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Chapter 20 - Landback

Climate Justice and Indigenous Youth Mental Health in the Anthropocene

from Part II - Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Youth Climate Distress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2024

By
Kyle X. Hill  and
Lynn Mad Plume
Edited by
Elizabeth Haase  and
Kelsey Hudson
Elizabeth Haase
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
Kelsey Hudson
Affiliation:
Climate Psychology Alliance North America
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Summary

Indigenous communities inherit a disproportionate burden of risks associated with climate change impacts, largely due to social and ecological determinants of health consistent with enduring architecture of settler-colonialism. Indigenous youth, then, must contend with histories of dispossession, loss, and historical trauma while also shouldering the reality of climate change that threatens their livelihoods and those of their communities. This chapter discusses the historical implications of colonialism on Indigenous youth mental health, while also considering the direct and indirect climate impacts on Indigenous youth wellness and mental health, particularly from a social and ecological determinants of health perspective. In addition, the authors advance that ethical principles and calls to action to privilege health equity promote the adaptive capacity of Indigenous youth and their communities. Finally, this chapter concludes with recognizing how Indigenous epistemologies and kinship systems can promote health and well-being of Indigenous youth, while also improving planetary health in the process.

Keywords

social and ecological determinants of healthecological griefclimate changeIndigenous communitieshealth equityIndigenous traditional ecological knowledge(s)settler-colonialismLandbackmental healthyouth
Type
Chapter
Information
Climate Change and Youth Mental Health
Multidisciplinary Perspectives
 , pp. 385 - 402
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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