Historian

Traditional Shawl Gets an Update to Promote Cancer Awareness
by Olivia Mumoz
The Associated Press, 15 October 2005

HARBOR SPRINGS, Mich. (AP) — For centuries, the shawls American Indian women wrapped around their bodies were adorned with traditional patterns and colors representing nature and lineage.

Today, the shawls are becoming symbols of awareness.

The Pink Shawl Project uses the traditional wraps to raise awareness about breast cancer.

"They represent love, nourishment, sustenance, comfort, security — all of the teachings that go with women are in that shawl," said Lorraine "Punkin" Shananaquet, a health administrator for the Dorr-based Gun Lake Tribe and one of the organizers of the project. "We cherish certain parts of our regalia, and now these important pieces of clothing will mean so much more."

When the project began three years ago in the Grand Rapids area, American Indian women were encouraged to make personal shawls to wear while dancing at powwows. They eventually produced a DVD about breast cancer, which tribes from across the country now use to start projects in their own communities.

The Avon Foundation has given the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan more than $160,000 since 2003 to promote breast cancer education in state tribes.

"This was definitely a unique program to address a message that can be a little frightening," said foundation spokeswoman Susan Heaney. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Cynthia Greensky wore a maroon shawl adorned with pink ribbons when she danced in August at an annual powwow held in Harbor Springs by the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians.

"It's important that we communicate this message, even when it doesn't directly affect us," said Greensky, who made her shawl with the purpose of spreading the message of breast cancer awareness at powwows.

According to information gathered by the National Cancer Institute between 1998 and 2002, almost 55 cases of breast cancer were reported for every 100,000 American Indian women, and of those, almost 14 of every 100,000 died from the disease.

The breast cancer rate in the American Indian community isn't higher than the national average, but the death rate is, said Noel Pingatore, health education coordinator for the Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, a coalition of the state's 12 federally recognized tribes.

"There are a lot of reasons that women don't get checked: fear, access to culturally appropriate providers," Pingatore said.

According to Pine, Colo.-based Native American Cancer Research, language and other cultural factors can be barriers.

More than 200 native languages are spoken in the U.S. and many don't even include a word for cancer. In some languages, the same word is used to describe epilepsy, leprosy, and cancer, and there is no way to distinguish among such disorders.

"By having people that look like them and talk like them present them with the information, it makes it more personal," Pingatore said. "Instead of an outsider agency, the women came up with a solution to their problem."

The health awareness push is a hard one in the American Indian community, said Rick Schott II, president of the North American Indian Association of Detroit.

"Sometimes the Indian community is resistant to mainstream health practices. Doctors are seen as authority figures, and we haven't always had good experiences with authority figures," Schott said.

The Pink Shawl Project is growing across the country.

In Oregon, Cicelly Gabriel used a $7,000 grant from the state to promote the program. Gabriel works as a project coordinator with the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board's cancer control project.

"I really liked that it was community-based," said Gabriel, who heard about it at a national tribal health conference last fall.

In Tacoma, Wash., the shawls women make incorporate messages about all cancers.

Through the Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska, area tribes are adapting the project by making pink kuspuks, a regional knee-length dress worn by many Alaskan tribes.

In Michigan, the Mount Pleasant-based Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe used the money from the Avon Foundation for its annual Feather Link Tea, which the tribe began 10 years ago to promote women's health issues. The tribe also bought fabric for pink shawls and modeled them at a fashion show last year before presenting them to cancer survivors.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians made 50 shawls — about half of them by girls under 12.

"We're not just passing on culture, we're teaching them to be unafraid of changes in their body or disease," Shananaquet said.

Shananaquet will take the message worldwide this November when she presents the project at the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education in New Zealand.

Her mother, Sydney Martin, 62, and her daughter, Carly Shananaquet, 20, also will go. The three share a common design in their shawls.

Lorraine Shananaquet's shawl is dark blue with a green band. Pink hands follow the green band.

"The hands are mine," Shananaquet said. "The hand design is very old and utilized by all of Native America, only this time they represent the monthly self exam that is crucial to early breast cancer detection."

On the Net:

Avon Foundation: http://www.avoncompany.com/women

National Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov

Native American Cancer Research: http://natamcancer.org

Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan: http://www.itcmi.org

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"Be good, be kind, help each other. Respect the ground, respect the drum, respect each other."
--Abe Conklin, Ponca/Osage (1926-1995)

Blackbear

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