Abstract

Among Indigenous (Native American) people, the mortality rate from COVID-19 has been as high as three and a half times higher than the US national average. The pandemic has highlighted existing disparities in the health care services available to both rural and urban Indigenous/Native American peoples in the US federally recognized “Indian Tribes” (Tribal Nations). “Constructive Indigenization” reveals areas where Indigenous/Native American ways of knowing and being apply uniquely Indigenous/Native American cultural values, world views, and perspectives to transcend systemic, economic, and social barriers. This study proposes the concept of Constructive Indigenization as a mechanism for observing and considering the contextual reality that exists in, around, and through the interactions between tribal sovereignty, nation-building, and decolonization, collectively. Using analysis from two case studies of the Navajo and Choctaw Nations, the authors consider Constructive Indigenization through a variety of Tribal responses to the COVID-19 crisis in “Indian Country” while also incorporating a social determinants of health (SDoH) framework to situate healthcare disparities of marginalized people and the responses of Indigenous/Native American Nations to the crisis.