“OUR BODIES ARE MADE OF WATER”: CO-CREATION OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT WATER INSECURITY AND MATERNAL HEALTH WITH HAUDENOSAUNEE WOMEN AT SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND RIVER.

Abstract

This doctoral research co-created knowledge about water insecurity and maternal health and wellbeing in partnership with the Six Nations Birthing Center (SNBC). In this research, I sought to highlight Haudenosaunee understandings of water and maternal health to document mothers’ experiences of water insecurity and how that affects their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. We took a decolonizing and Community-Based Participatory Research approach (CBPR) in our research and used a theoretical framework weaving Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Critical Medical Anthropology (CMA), and Environmental Anthropology. Indigenous research methods such as storytelling and anthropological methods such as semi-structured in-depth interviews were used for data collection from 55 participants consisting of mothers (n=41), grandmothers (n=10), and midwives (n=4), along with analysis of midwives’ charts for the 41 mothers. Data analysis reveals that severe water insecurity in the SN community, the second largest and most populous reserve in Canada, negatively affects mothers’ holistic health. Stress, anxiety, sadness, lower self-esteem, dehydration, Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and eczema were reported. In addition, other profound impacts of water insecurity, such as concern over normalizing water insecurity, being forced to either become dehydrated or rely on less expensive and readily available sugary drinks, and growing frustrations over water inequality, were also revealed. This research expands our knowledge about maternal health and water insecurity as it demonstrates that water insecurity is not limited to technical measurements communicated in water advisories and is not only limited to humans. SN mothers understand water insecurity as part of the interrelatedness and interdependence of all creations. Similarly, SN mothers’ understanding of maternal health transcends narrow biomedical definitions to include the health of mother figures and Mother Earth. As such, our research contributes to expanding the definition of maternal health. The research demonstrates that for Haudenosaunee mothers, maternal bodies are interconnected with Mother Earth, thus affecting and co-creating each other. These interconnections shape SN mothers’ understanding and experiences with water insecurity. However, these interconnections are ignored and systematically eliminated by the settler colonialism that creates the conditions of persistent water insecurity at Six Nations of the Grand River.