Culture and Customs
Overview
Each tribe has their own culture and customs. It is important to listen to each tribal community you work with to understand the traditions, values, and expectations of that community. Explore these videos to learn more about tribal communities in the Northwest:
Community Traditions
The Environment
The Importance of Land
For an overview of tribal culture and etiquette dos and don’ts when working with tribes, see the SAMHSA culture card.
Culture in Public Health Work
Paying attention to culture is key to successful public health work. It is important to learn about the culture of any specific tribe you might be trying to partner with for public health work.
Try to learn about tribal culture over time, and respectfully take the initiative rather than requiring tribal partners to educate you. Participating in tribal events and getting to know the community can build relationships and knowledge that can help improve communication and lead to successful projects. Tribal communities often welcome non-tribal people to events that celebrate their culture, history, and traditions. To learn about events open to the public, visit their websites or social media.
In Alaska, many people rely on the foods they can hunt, fish, and gather from the wilderness around them. When companies want to extract oil, natural gas, coal, and gold from the places people gather food, a tool called Health Impact Assessment (HIA) can help people understand how their community's health could be affected. Read more about this story.