It is often quoted, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” This adage is often applied to groups which aim to create charitable impact for underserved communities. More powerful than teaching a man to fish, however, is a community enabling themselves with a new skill. For tribes in rural Alaska, this became a possibility through the work of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. This consortium was a 2018 honoree of the Harvard Project dedicated to facilitating easy access to healthcare in the rural, tribal lands of Alaska. Its approach, however, is notable—rather than using funding to bring in non-native physicians to rural communities, this alliance focused on training new medical aides from the communities themselves. This method was critical to maintaining tribal sovereignty, especially with regard to the nuanced and varied cultures of the Alaskan diaspora. Pecos et al. explain, “Cultural misunderstandings can make it difficult for providers trained in Western medicine to properly treat Native patients” (15). These trained aides, serving in basic medical care, dental support, and mental healthcare, could return to their communities armed with a deep cultural understanding as well as informed (though still paraprofessional) healthcare knowledge. Thus, through collaboration and coalition with regional doctors, telehealth, and tribal governance, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium creates culturally and medically intelligent individuals to lead their communities.
As a student leader, I have found that the most effective way to bring about change is to enable individuals with the tools to make change. While an organization can funnel money into an initiative or create large scale efforts, the most impact can be made when the people with the most heart are given the most attention and support. From a tribal governance perspective, this aligns with the vision of sovereignty. The Honoring Nations video states, “So I think the magic of nation-building for us has been the language, the ability, and building our skills and capability to actually have dialogue in a different way” (4:02). It is clear that a “savior” is not needed to support these organizations; what tribes need most is the chance to effect change from within themselves through allyship inside and out. This is what Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium does so well, by quite literally bringing a variety of medical care skills to a new cultural language. Amanda J Cobb emphasizes the impact of culture on sovereignty, stating, “Native nations, concepts of government and culture are inseparable … government or even self-government does not … ‘assuage the needs of a spiritual tradition that remains very strong within most tribes and that needs to express itself in ways familiar to the people’” (121). Through studying cases like that of the ANTHC, I hope to better understand how to be an ally to Native communities and to lead in the places I find family myself. In conclusion, while one can give a man a fish or even teach him to fish, the most impact is found when the man himself builds the very fishing rod that will start a revolution.
Works Cited
Cobb, Amanda J. “Understanding Tribal Sovereignty: Definitions, Conceptualizations, and Interpretations.” American Studies, vol. 46, no. 3/4, 2005, pp. 115–32. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/40643893.
Pescos, Mike et al. “Honoring Nations 2018 Honorees: Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC).” Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, 2018. Harvard Kennedy School, https://indigenousgov.hks.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum6806/files/hpaied/files/hn18_report_final_0.pdf.
“Next Horizons: The Future of Nation Building.” YouTube, uploaded by Honoring Nations, 17 Dec. 2019, https://www.google.com/search?q=www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DgIY-lJGF1Ik.
Completed in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of OU’s NAS 1013 class.