263:. Beginning in the 1980s, Cook began conducting research to better understand the intersection of environmental degradation and maternal and fetal health. She has stated that challenges facing indigenous communities, like environmental pollution and reproductive health, must be understood and addressed in a way that acknowledges their intersecting nature, as opposed to viewing them as independent problems.
136:. He died in a plane accident when Cook was nine months old. Her mother was raised in Quebec and educated by Catholic nuns, but died when Cook was 11 years old. During the remainder of her childhood, Katsi Cook lived with her paternal grandmother, Kanatires Elizabeth Herne Cook, a midwife who had delivered Cook as well as many other children at Akwesasne.
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recommends very limited consumption of fish caught from the river. According to Cook, this pollution has been detrimental to
Akwesasne culture: “Fishing is more than throwing a line and bait into the water. Children learned about our culture and their world on that river. Our social practices and
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Cook decided to pursue midwifery in 1977 after attending the Loon Lake
Conference of the Six Nations. Speakers at the conference emphasized the important role traditional birthing practices play in enabling Native women to reclaim sovereignty over their bodies; control over reproduction was also
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Cook has stated that "Women are the first environment. We are an embodiment of our Mother Earth. From the bodies of women flows the relationship of the generations both to society and the natural world. With our bodies we nourish, sustain and create connected relationships and interdependence. In
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and founder of the organization's Woman is the First
Environment Collaborative which supports community-based health projects seeks that seek to empower Native women of all ages and increase knowledge concerning reproductive health. She has founded a number of organizations serving the Akwesasne
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about establishing a breast milk study at
Akwesasne. In 1985, the Women's Dance Health Program became the Mother's Milk Monitoring Project which continues to provide services and advocacy to this day. In subsequent environmental research on the reservation, Cook would be a bridge between the
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In 2009, she co-founded the Konon:kwe
Council, a woman-led, community-based council in Akwesasne which seeks to empower women in the community and advance woman-centered policies to stunt cycles of violence in the community.
212:, and other services. She also helped found the Akwesasne Freedom School – an independent school which teaches K-8th grades – in 1979. Around the same time, Cook established the Women's Dance Health Program at Akwesasne.
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identity are tied into the flowing water – its quality of life directly correlates to the life around it.” She says that fewer children are now learning traditional skills like fishing because of the contamination.
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which oversees the drafting of midwifery legislation to assure that indigenous rights are respected. According to Cook, the council's goal is to have an aboriginal midwife in every aboriginal community.
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and at
Cornell University. In 2004 and 2005, Cook was the recipient of the Indigenous Knowledge Cultural Research Award from the Indigenous Health Research Development Program at the
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School of Public Health as well as a visiting fellow at
Cornell University's American Indian Program. In 2001, she was the Dr. T.J. Murray Visiting Scholar in Medical Humanities at
201:. There she founded the Women's Dance Health Project as a community-based initiative. Cook moved back to Akwesasne in 1980 after finding a group of women to continue the project.
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Local Food
Production and Community Illness Narratives: Responses to Environmental Contamination and Health Studies in the Mohawk Community of Akwesasne
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Between 1972 and 1977, and then again from 1979 to 1983, Cook and
Barreiro worked with the Kanienkehaka Longhouse Council of Chiefs on
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The youngest of four children, Katsi Cook was born on 4 January 1952, to
Kawennaien Evelyn Mountour Cook and William John Cook on the
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Cook has been active part of national and international women's health movements which includes her work alongside Mayan midwives in
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370:. All of her scholarly articles are a part of the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College. In 2007, she was a featured speaker at
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have harmed indigenous communities' way of life. For instance, due to the Saint Lawrence River's PCB contamination, the
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had been taking samples from animals and soil on the reservation since the 1970s, though they had never checked how the
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seen as a method to reclaim Native sovereignty in and of itself. She completed a spiritual midwifery apprenticeship at
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community, including the Women's Dance Health Program, the Mother's Milk Monitoring Project, and the Konon:kwe Council.
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as a part of the school's first class of women. Shortly thereafter, she left school in order to participate in the
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Cook later returned to complete her undergraduate degree in Biology and Society in the School of Human Ecology at
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in 1984, Cook, along with Lin Nelson, Janet Rith-Najarian, Doug Brown, spoke with Brian Bush, a chemist at the
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804:"'Be proud of who you are': Indigenous elders offer advice to the young about self-respect and reconciliation"
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84:, environmentalist, Native American rights activist, and women's health advocate. She is best known for her
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Between 1994 and 1998, Cook was a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Health and Toxicology at the
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Johnson, Jeff (1996). "News: Mohawk environmental health project integrates research into the community".
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that published articles from around the country relevant to or written about the Akwesasne community.
