Abstract

Statistics pertaining to domestic violence among Native American and Alaska Native women in the United States illicit an overwhelming portrait of intimate and family violence. For the sake of redundancy, for the rest of the research when Native American comes up in the text, it will be referring to both Native American and Alaskan Natives because many of their cultural social norms and their domestic violence issues mimic each other. The toll it takes on society is small in comparison to women being beaten in all cultures and all over the globe. Battering is a new phenomenon among Native American and Alaska Native Americans. Domestic violence was indicated in Native history but never the dark mark it has bestowed on Native women of today. The research will try to show some of the issues that may have played a role in the inhibition of Native women and hindered them from moving toward self love, social independence, love for family and community. To give pertinent information on why Native women stay with their abusers, and understand why their drive to rise above adversity gets stifled. To examine the European influence, which has decimated Native peoples and may have caused the plight of Native American women today, it will show that the Native American male has learned some of the worst behavior of European culture. To touch on learning-base domestic violence, acculturation issues, various rates and patterns of abuse compared to national rates. What factors exist for the decrease in domestic violence among native communities, why confidentiality is a major issue in the Native American community. And finally, examine strategies that will help to curb violence in the Native American community.