Thriving Women's Initiative - Alaska

12. Finally, research shows that contemplative practices such as mindfulness meditation can have dramatic effects on reducing violence. Research shows that different networks and neurochemicals in the brain can increase or diminish violence. The Orbital Frontal Cortex, including the Ventral medial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC), Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (dlPFC), Insula and Amygdala are all associated with fear, anxiety, aggression, and violence.

Neurochemicals such as are serotonin, oxytocin, vasopressin, and testosterone are also implicated with violence and aggression. A large body of research on mindfulness meditation shows that mindfulness practices can positively change key brain areas and neurochemicals leading to increased feelings of positivity, calm, happiness, and compassion. It also decreases feelings of anxiety, depression, fear, and anger. Recent research shows that mindfulness can decrease race bias (Lueke and Gibson, 2014), which has many implications for reducing the interracial violence against Native women. Mindfulness approaches should be implemented to prevent, treat, and heal violence against Native women, children, and communities.

III. METHODS Analyzing the work and activities of the projects in a manner that would steer as much as possible away from a colonized, positivistic, interrogatory method that focuses on the limitations, weaknesses, and what’s gone wrong with the projects, is the main goal of this research. Without question colonialism and settler colonialism have deliberately marginalized and harshly judged all of what is right with Indigenous cultures by focusing on what is wrong and lacking according to a western standard paradigm – and then attempted to fix or correct it. An Appreciative Inquiry (AI) approach strongly departs from this methodological approach and was, therefore, used to document the positive core of progress, accomplishments, strengths, and challenges of the seven Alaska Native Women’s-Led Violence Prevention projects.

A. What is Appreciative Inquiry?

Appreciate Inquiry (AI) is an approach that has been used in many different organizational, individual, group, and community development contexts. Appreciate Inquiry scholars, Stavos, Godwin, and Cooperrider (2015) state that: “At its heart, AI is about the search for the best in people, their organizations, 43