Health-compromising behavior is a leading cause of death among American Indian (Al) adolescents. Examples of these behaviors include: smoking, alcohol consumption, drug use, and lack of seatbelt use. Theories that predict which Al youth are most at risk for executing these behaviors are needed. Social learning theory (SL T) has shown adolescents' behaviors are sometimes highly correlated with their parents' behaviors across different ethnic groups. However, there has been little previous research done with Als. The present study attempted to determine if SL T was applicable to Al adolescents and their parents with regard to four health-related behaviors: cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, seatbelt use, and religiosity. The first three were chosen because of the high number of Al adolescent deaths associated with them. Religiosity was included because high religiosity scores have been shown to negatively correlate with health-compromising behaviors in some studies. The present study provided partial support for SL T when applied to Al youth. For example, there were positive correlations found between parents' smoking and if the youths have ever smoked regularly or smoke currently. Little support was found for SL T with regard to alcohol consumption (i.e., the overall correlation was not significant). The exception to this was when daughters were correlated with fathers. How often the father drank and if he binged were positively correlated with how often the daughter drank and if she ever binged. There were strong correlations between parents' seatbelt use and similar use of their adolescents, thus supporting the theory. Also, strong positive correlations were found between the religiosity of the parents' and the youth. Further, religiosity did show negative correlations with health-compromising behaviors among the youth. There was also a sex difference found, with female youth having stronger negative correlations than the male youth. There were 290 Al adolescents in this nationally representative sample, 136 mate and 154 female. All the behaviors were measured via self-report, as was the identification of the adolescent's ethnicity. Limitations of this research, implications for future research, and areas for prevention/intervention with Al youth at risk are discussed.

The invasion of the Western Hemisphere by empire-building Europeans brought European forms of rhetoric to the Americas. American Indians who were exposed to European-style education gradually adopted some of the cultural ways of the invaders, including rhetorical forms and operations that led, via literacy in European languages, to autobiographical writing, historical consciousness, and literary self-representation. This dissertation uses rhetorical criticism to analyze autobiographical discourse of six eighteenth-century American Indian writers: Samuel Ashpo, Hezekiah Calvin, David Fowler, Joseph Johnson, Samson Occom, and Tobias Shattock. Their texts are rhetorically interrelated through several circumstances: all of these men were educated in a missionary school; most of them probably learned to read and write in English at the school; they left the school and worked as teachers and Christian missionaries to Indians, sharing similar obstacles and successes in their work; and they are Others on whom their teacher, Eleazar Wheelock, inscribed European culture. The six Indian writers appropriate language and tropes of the encroaching Euro-American culture in order to define themselves in relation to that culture and make their voices heard. They participated in European colonial culture by responding iv to, and co-creating, rhetorical situations. While the Indians' written discourse and the situations that called forth their writing have been examined and discussed through a historical lens, critiques of early American Indian autobiography that make extensive use of rhetorical analysis are rare. Thus this dissertation offers a long-overdue treatment of rhetoric in early American Indian autobiography and opens the way to rhetorical readings of autobiography by considering the early formation of the genre in a cross-cultural context.

After its abandonment in the 1980s, threat has re-emerged as an area of theoretical importance in understanding social movement mobilization (Jasper 1998). This case study examines the role of threat in mobilizing members of a movement to empower the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation (a small tribal community in NC). The study explores threats and the emotions that make them up, while also investigating the relevance of other prominent assumptions embedded in mobilization theories. The study employed mixed methodologies including focus groups, individual interviews, and participant observation. Findings supported the idea that threats may be partially responsible for creating mobilization, but also suggest that prominent threats faced by this community complicate the ways in which threat is understood. The findings also shed light on limitations of the prominent Weber-Michels model for movement growth/decline, and highlight potential areas of interest for future research with Indigenous communities.

American Indian and Alaska Native youth have the highest rate of suicide in the nation. The following report outlines the factors that contribute to these rates. These factors include barriers to mental health care and the unique risk factors. Barriers to mental health care that American Indians and Alaska Natives face include isolation of tribes, cultural values, limitations of Indian Health Services, and a lack of qualified providers. Unique risk factors faced by these groups include isolation, oppression, tribal characteristics, and high rates of alcohol abuse. Two prominent theories in suicide research are examined to help explain the epidemic of American Indian and Alaska Native youth suicide. These theories include the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide as well as Strain Theory of Suicide. A close look at current interventions is also provided. Limitations of these interventions are discussed. Implications for community and college counselors are given, which include being sensitive to the unique needs of these clients and designing interventions targeted specifically at these groups. Suggestions for future research are also included. / text

“Sonic Gentitud” brings American Indian and Chicana/o literatures into sound studies as testimonials to decolonial and transformative listening practices. I argue that the narrative forms and paratexts in Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony (1977), Sandra Cisneros’s Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991), Sherman Alexie’s Reservation Blues (1995), and Nina Marie Martínez’s ¡Caramba!: A Tale Told in Turns of the Card (2004) remap the cognitive space of sonic (re)production by offering textual and graphic representations of sound and listening. Understanding this articulation of the literary to the sonic as a form of audile realism, I highlight the listening citizen as a prominent figure in literary renderings of enduring Laguna, Spokane, Chicana/o, and Greater Mexican community-formation and growth. A self-consciously aesthetic narrative depiction that links embodied practices of listening to the historical, material, and political contours and discourses of a specific locale, audile realism represents subversive and differential listening practices that transform social networks of sonic (re)production such that they serve the interests of the tribal nation or Greater Mexican community. Listening citizens are thus critical actors in the maintenance of gentitud, a form of community- and network-building that recognizes affiliation as always-already performed across differences of race, class, gender, and/or sexuality. / text