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mothers' milk. This coincided with growing concerns in the community surrounding high numbers of
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Katsi Cook was educated at Catholic boarding school, though she began practicing the traditional
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in 1978 and later did a clinical placement at the Red Schoolhouse Clinic, a WARN project in
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this way the Earth is our mother, our ancestors said. In this way, we as women are earth.”
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and the Indigenous Communities Leadership Program for Indigenous Girls and Women of the
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in the Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, Smith College Special Collections
294:. She was the founding aboriginal midwife of the Six Nations Birthing Centre in
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that runs through Akwesasne and the reservation land itself are in proximity to
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At Akwesasne, Cook continued to practice midwifery which included providing
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and later gave lectures on alternative and complementary therapies at the
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Cook has also spoken extensively about the ways in which these types of
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710:"Contaminated Culture: Native People Struggle with Tainted Resources"
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Cook, Katsi (September 30, 1997). "Women are the First Environment".
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New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC)
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873:"Spirit Aligned Leadership Program Welcomes New Legacy Leaders"
681:"Native Women Were Forcibly Sterilized -- and They Fought Back"
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612:"Collection: Katsi Cook papers | Smith College Finding Aids"
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in Tennessee in 1978, followed by clinical training at the
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Akwesasne community, scientists, and government workers.
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and reproductive health research in her home community,
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on the St. Regis Mohawk reservation. Researchers from
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Skidmore College, Dartmouth College, Cornell University
848:"Katsi Cook — Deepening Indigenous Women's Networks"
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Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment.
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777:Six Nations Health Services : Birthing Centre
356:University of California at San Francisco's (UCSF)
346:. In 2008, Cook's papers were integrated into the
482:Scoby, Mae (2000). "The Way We Hold Our Bodies".
304:National Aboriginal Council of Midwives of Canada
208:, delivery, post-partum care, family planning,
589:. Providence, RI: Brown University. p. 87
314:Cook has served as a program director for the
779:. Six Nations Health Services. Archived from
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366:Cook has written multiple news articles for
284:New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)
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193:Cook also attended the founding meeting of
147:from 1970 to 1972, and then transferred to
416:"Katsi Cook: Meet Board Member Katsi Cook"
332:State University New York (SUNY) at Albany
68:Sherrill Elizabeth Tekatsitsiakawa “Katsi”
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16:Mohawk midwife and women's health activist
247:was affecting community-members, notably
527:"Katsi Cook interviewed by Joyce Follet"
420:Running Strong for American Indian Youth
278:As she pursued her undergraduate degree
235:under GM property, and later in private
97:Running Strong for American Indian Youth
911:Transcript of Katsi Cook's oral history
534:Voices of Feminism Oral History Project
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739:Environmental Science & Technology
708:Bienkowski, Brian (October 25, 2012).
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223:plants and waste dumps. In 1981, the
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272:New York State Department of Health
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972:20th-century Native American women
679:Hayes, Kelly (November 28, 2019).
655:"A Mohawk Midwife's Birth Stories"
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957:Native American environmentalists
316:Spirit Aligned Leadership Program
190:Women's Health Training Program.
326:Work in academia and fellowships
300:National Women's Health Network
229:Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
195:Women of all Red Nations (WARN)
917:Indigenous Midwifery in Canada
846:Bioneers (February 21, 2020).
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525:Follet, Joyce (October 2005).
453:"Katsi Cook : Co-founder"
153:American Indian Movement (AIM)
90:the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne
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987:21st-century Native Americans
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143:as a teenager. She attended
120:. Her father, a graduate of
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44:St. Regis Mohawk Reservation
967:21st-century American women
717:, Environmental Health News
340:SUNY Buffalo Medical School
245:environmental contamination
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932:American environmentalists
822:"About the Elders Council"
637:"Akwesasne Freedom School"
118:Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne
1007:Longhouse Religion people
992:Native American academics
962:Cornell University alumni
268:environmental degradation
997:American women academics
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188:University of New Mexico
108:Early life and education
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348:Sophia Smith Collection
95:She is the director of
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231:had been found in the
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391:José Eugenio Barreiro
344:University of Toronto
92:in upstate New York.
86:environmental justice
463:on November 29, 2014
426:on February 28, 2017
368:Indian Country Today
336:Dalhousie University
166:Education and career
751:1996EnST...30...20J
715:Scientific American
221:General Motors (GM)
70:(pronounced Gudji)
362:Articles and media
280:Cornell University
217:St. Lawrence River
199:St Paul, Minnesota
162:in the mid-1980s.
160:Cornell University
141:Longhouse Religion
937:American midwives
901:Katsi Cook papers
773:"Birthing Centre"
759:10.1021/es962056s
457:Konon:kwe Council
210:family counseling
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372:Live Earth
134:Korean War
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1002:Akwesasne
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685:Truthout
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557:ProQuest
302:and the
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