sarah duignan | University of Manitoba (original) (raw)
Papers by sarah duignan
Indigenous Water and Drought Management in a Changing World
Social Science & Medicine, 2022
Indigenous households are 90 times more likely to be without running water than non-Indigenous ho... more Indigenous households are 90 times more likely to be without running water than non-Indigenous households in Canada. Current primary indicators of water quality and security for Indigenous Peoples are based on federal boil water advisories, which do not disaggregate at household levels to identify who is most at risk within or between communities. A mixed methods approach was used to assess the level of water insecurity and perceptions of water access by gender and age for a sample of households in Six Nations of the Grand River First Nations in Ontario, Canada. A household survey captured water security using the Household Water InSecurity Experiences (HWISE) scale and Likert-type responses to perceptions of water access, contextualized using semi-structured individual and group interviews. From 2019 to 2020, 66 households participated in the survey, 18 individuals participated in semi-structured individual interviews, and 7 individuals participated in 3 semi-structured group interviews. The survey sample demonstrated high levels of household water insecurity (57.5%, n = 38). Interviews revealed that women were more dissatisfied with their drinking water situations due to quality, source, and cost, though they shared water sharing as a coping strategy. Women faced more physical and mental barriers accessing water for their households, due to their roles as caretakers of their family and knowledge protectors for their communities. Generational divides were found in interviews about what qualified as "good water," with older participants understanding it as relating to traditional water sourcing, and younger participants wanting clean, accessible tap water. Taken together, the participants demonstrated a frustration with the sub-standard drinking water on reserve.
Within mortuary archaeology, sub-adult burials are relatively under-explored, with very little un... more Within mortuary archaeology, sub-adult burials are relatively under-explored, with very little understanding about how to categorize particular burials within their unique cultural context. Often we see generalized notions of age identities, with a focus on the individual’s ascribed status, as regulated by the economic influences of their older kin groups and families. Sub-adults, when framed as children, can become a social phenomenon that explores the treatment of the physical body within youth contexts. The experience of childhood is a distinctly social phenomenon that can very between cultures and through time, but often goes unmentioned within mortuary literature. This becomes problematic, as Western archaeologists risk ascribing our contemporary understandings of childhood onto past populations. Our understandings can be altered by insignificant factors, such as the culturally acceptable age for a child to begin walking, or impact more critical understandings of when a child i...
Journal of the University of Manitoba Anthropology Students Association, Sep 8, 2014
Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVP) is a common condition that affects many women worldw... more Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVP) is a common condition that affects many women worldwide. NVP is also referred to as morning sickness, but this is a misnomer as symptoms are not exclusive to the morning, and the term "sickness" implies that the condition is pathological despite the relative good health of the expectant mothers and the frequency with which it occurs in pregnant women (Flaxman and Sherman 2000). While the sensations of excessive salivation and nausea that may lead to vomiting are universal characteristics of women experiencing NVP, the cultural definitions are highly variable to the extent of defining symptoms or syndromes, and biobehavioural responses differ from one population to another (McElroy 1990). NVP has thought to have some adaptive merits throughout the course of evolution, though researchers are still not entirely certain of the benefits of this process. A further exploration of the adaptive significance of NVP is needed to understand its role in contemporary societies.
Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching, and Learning
This article explores how Indigenous Knowledge and medical anthropology can co-construct communit... more This article explores how Indigenous Knowledge and medical anthropology can co-construct community health knowledge through boundary work and the use of boundary objects. It will highlight how community-based participatory research (CBPR) in medical anthropology can help co-develop methods and strategies with Indigenous research partners to assess the human health impact of the First Nations water crisis. We draw on a case study of our community-based approach to health research with Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation community stakeholders and McMaster University researchers. We highlight how framing a co-constructed health survey as a boundary object can create dialogical space for Indigenous and western academic pedagogies and priorities. We also explore how this CBPR anthropology approach, informed by Indigenous Knowledge, allows for deeper foundations of culturally centered health to guide our work in identifying current and future community health needs concerning the...
Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVP) is a common condition that affects many women worldw... more Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVP) is a common condition that affects many women worldwide. NVP is also referred to as morning sickness, but this is a misnomer as symptoms are not exclusive to the morning, and the term "sickness" implies that the condition is pathological despite the relative good health of the expectant mothers and the frequency with which it occurs in pregnant women . While the sensations of excessive salivation and nausea that may lead to vomiting are universal characteristics of women experiencing NVP, the cultural definitions are highly variable to the extent of defining symptoms or syndromes, and biobehavioural responses differ from one population to another . NVP has thought to have some adaptive merits throughout the course of evolution, though researchers are still not entirely certain of the benefits of this process. A further exploration of the adaptive significance of NVP is needed to understand its role in contemporary societies.
