Reclamation
This collection of short stories contains a variety of fictional narratives, some more directly related to healthcare than others, but all worth a read. In her foreword, Roxanne Gay characterizes the anthology as one in which “writers imagine what a culture of health might look like. They imagine the dire consequences for humanity if we don’t start building a true, widely accessible culture of health.”
One particular story that directly addresses health themes is a graphic narrative entitled “Reclamation” which tells the story of a Native American teenage boy struggling with absent parents, mental health issues, and self harm. One night he decides to run away from home and he encounters a horse, who he follows back to an old Native American man who is sitting in a field. The man asks him what is wrong and he shares his feelings of being lost and alone. The man shares wisdom of how he connected with his identity and heritage by spending time with horses, and starts teaching the boy how to ride a horse. The connection to the horses reveals a significant tie with the land that was taken from Native Americans, as well as a deep sense of community and freedom. We then see a time jump into the future, when the boy has become an elder advisor sharing wisdom just like the man who changed his whole life path, and quite possibly saved his life. It is an inspiring story touching on various important topics such as adolescent mental health, cultural belonging, the connections between cultural trauma and individual health, and how we can overcome obstacles in the most unexpected ways. This story would fit well into a cultural anthropology class, a mental health class, a class on Native American healthcare, or a graphic health narrative class. Because of its short length, it would work best as an in class reading to then discuss afterward. It could also work in conjunction with a more informational reading on Native American ideology or spirituality, or perhaps another story from a different cultural group on how to cope with mental health issues.