2020/07/14 by Mary Kate Dennis, Finn McLafferty Bell · 1 citation
Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Environmental Justice and Health Disparities #Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights #Indigenous Studies and Ecology
paper · doi:10.1093/sw/swaa033
openalex publication_date 2020/07/14 · crossref created 2020/07/14 · crossref issued 2020/10/01 · crossref published 2020/10/01 · crossref published-online 2020/10/06 · crossref published-print 2021/02/16 · crossref deposited 2022/11/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Indigenous women in North America have traditionally had reciprocal relationships with and responsibilities to the Earth. The process of colonization violently transformed both the treatment of the Earth and of Indigenous women. Current environmental crises highlight not only the vulnerability of Indigenous women, but also their long-standing leadership in resisting environmental injustices affecting their families, relationships, and nations. In this article, authors focus on the resistance of Dakota water protectors with the #NoDAPL movement in the United States and Anishinaabe water protectors in Mother Earth Water Walks in Canada. Recommendations for social workers in supporting Indigenous women in a thoughtful and effective way include incorporating a definition of a "social" response to more-than-human world relationships and responsibilities, supporting direct action as a necessary social response to environmental issues, and acting in solidarity with Indigenous women in these movements.