Art of medicine indigenous apocalypse and transgenerational trauma

Abstract

The disproportionate negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Native communities is a result of transgenerational traumas-mental and physical-which have been ongoing and developing for centuries. This article considers 19th-century American visual and narrative representations of Native experiences of and responses to transgenerational trauma. This article also suggests ethical implications for Native American health of interpreting those representations and suggests an obligation to look on 19th-century White American artists' romanticizations of Native experiences with humility.