Indigenous Water and Drought Management in a Changing World
Social Science & Medicine, 2022
Indigenous households are 90 times more likely to be without running water than non-Indigenous ho... more Indigenous households are 90 times more likely to be without running water than non-Indigenous households in Canada. Current primary indicators of water quality and security for Indigenous Peoples are based on federal boil water advisories, which do not disaggregate at household levels to identify who is most at risk within or between communities. A mixed methods approach was used to assess the level of water insecurity and perceptions of water access by gender and age for a sample of households in Six Nations of the Grand River First Nations in Ontario, Canada. A household survey captured water security using the Household Water InSecurity Experiences (HWISE) scale and Likert-type responses to perceptions of water access, contextualized using semi-structured individual and group interviews. From 2019 to 2020, 66 households participated in the survey, 18 individuals participated in semi-structured individual interviews, and 7 individuals participated in 3 semi-structured group interviews. The survey sample demonstrated high levels of household water insecurity (57.5%, n = 38). Interviews revealed that women were more dissatisfied with their drinking water situations due to quality, source, and cost, though they shared water sharing as a coping strategy. Women faced more physical and mental barriers accessing water for their households, due to their roles as caretakers of their family and knowledge protectors for their communities. Generational divides were found in interviews about what qualified as "good water," with older participants understanding it as relating to traditional water sourcing, and younger participants wanting clean, accessible tap water. Taken together, the participants demonstrated a frustration with the sub-standard drinking water on reserve.
Within mortuary archaeology, sub-adult burials are relatively under-explored, with very little un... more Within mortuary archaeology, sub-adult burials are relatively under-explored, with very little understanding about how to categorize particular burials within their unique cultural context. Often we see generalized notions of age identities, with a focus on the individual’s ascribed status, as regulated by the economic influences of their older kin groups and families. Sub-adults, when framed as children, can become a social phenomenon that explores the treatment of the physical body within youth contexts. The experience of childhood is a distinctly social phenomenon that can very between cultures and through time, but often goes unmentioned within mortuary literature. This becomes problematic, as Western archaeologists risk ascribing our contemporary understandings of childhood onto past populations. Our understandings can be altered by insignificant factors, such as the culturally acceptable age for a child to begin walking, or impact more critical understandings of when a child i...
Journal of the University of Manitoba Anthropology Students Association, Sep 8, 2014
Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVP) is a common condition that affects many women worldw... more Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVP) is a common condition that affects many women worldwide. NVP is also referred to as morning sickness, but this is a misnomer as symptoms are not exclusive to the morning, and the term "sickness" implies that the condition is pathological despite the relative good health of the expectant mothers and the frequency with which it occurs in pregnant women (Flaxman and Sherman 2000). While the sensations of excessive salivation and nausea that may lead to vomiting are universal characteristics of women experiencing NVP, the cultural definitions are highly variable to the extent of defining symptoms or syndromes, and biobehavioural responses differ from one population to another (McElroy 1990). NVP has thought to have some adaptive merits throughout the course of evolution, though researchers are still not entirely certain of the benefits of this process. A further exploration of the adaptive significance of NVP is needed to understand its role in contemporary societies.
Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching, and Learning
This article explores how Indigenous Knowledge and medical anthropology can co-construct communit... more This article explores how Indigenous Knowledge and medical anthropology can co-construct community health knowledge through boundary work and the use of boundary objects. It will highlight how community-based participatory research (CBPR) in medical anthropology can help co-develop methods and strategies with Indigenous research partners to assess the human health impact of the First Nations water crisis. We draw on a case study of our community-based approach to health research with Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation community stakeholders and McMaster University researchers. We highlight how framing a co-constructed health survey as a boundary object can create dialogical space for Indigenous and western academic pedagogies and priorities. We also explore how this CBPR anthropology approach, informed by Indigenous Knowledge, allows for deeper foundations of culturally centered health to guide our work in identifying current and future community health needs concerning the...
Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVP) is a common condition that affects many women worldw... more Nausea and vomiting in early pregnancy (NVP) is a common condition that affects many women worldwide. NVP is also referred to as morning sickness, but this is a misnomer as symptoms are not exclusive to the morning, and the term "sickness" implies that the condition is pathological despite the relative good health of the expectant mothers and the frequency with which it occurs in pregnant women . While the sensations of excessive salivation and nausea that may lead to vomiting are universal characteristics of women experiencing NVP, the cultural definitions are highly variable to the extent of defining symptoms or syndromes, and biobehavioural responses differ from one population to another . NVP has thought to have some adaptive merits throughout the course of evolution, though researchers are still not entirely certain of the benefits of this process. A further exploration of the adaptive significance of NVP is needed to understand its role in contemporary societies.