Being alive well? Power-knowledge as a countervailing force to the realization of mental well-being for Canada's aboriginal young people

Article


Williams, Lewis and Mumtaz, Zubia. 2008. "Being alive well? Power-knowledge as a countervailing force to the realization of mental well-being for Canada's aboriginal young people." International Journal of Mental Health Promotion. 10 (4), pp. 21-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623730.2008.9721773
Article Title

Being alive well? Power-knowledge as a countervailing force to the realization of mental well-being for Canada's aboriginal young people

ERA Journal ID40828
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsWilliams, Lewis (Author) and Mumtaz, Zubia (Author)
Journal TitleInternational Journal of Mental Health Promotion
Journal Citation10 (4), pp. 21-31
Number of Pages11
Year2008
Place of PublicationAbingdon, OX. United Kingdom
ISSN1462-3730
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/14623730.2008.9721773
Abstract

The First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada, commissioned a review of the current evidence on efforts to promote mental health in Aboriginal young people in Canada. A systematic review of the literature reveals that peer-reviewed 'evidence-based' evaluations of mental health promotion interventions with Canadian Aboriginal young people are virtually non-existent. The few published studies on mainstream young people, with their focus on those at risk, addressing individual-level factors within Western positivist conceptualizations of reality, have limited applicability to a colonized people with constructions of health that place emphasis on wholeness, connection, balance and harmony.
This paper reviews several inter-related forces shaping
mental health promotion discourse and programming as they pertain to Aboriginal young people in Canada today. They include colonization and neo-colonial relations, Aboriginal world views, meanings of health and selfdetermination, the conceptual and methodological confusion besieging mental health promotion as a discipline, and the tensions between what qualifies as 'evidence' in Western positivist conceptualizations of reality and Aboriginal worldviews, paradigms and realities. The paper locates the marginalization of Aboriginal knowledge relative to Western notions of 'evidence' in dominant cultural-power relations with respect to how they structure the production of formal
'knowledge', potential funding and programming and,
ultimately, opportunities for the mental health and wellbeing of Canada's Aboriginal young people.

KeywordsAboriginal young people; mental health promotion; evidence-based practice; power knowledge; Canada
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020440107. Social and cultural anthropology
520599. Social and personality psychology not elsewhere classified
420313. Mental health services
Public Notes

2008 © The Clifford Beers Foundation. Permanent restricted access to published version in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.

Byline AffiliationsUniversity of Saskatchewan, Canada
University of Alberta, Canada
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
Permalink -

https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q292x/being-alive-well-power-knowledge-as-a-countervailing-force-to-the-realization-of-mental-well-being-for-canada-s-aboriginal-young-people

  • 1730
    total views
  • 6
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Remapping country, kin and culture on the Darling Downs and Southwest Queensland: some suggestions for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal resilience and well-being
Williams, Lewis, Stuart, Lynne and Reedy, Natasha. 2015. "Remapping country, kin and culture on the Darling Downs and Southwest Queensland: some suggestions for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal resilience and well-being." Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues. 18 (4), pp. 21-38.
He whanaunga tera: the politics and practice of an indigenous and intercultural approach to ecological well-being
Williams, Lewis. 2012. "He whanaunga tera: the politics and practice of an indigenous and intercultural approach to ecological well-being." Williams, Lewis, Roberts, Rose and McIntosh, Alastair (ed.) Radical human ecology: intercultural and indigenous approaches. Farnham, Surrey. United Kingdom. Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 397-419
The human ecologist as alchemist: an inquiry into Ngai Te Rangi cosmology, human agency, and well-being in a time of ecological peril
Williams, Lewis. 2012. "The human ecologist as alchemist: an inquiry into Ngai Te Rangi cosmology, human agency, and well-being in a time of ecological peril." Williams, Lewis, Roberts, Rose and McIntosh, Alastair (ed.) Radical human ecology: intercultural and indigenous approaches. Farnham, Surrey. United Kingdom. Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 91-120
Women, migration and well-being: building epistemological resilience through ontologies of wholeness and relationship
Williams, Lewis and Hall, Laura. 2014. "Women, migration and well-being: building epistemological resilience through ontologies of wholeness and relationship ." Global Change, Peace and Security. 26 (2), pp. 211-221. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2014.881335
Deepening ecological relationality through critical onto-epistemological inquiry: where transformative learning meets sustainable science
Williams, Lewis. 2013. "Deepening ecological relationality through critical onto-epistemological inquiry: where transformative learning meets sustainable science." Journal of Transformative Education. 11 (2), pp. 95-113. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344613490997