Using the Culturagram with Indigenous Peoples: A Tool for Accessing Indigenous Culture and Migration

How can Canada’s focus on multiculturalism be extended to Indigenous peoples? A concern is that Indigenous peoples have often been marginalized for not “integrating” as well as immigrants (MacDonald, 2014) and less attention given to understanding them and their unique cultures.

Despite historical and political differences, there are similarities between minority immigrants and Indigenous peoples. For example, an Indigenous person moving from a remote community to an urban area might face similar issues as a newly arrived migrant in Canada: racism, discrimination, language and cultural barriers, religious and spiritual challenges, and lack of culturally sensitive services. Although those in the social sciences have attempted to use “culturally sensitive” interventions, there is little literature on how to do this with Indigenous peoples (Sookraj et al., 2010).

This presentation will focus on an exploratory study of adapting the culturagram for work with Indigenous peoples. First developed in 1992 and modified in 2000 and 2008, the culturagam has been used with Mexican, Latino, and Asian immigrants with special attention to children, older people, and those with health problems (Congress, 2017). Defined as a complex and fluid concept, ten aspects of culture are addressed to better understand immigrants in a new country. An underlying principle that supports multiculturalism is that the culturagram is the person’s own story, not the perception of the provider.

References

Congress, E. (2017). Immigrants and refugees in urban settings. Urban Social Work 1(1), 20-35.

MacDonald, D.B. (2014). Aboriginal peoples and multicultural reform in Canada: Prospects for a new binational society. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 39 (1), 65-86.

Sookraj, D., Hutchinson, P., Evans, M., et Murphy, M. A. (2010). Aboriginal organizational response to the need for culturally appropriate services in three small Canadian cities. Journal of Social Work, 12(2), 136–157.