Cohort Experiences

Table 4 below presents cohort experiences of Alaska Natives across five twenty-year periods beginning with 1900. It shows the ages or period of the life cycle an elder may have experienced that particular event. A description of historical events beginning with the 1700s may be found within the Decade Value Development Charts.

It is critical to remember that the historical context and cohort experiences of Alaska Natives are diverse. It is also important to remember the period in their life cycle development (or age) when they experienced that event. Experiencing epidemics of smallpox, measles and influenza during the early 1900s (collectively referred to as the “Great Deaths”) in young childhood would have more of an impact than if that individual experienced it when he/she were an adolescent.

In general, the impact of this event greatly diminished Alaska Natives’ faith in their traditional ways of healing, led to great distrust of Western Medicine because it could not ameliorate the great loss of life, and created skepticism about its effectiveness. Alaska Native older adults may not trust the system but are dependent upon the system at the same time.