ULibraries Research Guides: Community Reads: The Scalpel and The Silver Bear

The Scalpel and The Silver Bear

Registration is Required to access the Zoom link for the November 2021 Community Read.

University of Utah Land Acknowledgement

The Book

The Scalpel and the Silver Bear by Lori Arviso Alvord; Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt
ISBN: 0553100122
Publication Date: 1999-06-01

In a remarkable book that takes the reader on a spellbinding journey between two worlds, surgeon Lori Arviso Alvord describes her struggles to bring modern medicine to the Navajo reservation in Gallup, New Mexico and to bring the values of her people to a medical care system in danger of losing its heart.

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Finding the solutions to modern medicine's most daunting problems was far from the mind of a girl from a small, dusty town on a Navajo reservation. But Lori Arviso Alvord would leave the traditional hogans of her people to attend the prestigious Stanford University Medical School and become the first Navajo woman surgeon. Only after conquering the high-tech realm of the operating room would this extraordinarily talented doctor realize something was missing from contemporary medical care, an understanding of the whole person who has come seeking healing.

The Scalpel and the Silver Bear tells of Dr. Alvord's pioneering journey to become a woman surgeon, fighting the odds presented by her own culture and the unspoken rules that made surgery the territory of a privileged class of males. Then, having accomplished her dreams, the strong-willed young woman would find herself faced with a different challenge: learning another approach to medicine amid the Hataali, the medicine men of the Dine, the people we call Navajo.

Here in this moving, enlightening, and provocative volume, Dr. Alvord teaches us how she merged the latest breakthroughs of science and methodology with the ancient tribal paths to recovery and wellness. In dramatic encounters while practicing reservation medicine - a man whose intestine was pierced by a porcupine quill, which he insisted was placed there by an enemy's curse; a woman who had been struck by lightning and blamed her cancer on it; and an all-night winter sing for a gravely ill young woman, attended by the whole community, Dr. Alvord witnessed the power of belief to influence health, for good or for ill. She discovered that patients undergoing chemotherapy did better after having a native healer at bedside, and that the feelings of both the patient and the surgeon could affect recovery time, postsurgical complications, and even whether the patient lived or died.

The secret, Lori Alvord discovered, lay in the Navajo philosophy of a balanced and harmonious life, called "Walking in Beauty." Her sharing of these ancient principles promises to have an immeasurable impact on today's doctors and patients by expanding the concept of mind-body healing to include the interconnectedness of all life. Personal, simply written, yet profoundly wise,The Scalpel and the Silver Bear joins those few rare works, such as Healing and the Mind, whose ideas have changed medical practices and our understanding of the world.

Schedule of Readings

Date/Time	Chapters
Tuesday, November 2, 2021, NOON	Introduction – Chapter 3 – pgs 1-56 (56 pgs)
Tuesday, November 9, 2021, NOON	Chapters 4 – 6 – Pgs 57-106 (50 pgs)
Tuesday, November 16, 2021, NOON	Chapters 7 – 10 – Pgs. 107-149 (43 pgs)
Tuesday, November 23, 2021, NOON	Chapters 11- 14 - Pgs. 150-196 (47 pgs)

Co-Sponsors: American Indian Resource Center (AIRC); Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library (EHSL); Office of Health Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (UHealth OHEDI); and J. Willard Marriott Library.

Facilitator

Franci Lynne Taylor (Choctaw, she/her), Director, American Indian Resource Center (AIRC), University of Utah

Franci Lynne Taylor, mother of two, grandmother of five, and auntie to many, earned a B.F.A. and a B.S. in Anthropology/Sociology at Montana State University. She earned her Ph.D. in American Indian Studies through the Faculty of Archaeology program at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. She has taught American Indian Studies and Culture for over 25 years locally, nationally, and internationally at all educational levels. She has worked on creating American Indian curriculum for public schools. At present she is a cross-cultural consultant for UHealth and the Executive Director of the American Indian Resource Center at University of Utah. She specializes in traditional Indigenous knowledge and ethnobotany and is a participating member of the Indigenous People’s working group at the United Nations. She has taught classes on interactions between colonialism and indigenous peoples at the University of Leiden, The Nederlands, and community-based research in American Indian communities. She sits on several national Indian Education boards. Franci is a member of the Choctaw Tribe and is a traditional dancer and craft worker.

Special MEDiversity Lecture by Dr. Lori Alvord Arviso

Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord, author of The Scalpel and The Silver Bear, was also a featured speaker during MEDiversity Week on Monday, November 1, 2021 at NOON – here is the recording of her presentation.

Book Summary and Review

[Book Summary] The Scalpel and the Silver Bear Summary (SuperSummary)

[Book Review] Loewe, Ron. JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan 19, 2000, Vol.283(3), p.405 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

About the Author

About the Author

Changing the Face of Medicine | Lori Arviso Alvord Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord bridges two worlds of medicine—traditional Navajo healing and conventional Western medicine—to treat the whole patient.

Lori Arviso Alvord - Photos

Lori Arviso Alvord - Wikipedia Lori Arviso Alvord (born 1958) is a surgeon and author. She is perhaps best known for being the first Diné woman to ever become board certified in surgery.

Lori Arviso Alvord, first Navajo woman surgeon, to open Dartmouth's Academic Year Dartmouth News. Sep 16, 1999

First Navajo woman doctor recounts struggles in college Navajo Times. Oct 31, 2011

Associate Dean Lori Arviso Alvord, MD, Sees Priorities for Medical Admissions and Student Affairs University of Arizona Health Sciences. Dec 1, 2012

Author Presentations/Videos

Videos

The Healing Properties of Navajo Ceremonies [The Simon Ortiz and Labriola Center Lecture on Indigenous Land, Culture, and Community] (Oct. 22, 2015) | Video | Poster | ASU News story

Dr. Lori Arviso Alvord Keynote Address (May 25, 2013) | University of Utah School of Medicine, 2013.

Journal Articles by Lori Arviso Alvord, M.D.

Journal Articles by Lori Arviso Alvord, M.D.

Cancer Journey for American Indians and Alaska Natives in the Pacific Northwest . Haozous EA, Doorenbos A, Alvord LA, Flum DR, Morris AM. Oncol Nurs Forum. 2016 Sep 1;43(5):625-35. doi: 10.1188/16.ONF.625-635. PMID: 27541555

Shared decision-making for cancer care among racial and ethnic minorities: a systematic review. Mead EL, Doorenbos AZ, Javid SH, Haozous EA, Alvord LA, Flum DR, Morris AM. Am J Public Health. 2013 Dec;103(12):e15-29. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301631. Epub 2013 Oct 17. Review. PMID: 24134353

Medical school accommodations for religious and cultural practices. Alvord LA. Virtual Mentor. 2013 Mar 1;15(3):198-201. doi: 10.1001/virtualmentor.2013.15.3.ecas3-1303. PMID: 23472807

Surgical outcomes in American Indian veterans: a closer look. Alvord LA, Henderson WG, Benton K, Buchwald D. J Am Coll Surg. 2009 Jun;208(6):1085-92.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2009.02.058. PMID: 19476896

Surgical morbidity and mortality among American Indian and Alaska Native veterans: a comparative analysis. Alvord LA, Rhoades D, Henderson WG, Goldberg JH, Hur K, Khuri SF, Buchwald D. J Am Coll Surg. 2005 Jun;200(6):837-44. PMID: 15922193

Navajo surgeon combines approaches. Interview by Judy Cassidy. Alvord LA. Health Prog. 1999 Jan-Feb;80(1):42-3, 48. PMID: 10345108

Routine intraoperative laparoscopic cholangiography. Stuart SA, Simpson TI, Alvord LA, Williams MD. Am J Surg. 1998 Dec;176(6):632-7. PMID: 9926804

Books Referenced in the Bibliography of The Scalpel and The Silver Bear

American Indian Poetry by George W. Cronyn (Introduction by)
Call Number: Marriott Library Level 2: General Collection E98.P74 C9 1970
ISBN: 0871400448
Publication Date: 1970-01-01
American Indians of the Southwest by Bertha Pauline Dutton
Call Number: Marriott Library Level 2: General Collection E78.S7 D79 1983
ISBN: 0826305512
Publication Date: 1983-01-01
Colloquial Navajo by Robert Young; William Morgan
Call Number: Marriott Library Level 2: General Collection (PM2008 .Y59 1994)
ISBN: 0781802784
Publication Date: 1994-10-01
This dictionary addresses the inadequacy of literal translation when working with idioms. It offers interpretations based on the general meaning of a phrase rather than the individual words that comprise the expressions.
Drinking Careers by Stephen J. Kunitz; Jerrold E. Levy
Call Number: Marriott Library Level 2: General Collection (E99.N3 K86 1994)
ISBN: 0300060009
Publication Date: 1994-11-30
In this book, the first long-term follow-up study of alcohol use among Native Americans, a physician and sociologist and an anthropologist examine the data on three groups of Navajos whom they first interviewed about their use of alcohol in 1966. The authors find verification for their initial hypothesis that young men who would have been classed as alcoholic often stop or moderate their drinking as they age. They also find that there is considerable diversity in patterns of alcohol use among both women and men. Stephen J. Kunitz and Jerrold E. Levy study the histories of those who have died as well as those who have survived since the first study was done. They show that, compared to those who have survived, the former were more likely to have been solitary drinkers and were on average younger at the time when they were first interviewed. The authors also present data for the entire Navajo population on changing mortality from alcohol-related causes from the 1960s to the present; they compare alcohol-related death rates among Navajos to those among rural Anglos in Arizona and New Mexico; they analyze two family histories--one of a family with severe alcohol problems, the other of a family with none--that illustrate how traditional patterns of wealth have shaped the way people have learned to use alcohol; they study the factors that may have led to the emergence of a solitary, unrestrained drinking style among some Navajos; and they describe the changes in treatment programs and the transformation of traditional healing systems as they are integrated into a bureaucratized health care system.
First Person, First Peoples by Andrew Garrod (Editor); Colleen Larimore (Editor)
Call Number: Marriott Library Level 2: General Collection E97.65.N4 F57 1997
ISBN: 0801433835
Publication Date: 1997-06-19
Relates the Dartmouth graduates' struggle to reconcile their college experiences with their ethnic heritage.
Going for the rain : poems by Ortiz, Simon J
Call Number: Special Collections Request at Special Collections Desk: Special Collections (PS3565.R77 G6 1976)
Publication Date: 1976
Indian Givers by Jack Weatherford
Call Number: Marriott Library Level 2: General Collection (E59 .I53 W43 1988)
ISBN: 0517569698
Publication Date: 1988-12-12
A discussion of the many contributions that the Indians have made to world culture and society.
Navaho Indian Myths by Aileen O'Bryan
Call Number: Request via Interlibrary Loan
ISBN: 0486275922
Publication Date: 1993-06-14
In the late 1920s, an elderly Navaho leader, anxious to preserve the myths of his people before they were lost in the tide of modern civilization, asked Aileen O'Bryan to record the tales he told her and to publish them in a book. The storyteller was Sandoval, Hastin Tlo'tsi hee (or Old Man Buffalo Grass), the first of the four chiefs of the Navaho People. Ms. O'Bryan, then living in Mesa Verde National Park, wrote down the old man's stories -- as well as many chants -- for the most part just as he told them. This book is the result -- a unique compilation of authentic age-old Navaho origin and creation myth, from which many Navaho tribal ceremonies eventually evolved. Besides their value as mythologic literature, these tales are also intriguing for their revelation of Navaho knowledge of climatic and astronomical phenomena: seasonal changes, the equinox, the moon's effect on the earth and tides and more. Among the myths retold here are: The Creation of the Sun and Moon, The People of the Stone Houses, The Making of the Headdress, The Maiden who Became a Bear, The White Bead Maiden's Marriage with the Sun, The Story of the Rain Ceremony and Its Hogan, The Story of the Two Boys and the Coming of the Horses, The Story of the Navaho and the Apache Peoples, and many others. Over 20 illustrations enhance the text, which will be welcomed by students of Native American culture, anthropologists, folklorists, and anyone intrigued by the myths evolved by the earth's peoples to give meaning to the world and their lives.
Navajo Taboos by Ernie Bulow; Ernest Franklin (Illustrator); Tony Hillerman (Foreword by)
Call Number: Marriott Library Special Collections Request at Special Collections Desk: Special Collections E99.N3 B85 1991
ISBN: 0914001019
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
Songs of the Fluteplayer by Sharman Apt Russell
Call Number: Special Collections Request at Special Collections Desk: Special Collections (F802.G7 R87 1991)
ISBN: 0201570939
Publication Date: 1991-01-01
In Songs of the Fluteplayer, the charm and challenge of the spectacularly beautiful American Southwest are irresistibly captured by a woman who risked much to discover a new life and greater meaning there. Sharman Apt Russell and her husband moved to the Mimbres Valley in southwestern New Mexico in order to lead a simpler yet more substantial life. Their efforts to be self-sufficient-building an adobe house, giving birth at home, growing their own food-shattered many ideals and forced compromises but also renewed their ties to each other and kindled their respect for the land and its people. The American Southwest that Russell fell in love with comes to life vividly in her writing. From Navajo weavers to illegal Mexican workers, trading posts to prehistoric pottery, water rights disputes to the omnipresent fluteplayer Kokopelli-the energy and wonder of the Southwest is celebrated in this enchanting book.&
The Book of the Navajo by Raymond F. Locke; Glen Tarnowski (Illustrator)
Call Number: Special Collections Request at Special Collections Desk: Special Collections (E99.N3 L74 1989)
ISBN: 0876874006
Publication Date: 1989-11-01
5th Edition, 1992 is referenced in the bibliography - this is the 1989 edition - 5th edition not available at Marriott Library. 5th edition (http://www.worldcat.org/title/book-of-the-navajo/oclc/27330988?referer=br&ht=edition) & 6th edition (http://www.worldcat.org/title/book-of-the-navajo/oclc/48574190?referer=br&ht=edition) are available via Interlibrary Loan.

The Long Walk: Retracing the Navajo's Trail of Tears by Roessel, Monty
Call Number: Request via Interlibrary Loan
Publication Date: 1993
This is actually an article: Monty Roessel, "The Long Walk: Retracing the Navajo's Trail of Tears," New Mexico Magazine (August 1993), p. 72-76.