Western patriarchy has become deeply ingrained in Indigenous Nations. Patriarchal ideology takes many harmful forms in Indigenous communities, most notably sexism, misogyny, family violence, and violence against women. Indigenous feminists are identifying and resisting patriarchy in Indigenous communities. However, Western patriarchy is so deeply rooted that many people believe it has always been there. Additionally, several Indigenous people resist all forms of feminism, believing the word "feminist" is synonymous with "white," and therefore suspicious. In order to increase trust in Indigenous feminisms, it must be proved that Indigenous feminist theories stand up to scrutiny. The characters in Debra Earling's Perma Red and Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach, particularly the protagonists Louise White Elk and Lisa Hill, are negatively affected by Western patriarchal ideology in their communities. By examining these texts through Indigenous feminist lenses, my thesis seeks to prove that Indigenous feminisms are viable additions to Indigenous Studies.

Utilizing data from the Oklahoma Department of Health Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) for the years 2004 through 2011, this study examines racial and ethnic differences in unhealthy maternal behaviors and the consequences of those actions on the health of both mother and child. The maternal behavior variables include smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, multivitamin use, and prenatal care utilization. The maternal health variables include gestational diabetes and hypertension. The labor and delivery outcome variables include placental issues, premature rupture of membranes (PROM), low birth weight, and child placement in an intensive care unit. This researcher hypothesized that minorities would engage in risky and unhealthy behaviors while pregnant more often than whites due to social disadvantages in the economic and educational realms. Furthermore, minorities would be more likely than whites to have unfavorable outcomes regarding labor, delivery, and health of the child due to lower socioeconomic status, poor maternal health, and underutilization of preventative care. The researcher finds that minority women seem to adhere to proper maternal health recommendations associated with personal choice, including smoking and drinking, though disparities are evident when compared to whites regarding behaviors associated with socioeconomic status, including prenatal care utilization and multivitamin use. African American women are more likely than whites to experience premature rupture of the membranes, have an underweight baby, and to place their baby in ICU, though less likely to experience placental issues. Native American women are less likely than whites to experience premature rupture of the membranes, have an underweight baby, and to place their baby in ICU, but more likely to experience placental issues. As expected, substantial changes have occurred in the maternal health and well-being of Oklahoma mothers over the course of the two PRAMS data collection phases.

This dissertation is a creative piece that reflects a dual focus in the American Indian Studies program - American Indian Law & Policy and Native American Literature. This "epidemic of violence," as James Anaya labeled it, underpins the writing of this dissertation. Some statistics: One in three Native women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. Some sources purport that 88% of assailants are non-Native. Only 13% of reported assaults on Native women are prosecuted. The core of the dissertation is a novella bookended by an Introduction and an Epilog. The Introduction includes the factors and influences that led to the writing of this novella. The novella presents the convergence of the stories of four damaged women and their individual paths toward healing. An Epilog provides a space for thoughts on the writing process and the final product. The purpose of this dissertation is three-fold: Bring attention to the problem of violence committed against Native women, to promote the sharing of stories to begin the path to healing, and to add to the scholarship of American Indian Studies.

This thesis uses Native American Student Affairs (NASA) at the University of Arizona (UA) as a case study to see where NASA matches and diverges from the current literature on Native American Cultural Centers (NACC). Twenty-eight current Native American undergraduates and graduates were surveyed about their views on NASA, and their responses were then analyzed for common themes. The findings showed that NASA was similar to the current research when it came to themes of community, promoting culture, feeling less isolated, networking, and having an independent space. It diverged on one demographic aspect, namely a significant portion of student respondents came from reservations, which is not reflective of the Native community in the United States as a whole. Additionally, it mentioned the importance of event hosting, which is not mentioned in the current literature at all. The majority of students identified NASA as creating a space for them to feel supported, provide resources, network, and host events that promote awareness of Native American issues. The thesis ends with recommendations for NASA based on the responses, and advocates for further research to delve deeper into the nuances of NACC's and their responsibility to continuously adapt to the needs of their students.

Native American doctoral student enrollment has not increased over the past twenty years, despite a steady increase in enrollment at the undergraduate level. Native Americans are the only group to not see an increase in doctoral degrees granted. There are many individual and institutional factors affecting Native American student success such as cultural and social isolation, financial stressors, racism, and access to indigenous faculty and mentoring. What are American Indian/Native American Studies (AIS/NAS) programs doing about it? AIS/NAS programs are uniquely qualified to address these factors. They were originally created to increase enrollment and recruitment of Native American students on campuses. Many of these programs have incorporated Native student retention into their missions and are often the only ones taking the next step to promote Native American graduate student success on campus. There are eight "pure" AIS/NAS graduate programs in the country. "Pure" means that the program is a stand-alone unit and the degree is earned in AIS/NAS. There are only three such doctoral programs in AIS/NAS: University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of California-Davis, and the University of Arizona. The University of Arizona is the number one doctoral degree granting institution in the United States for Native American students. Despite lack of funding and resources, forty percent of these doctoral recipients are from the American Indian Studies Program. A mixed method approach consisting of intense empirical research and data mining was used in order to find enrollments of Native students, identify AIS/NAS programs and enrollment trends, and identify factors affecting student success. Native American students are vastly underreported in the federal data base (IPEDS), which affects federal student aid and relegates many students invisible. The following were identified as the key factors for Native American graduate student success: determination and resiliency, supportive relationships through mentoring and access to faculty, and a desire to give back to their communities. It is recommended that AIS/NAS graduate programs honor their land grant obligations in order to increase access and funding for Native students through endowments and tuition waiver programs, develop a detailed mentoring plan, and improve outreach to Native communities.