Violence In Aboriginal Communities

Focuses on family violence, especially sexual assault as it affects native women, teenagers and children.

Family violence has become an issue of significant concern within the Aboriginal community. One of the unique aspects of family violence within this community is its link to the history of colonization. This volume presents a number of studies on the effects of colonization, the need for programming specific to and by Aboriginal people and the efforts made by the Aboriginal community to meet that need. The success and respect that these projects have elicited from the community will build confidence and pave the way for their development and the pursuit of alternative approaches to family violence prevention in the Aboriginal community. First in the Hurting and Healing series on intimate violence from RESOLVE and Fernwood.

The impacts of family violence and abuse, not only on the victims, but also on children who live with and witness this phenomenon, on the strength and health of families, and on the well-being of Aboriginal communities and nations are also examined. [...] The second area of work is identifying key community capacities needed to bring about change relative to the determinants of violence and abuse, to develop those capacities, and to apply them strategically and systematically to the work of shifting the status of key determinants. [...] Closely related to the challenge of mapping the complex web of factors that create and sustain domestic violence and abuse at the level of individuals, extended families, community systems, and the socio-environmental context, is the even more perplexing problem of how to transform that web of relationships and conditions in order to stop the violence and abuse. [...] Aboriginal family service program worker, Ontario 3 Introduction Purpose of the Study This study set out to address the following research goals: 1. to develop a generic map of the problem of Aboriginal domestic violence and abuse that simultaneously describes the full nature and extent of the problem and also uncovers the dynamics of family, community, cultural, professional and governmental syst [...] There will be discussions on various definitions, theories and models of domestic violence and abuse (includes both physical and sexual abuse, as well as other methods that abusers use to control and dominate their victims), a portrait of the anatomy of abuse and the known levels of incidence and extent of the problem.

In contrast to past studies that focus narrowly on war and massacre, treat Native peoples as victims, and consign violence safely to the past, this interdisciplinary collection of essays opens up important new perspectives. While recognizing the long history of genocidal violence against Indigenous peoples, the contributors emphasize the agency of individuals and communities in genocide’s aftermath and provide historical and contemporary examples of activism, resistance, identity formation, historical memory, resilience, and healing. The collection also expands the scope of violence by examining the eyewitness testimony of women and children who survived violence, the role of Indigenous self-determination and governance in inciting violence against women, and settler colonialism’s promotion of cultural erasure and environmental destruction. By including contributions on Indigenous peoples in the United States, Canada, the Pacific, Greenland, Sápmi, and Latin America, the volume breaks down nation-state and European imperial boundaries to show the value of global Indigenous frameworks. Connecting the past to the present, this book confronts violence as an ongoing problem and identifies projects that mitigate and push back against it.

This groundbreaking multidisciplinary book presents significant essays on historical indigenous violence in Latin America from Tierra del Fuego to central Mexico. The collection explores those uniquely human motivations and environmental variables that have led to the native peoples of Latin America engaging in warfare and ritual violence since antiquity. Based on an American Anthropological Association symposium, this book collects twelve contributions from sixteen authors, all of whom are scholars at the forefront of their fields of study. All of the chapters advance our knowledge of the causes, extent, and consequences of indigenous violence—including ritualized violence—in Latin America. Each major historical/cultural group in Latin America is addressed by at least one contributor. Incorporating the results of dozens of years of research, this volume documents evidence of warfare, violent conflict, and human sacrifice from the fifteenth century to the twentieth, including incidents that occurred before European contact. Together the chapters present a convincing argument that warfare and ritual violence have been woven into the fabric of life in Latin America since remote antiquity. For the first time, expert subject-area work on indigenous violence—archaeological, osteological, ethnographic, historical, and forensic—has been assembled in one volume. Much of this work has heretofore been dispersed across various countries and languages. With its collection into one English-language volume, all future writers—regardless of their discipline or point of view—will have a source to consult for further research. CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction Richard J. Chacon and Rubén G. Mendoza 1. Status Rivalry and Warfare in the Development and Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization Matt O’Mansky and Arthur A. Demarest 2. Aztec Militarism and Blood Sacrifice: The Archaeology and Ideology of Ritual Violence Rubén G. Mendoza 3. Territorial Expansion and Primary State Formation in Oaxaca, Mexico Charles S. Spencer 4. Images of Violence in Mesoamerican Mural Art Donald McVicker 5. Circum-Caribbean Chiefly Warfare Elsa M. Redmond 6. Conflict and Conquest in Pre-Hispanic Andean South America: Archaeological Evidence from Northern Coastal Peru John W. Verano 7. The Inti Raymi Festival among the Cotacachi and Otavalo of Highland Ecuador: Blood for the Earth Richard J. Chacon, Yamilette Chacon, and Angel Guandinango 8. Upper Amazonian Warfare Stephen Beckerman and James Yost 9. Complexity and Causality in Tupinambá Warfare William Balée 10. Hunter-Gatherers’ Aboriginal Warfare in Western Chaco Marcela Mendoza 11. The Struggle for Social Life in Fuego-Patagonia Alfredo Prieto and Rodrigo Cárdenas 12. Ethical Considerations and Conclusions Regarding Indigenous Warfare and Ritual Violence in Latin America Richard J. Chacon and Rubén G. Mendoza References About the Contributors Index

This report is a condensed version of a research report, prepared by the Ipsos-Reid research firm for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, on the attitudes and opinions of Aboriginal women, and the professionals who work with them, on intimate partner violence against women. It includes a discussion of the causes and consequences of male violence against women in Aboriginal communities, and of sources of support, resource gaps and recommendations. The report is intended, primarily, for organizations providing assistance to Aboriginal women who have experienced violence.