POC has been honored to support the Lindsey M. Bonistall Research Fellow, RaeAnn Anderson, over the past few years! Her project, "Empowering Indigenous College Women to Stop Rape: A Treatment Development Study," has produced extensive and sobering facts and statistics.
Below is a condensed summary she has provided for us:
Many Indigenous families discuss rape in terms of when, not if. It is something that is so
widespread and pernicious it is expected. The upside of that is, people know and care and want
to change the ride. Indigenous college students we surveyed and interviewed are willing to try
many different types of prevention strategies. We also found very few gender differences,
Indigenous men see this as just a big a problem as Indigenous women and two-spirit folks.
Providers of prevention programs absolutely must account for historical trauma and how that
has influenced the current context. Indigenous people know Pocahontas not by her Disney name
and tale, but by her real name of Amonute. They know her as one of the first and not last
Indigenous girls to be kidnapped and raped by White outsiders. The scars of this type of ongoing
abuse and broader American cultural ignoring of Indigenous people still stings and has many
wide-ranging effects from attacks on tribal sovereignty, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and the
60s Steal/boarding school abuses to current human trafficking and poverty on reservations.
RaeAnn has taken her research on the road:
Conference Presentations (4):
Cole, R. E., Armstrong, C., Barker, B., Blair, A., Cole, A. B. (2022, April). Empowering
Indigenous College Students to Stop Rape: A Formative Study. Poster presentation submitted to
the inaugural Oklahoma State University Undergraduate Research Symposium, Stillwater, OK.
Armstrong, C.M., Unger, L., Cole, A.B., & Anderson, R. (2022). Empowering Indigenous
College Students to Stop Rape: A Treatment Development Study. Poster presentation accepted to
the 2022 APA Convention, Minneapolis, MN.
Cole, A. B., Anderson, R., Unger, L., & Armstrong, C. M. (2022, January). Empowering
Indigenous college students to stop rape: A treatment development study. Roundtable discussion
presented at the 2022 biennial National Multicultural Conference and Summit, Santa Fe, NM
(virtual).
Anderson, R. E., & Hanna, A., (2021, November) Self Defense for Indigenous Peoples Study:
Sovereignty for your Body - Psychology colloquium on Diversity Research at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Community Talk:
Anderson, R. E., (2021, October) Self Defense for Indigenous Peoples Study: Sovereignty for
your Body – introductory presentation to UND AISES club (American Indian Science and
Engineering Society)
Public Lecture:
Anderson, R. E., (2022, April). Alcohol-Facilitated Sexual Victimization Among Indigenous
College Students. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Rural Drug Addiction Research Center
Seminar Series. Lincoln, NE, USA. (virtual), www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL3x367aggk
If you would like to read more, please click the links below, which include her findings on:
Below is a condensed summary she has provided for us:
Many Indigenous families discuss rape in terms of when, not if. It is something that is so
widespread and pernicious it is expected. The upside of that is, people know and care and want
to change the ride. Indigenous college students we surveyed and interviewed are willing to try
many different types of prevention strategies. We also found very few gender differences,
Indigenous men see this as just a big a problem as Indigenous women and two-spirit folks.
Providers of prevention programs absolutely must account for historical trauma and how that
has influenced the current context. Indigenous people know Pocahontas not by her Disney name
and tale, but by her real name of Amonute. They know her as one of the first and not last
Indigenous girls to be kidnapped and raped by White outsiders. The scars of this type of ongoing
abuse and broader American cultural ignoring of Indigenous people still stings and has many
wide-ranging effects from attacks on tribal sovereignty, the Indian Child Welfare Act, and the
60s Steal/boarding school abuses to current human trafficking and poverty on reservations.
RaeAnn has taken her research on the road:
Conference Presentations (4):
Cole, R. E., Armstrong, C., Barker, B., Blair, A., Cole, A. B. (2022, April). Empowering
Indigenous College Students to Stop Rape: A Formative Study. Poster presentation submitted to
the inaugural Oklahoma State University Undergraduate Research Symposium, Stillwater, OK.
Armstrong, C.M., Unger, L., Cole, A.B., & Anderson, R. (2022). Empowering Indigenous
College Students to Stop Rape: A Treatment Development Study. Poster presentation accepted to
the 2022 APA Convention, Minneapolis, MN.
Cole, A. B., Anderson, R., Unger, L., & Armstrong, C. M. (2022, January). Empowering
Indigenous college students to stop rape: A treatment development study. Roundtable discussion
presented at the 2022 biennial National Multicultural Conference and Summit, Santa Fe, NM
(virtual).
Anderson, R. E., & Hanna, A., (2021, November) Self Defense for Indigenous Peoples Study:
Sovereignty for your Body - Psychology colloquium on Diversity Research at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Community Talk:
Anderson, R. E., (2021, October) Self Defense for Indigenous Peoples Study: Sovereignty for
your Body – introductory presentation to UND AISES club (American Indian Science and
Engineering Society)
Public Lecture:
Anderson, R. E., (2022, April). Alcohol-Facilitated Sexual Victimization Among Indigenous
College Students. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Rural Drug Addiction Research Center
Seminar Series. Lincoln, NE, USA. (virtual), www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL3x367aggk
If you would like to read more, please click the links below, which include her findings on: