This dissertation project will support the research of a cultural anthropologist studying the Navajo perceptions and cultural understandings of autism. The student, who has extensive experience studying autism in non-Indian society, will determine whether the Navajo have a concept of an illness syndrome similar to the one we label "autism", and will study how the Navajo culture conceptualizes and deals with this form of disease. Methods include participant observation in a home for "exceptional" (i.e., mentally ill) children on the reservation; formal interviews and informal discussions with the family of children in the home as well as with other Navajo. This research is important because it will add to our basic core of knowledge of the cultural variation in the labelling and conceptualization of disease. Such knowledge is essential if we are to improve the delivery of health care in a multi-cultural society.
