partners). Not terribly helpful for your current review -but perhaps in the future?

Finally -at the framework level, the Assembly of First Nations in Canada has produced a First Nation Health Reporting Framework  (http://health.afn.ca/uploads/files/sdoh_afn.pdf) that explicitly locates self-determination and the effects of colonization among its social determinants of health. See also here: http://health.afn.ca/en/about-us/pro/social-determinants-of-health. This is in contrast to the Public Health Agency of Canada, which recognizes nothing like this, and has only listed gender and culture since 1999. These frameworks are important, of course, because they drive what is ultimately measured.

On the topic of frameworks, the Manitoba Metis Federation has produced a really interesting wellness framework as their lens for looking at the health status of the Manitoba Metis population. Chapter 2 of this report: http://www.mmf.mb.ca/docs/MCHP-Metis_Health_Status_Full_Report_(WEB)_(update_aug11_2011).pdf provides a really interesting discussion of how they got there and why their framework  looks as it does (it does not name colonization explicitly but does refer to governance), and how it has been applied.

Hope some of this is useful. Sylvia

Stunningly relevant and very exciting to see these brave, grounded and systemic approaches Syliva. Thank you very much for getting in contact ... I hope we can stay connected as the project unfolds.

Susan

Hi might I suggest you have a look at the thesis "A Great Deal of Sickness" - Introduced diseases among the Aboriginal People of colonial Southeast Australia 1788-1900 Peter J. Dowling January 1997.

Hi

Thanks for sharing Peter Dowlings work. On a similar note, Gordon Briscoe's thesis and subsequent book covers the period 1900-1940 in SW Australia and Queensland:

Briscoe, G. (1996). Disease, health and healing: aspects of indigenous health in Western Australia and Queensland, 1900-1940 PhD, Australian National University.

Briscoe, G. (2003). Counting, health and identity: a history of health and demography in Western Australia and Queensland. Canberra, Aboriginal Studies Press.

They are not quite on topic to your original question Susan but may be of interest for background?

Dave

I am not sure if this is what you are after Susan, but a reference I have just opened to read today might be of interest to you.  I believe it talks about (I haven't read it yet!) discrimination in health care and the impact on health outcomes.  I think Chapter 4 looks relevant for your question.  [I don't think it talks specifically on colonisation thought]

Smedley, Stith et al. (2002). "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care".  Institute of Medicine, USA

Smedley is the seminal work that many draw on in relation to disparities and ethnicity. It is focused on minority experience in the US and you are correct it does not cover colonisation.

Dave

Thanks David.  I am just starting to read on the topic of discrimination in health care now, and in fact, this is my first reading I have purposefully read for this topic (have read research papers that delve into this - but read those papers for other reasons).  Sounds like I started in the right place.  It is fascinating so far! 

That's a good call - thanks Jillian

S

This paper is an interesting read when you consider the Aboriginal access to Country (and all the resource and security it provided) was disturbed to various extents after contact

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/cultureheritage/GrievesReport2006.pdf

You may enjoy papers like these following (and there are many similar ones available), and will by now of course be understanding the breadth of reading required to approach this topic (way beyond usual/mainstream 'health' concepts, and really crossing into fields of social marginalisation, social health determinants, culture, traditions, anthropology, social and legal justice, and so on):

Chris Cunneen et al, 2014: Access to Justice for Aboriginal People in the Northern Territory.

Margaret Murray et al, 2014: Sharing the tracks to good tucker: identifying the benefits and challenges of implementing community food programs for Aboriginal communities in Victoria. 

best of wishes, Tass

Hello Rosalie, Tass and everyone - I am greatly enjoying the generosity and also orgnaic growth of reach that this question is creating. Thank you very much for sharing your readings with us here - I will be back to you with a draft of the review in case anyone would like to read and feedback. Kind regards - Susan

Hi Susan,

For Maori look at the work of Kris Inwood, Evan Roberts and Les Oxley. There is also some interesting new work on measles in early colonial Australia. Drop me an email on [email protected] and I will send you some stuff

Best wishes

Hamish

Linking colonization and current health status may require qualitative approaches (history: oral and written), law and anthropology (legal definition of indigenous groups historically and currently)  and extant public health data, depending on the health questions, venue,  and country.

I carried out a survey (4 communities, n= 60 households) among two immigrant indigenous,  and  two "native" indigenous in N. State of Sonora, Mexico. We found statistically significant differences on mamogram screening,  TB rates, as well as health status according to self-reported , i.e. not clinical,  data. Reported to Mexico and United States Bi-national Health Commission, Arizona Section. Mismatched data types often govern such efforts;  e.g incidence vs. prevalence reporting.

Mexican National health authorities did not collect data with indigenous population designations ( in 2009) except for special epidemiological studies. Given the fed. govt. doesn't count indigenous for health purposes, then they don't have to report on their disease rates. Select studies however point to great disparities' disparities such officials attempt to decry, but not deny. 

The usual allocation of health resources in Mexico have urban and mobile units that serve large concentrations of populations, therefore indigenous which are more often rural and dispersed (speaking about rural Lat. Amer.) are disproportionately excluded from DX, RX and TX. there are five public health systems in Mexico, whcih drives internal institutional discrimination for equitable health access.

