Improving the dire health problems faced by many Native American communities is central to their cultural, political, and economic well being. However, it is still too often the case that both theoretical studies and applied programs fail to account for Native American perspectives on the range of factors that actually contribute to these problems in the first place. The authors in Medicine Ways examine the ways people from a multitude of indigenous communities think about and practice health care within historical and socio-cultural contexts. Cultural and physical survival are inseparable for Native Americans. Chapters explore biomedically-identified diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, as well as Native-identified problems, including historical and contemporary experiences such as forced evacuation, assimilation, boarding school, poverty and a slew of federal and state policies and initiatives. They also explore applied solutions that are based in community prerogatives and worldviews, whether they be indigenous, Christian, biomedical, or some combination of all three. Medicine Ways is an important volume for scholars and students in Native American studies, medical anthropology, and sociology as well as for health practitioners and professionals working in and for tribes. Visit the UCLA American Indian Studies Center web site

Susan Wiles is blissfully retired from her teaching position at Westbrook Elementary School. What a joy to be able to attend the holiday concert without worrying about how her student chorus will perform. But, wait a minute. Where's the principal, Vicki Rogers? The concert can't resume before she greets the parents and guests. Susan offers to go check the main office, only to find the missing administrator lying dead on the office floor. My goodness Nothing like this ever happened when Susan had worked here. Of course, now that she's retired she has time to help the local police (one of whom is her daughter Lynette) investigate the mysterious crime. Did the principal die of natural causes? The bruises on her face don't seem severe enough to be fatal. But what about that cupcake sitting on her desk? Could she have been poisoned? Susan has just found the perfect retirement activity--much to her daughter's chagrin. And when the dead woman's teenage daughter and one of Susan's former top students, begs for Susan's help--how can she say no? Little does Susan realize that this crime will take her far from the schoolhouse doors, as she investigates a mystery that extends back into one family's painful past.

This multidisciplinary analysis links epidemiologic, cultural, social, and medical analyses of cancer prevention, detection, and care. The contributors demonstrate that different ethnic groups and cultures have distinct concepts of cancer prevention and control. These ideas are dynamic, shaped by personal and group histories, social networks, technologies, politics, economics, religions, linguistics, and other environmental conditions.

Cross-cultural writings about cancer make this book useful to professionals and students in the disciplines of medicine, nursing, public health, sociology, anthropology, and social welfare. The 15 articles reveal that cancer knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors are diverse cross-cultural constructs resulting from distinct experiences. Ideas and behaviors about prevention and control may be shared or individual and idiosyncratic. The book is composed of three sections: I. Cancer Beliefs and Behaviors; II. Interventions in Review; III. New Strategies for Cancer Research. The authors, including anthropologists, epidemiologists, health educators, nurses, and physicians, explicate notions of prevention and control, and assess interventions and methodologies that illustrate generally ignored successes in decreased mortality and morbidity among members of specific populations.