WLAC the Chronic Underfunding of The Indian Health Services Esay

Prompt

Ceremony and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian address many issues that Native Americans must still confront today, including, but not limited to, the following: cycles of poverty perpetuated by the reservation system, the exploitation of natural resources on Native lands, and the reality of racism from both outside and within Native communities. For this essay, you will select a topic that interests you from the list below, and then compose a sustained research paper that incorporates the principles of summary/paraphrase and argumentation developed in the first essay and adds outside research (5-7 pages). Keep in mind that your topic must be specific to a Native American community or communities, and remember that the novels we have read are only a springboard for thinking about issues facing Native communities; your essay should not reference either of the novels as sources. Instead, your essay must reference at least 5 nonfiction sources.

Suggested Topics:

• The way that COVID-19 crisis impacted tribal communities and revealed long-standing inequities with regard to healthcare funding and administration on reservations
• The chronic underfunding of the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the consequences of these funding issues on tribal communities
• The fight to preserve sacred land (this will require some research into laws such as the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Religious Liberty Protection Act).
• Water scarcity on tribal lands
• Impediments to success for Native American youth living on reservations (building on topics addressed in the documentary Pine Ridge: The Lives and Dreams of Today’s Native American Youth)
• Sexual assault against Native American women (if you choose this topic, you must be conversant in current/ongoing debates surrounding the 2019/2020 renewal of the Violence Against Women Act)
• You may select your own topic, but you must contact me for topic approval.

Each topic will require research pertaining to the broader topic, but will also likely necessitate the examination of specific case studies (i.e. examples that explore the impact of the issue on a few different tribal/reservation communities). Your essay should not only describe the issue, but should also explore possible solutions (drawing on ongoing efforts by Native American activist groups).

The following topics are not permitted: inequities in education (either K-12 or higher education); alcoholism among Native Americans; unemployment on Native American reservations; poverty on Native American reservations; or the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Essay Process

The process of composing this essay will take several weeks, and you will complete several assignments as part of this process. You will begin by writing a Proposal in which you describe your topic and explain your overall argument. Then, you’ll begin the research for your essay, which will culminate in an Annotated Bibliography. After that, you’ll write a first draft of the essay, followed by peer review and revision. Once that’s all done, you’ll submit your final draft. Scroll down to see the deadlines for each phase of the project.

Essay Structure

Your should begin with an introduction that introduces the topic and ends with a clearly worded, 1-2 sentence thesis statement. Each supporting paragraph (there should be at least 3, but you will likely have more) should begin with a strong topic sentence and should incorporate evidence, including direct quotations from the short stories as needed to support your argument. Direct quotations should be incorporated using the quotation sandwich method and proper MLA in-text citations. The post should also contain a strong conclusion.

Formatting Tips

Your document should:

• Be a minimum of 5 pages in length
• Be typed and double-spaced, in Times New Roman font, size 12
• Have 1-inch margins
• Include a properly formatted heading and a title
• A properly formatted Works Cited page (see the sample provided in the instructions document for Essay 2 and review the resources available at the Purdue OWL (Links to an external site.)).

Due Dates

• Saturday, October 31: Your proposal must be uploaded as Word document or a PDF via the assignment link in the Week 9 Module by 11:59pm. See the Week 9 Module for specific instructions.
• Saturday, November 14: Your annotated bibliography must be uploaded as Word document or a PDF via the assignment link in the Week 11 Module by 11:59pm. See the Week 11 Module for specific instructions.
• Saturday, November 28: Draft 1 must be uploaded as a Word document or a PDF via the assignment link in the Week 14 Module by 11:59pm for online peer review.
• Saturday, December 5: Complete peer review for the 3 essays assigned to you by 11:59pm. Instructions for peer review (and sample peer reviews) can be located in the Week 14 Module.
• Thursday, December 10: Draft 2 must be uploaded as a Word document or a PDF via the assignment link in the Week 15 Module by 11:59pm. I will grade this draft.