Historical data on the O'odham/Pima/ Papago in Sonora show a death rate of approx. 60% in Jesuit Missions in the mid to late 18th century in Southern Sonora State, and about 72% in the northern frontier of Spain's Christendom in the new World.   Current diabetes rates aomng the O'odham/Pim in US are the highest in the world. Non-desert foods and an overabundance of sugars appear to be the culprits in additional to more sedentary life styles. Desert O'odham historically used mesquite flour as a staple in addition to seasonal corn, but not much now.

Similar colonial losses were common in the Americas. My own tribe lost 75% and then 50% of population in two separate waves: ani-yunwiya / tsalagi/ Cherokee, and that was before our forced removal in 1842-1884.

Also another factor is citizenship which restricts legal access to health services, e.g. 

"The Alien and Sedition Acts" were passed by the US Congress in 1798 in preparation for an anticipated war with France. The Naturalization Act increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from five to fourteen years, required aliens to declare their intent to acquire citizenship five years before it could be granted, and rendered people from enemy nations ineligible for naturalization." 

What that doesn't mention is that "reservation" indigenous in the US were then denied citizenship until the 1924, 126 years later. Slavery in the US was abolished in 1862. Importation of salves was outlawed in 1808, but internal trade not until 1865.  The legal framework then weighs heavily on the biological one when consideration generations of deprivation. In the US currently, when minority health statistics are cited, most often indigenous are excluded; we still have the worse rates for more diseases.  

On colonization of indigenous in NW Mexico, see: Cycles of Conquest: Edward Spicer: 1962.

On colonization of O'odham/Papago/Pima, see:

See: Cynthia Radding, Entre el desierto y la sierra. Las naciones o’odham y tegüima de Sonora, 1530-1840 (Mexico, CIESAS, INI, 1995) in the series Historia de los pueblos indígenas de México; 

Cololonial Plague data is here: Wandering Peoples: Colonialism, Ethnic Spaces, and Ecological Frontiers. Northwestern Mexico, 1700–1850 (Duke University Press, 1997).  This book is formidable.

Hope that helps.

Hello Blake - thank you for this very chilling and personal perspective on the question. Your account eloquently highlights how attempts to know the impacts of colonisation on indigenous peoples' health are given greater degrees of difficulty by the layerings of systemic racism and colonial assumptions underpinning other policy areas that directly and indirectly impact indigenous health and wellbeing, and across time. It is as if even to know an answer to the question requires ongoing suffering and diminishment of the historicity of colonisation for and of a people.  Your reflection is very helpful - may I quote you?

Sure, Susan I'd be happy if you did, but I noticed afterwards that rushed through some sentences, so I'd like to correct what I said - if there are mistakes. You can reach me at: [email protected].  I work in coordination of training rural health promoters / acupuncturists in Peten, Guatemala. This site explains that work: www.GUAMAP.net.

Hi again. I just wanted to comment that it is really nice to see this expanding Q&A session, and the diverse responses people make. I was thinking - while reading Blake's comment - about Australian Aboriginal people not having being included as citizens or being allowed to vote until the 1967-9 referendum and election period. Of course colonisers (Spanish, Portuguese, British) were in the Americas for a longer period. Aside of smallpox decimation of central and south American populations, the later historic time - when a large part of the land that used to be included in northern Mexico was added to the US - may have had even more impact in a political/geographic sense. Do you know if this is true Blake? Or am I making an unfounded assumption? I recall doing my masters thesis about birth stats, and being horrified that black Americans had worse maternal death rates than native Americans, but I also couldn't and can't help but wonder if the stats are properly documented (and of course black Americans tend to be urbanised, and to have entrenched drug addiction and violence problems, which might not be quite as extremely bad among Indigenous communities - although once again, thinking of extremely high and no doubt unwarranted imprisonment rates for native Americans (also paralleled by Aboriginal imprisonment rates in Australia) that maybe the available statistics describing social problems are not truly representative). Do you have any idea about these issues Blake? 

Hi Tass, The 1967 Referendum put two questions to the Australian people. 1. to include Aboriginal peoples in the Census, and 2. to allow the federal government to make policy decisions in relation to Aboriginal affairs. The right to vote was actually a separate issue and many had that right prior to the Referendum. Dave

Hi Susan

Not sure if you have completed your review. Lisa Jackson Pulver surveys this area in her thesis, particularly Chapter 1.

Article An argument on culture safety in health service delivery: to...

I have downloaded and will read with great interest - thank you - the review is still underway.... Susie

Susan, do you remember me? We were in contact over ten years ago when I was working with Kunwinjku relatives in western Arnhem Land. I'm also a friend of Professor Jim Spickard whom I think you know. Denise L Goodfellow, Ph.D.

I am interested in this discussion. I have been looking into the impact on health and well-being in Appalachia from what is called "industrial colonization." This colonization was for the purpose of resource extraction, primarily coal. It has the same kind of characteristics as other forms of colonization however, the affected population is not indigenous. It began over 100 years ago and has continued to the present day. The areas where this kind of colonization has occurred have the highest rates of the diseases of despair (drug overdose deaths, cirrhosis, and suicide) in the country. They also have low well-being, poor health status, high rates of poverty and broken social institutions.

I am also looking for any large population studies, qualitative and/or quantitative. Or just more discussion on the topic.