Gaining New Perspectives
Hi everyone! Welcome back to this week’s blog! In this week’s blog I will be talking about more trends in social determinants but also talk about a new experience and a new perspective I gained through that experience.
This week I got the chance to visit the newly constructed Labriola National Indian American Data Center at ASU. The Labriola National American Indian Data Center is a library led by Indigenous people. Here, students and community members can explore and analyze books and writings by American Indian and Indigenous authors. Its dedicated staff offers culturally appropriate information and research assistance, ensuring that the center remains a culturally affirming environment. I was able to meet with the Director of the center, Alexander, as well as receive a tour from Eric who is the Senior Program Coordinator. Because both Alexander and Eric come from indigenous families, it was interesting to gain their point of view on social determinants. While talking to them I learned about the gap in studying how colonization impacts cardiovascular health. It is an aspect that is often overlooked because people are more concerned with present day determinants like financial stability. I also got to learn more about the role of genetics and the impact of colonization on genetics. For example, colonization could have caused increased depression or anxiety which gets passed down generations and ultimately aiding in poor cardiovascular health. I also got to learn more about the historical aspect which is great background knowledge for my project. I have checked out two books from the center which I will be reading this week and taking information from as part of my analysis for my research. I will talk more about these books in next week’s blog but till then thank you for reading my blogs so far!