Indigenous Elders

 

Image by woodleywonderworks
via Creative Commons

During the summer of 2025, I had the opportunity to attend two powwows.  In the early summer, I attended one hosted in the ballroom of the student center at Brigham Young University. Then in early July, I attended the powwow hosted by the Ute tribe  outside of Fort Duchene as part of the Ute Reservation. (Ute means "Land of the Sun"). 

Most of the dances were organized by ages, which included competitions of older adults (all men or all women). Additionally, the procession into the arena at the Ute location had both veterans and older adults at the front of the procession.  I was a guest of a woman who is Ute, and she helped me understand etiquette.  She also emphasized the importance of older adults to the culture. 

Of course, I have long heard about the respected role that elders play in indigenous cultures: they are storytellers, keepers of important information for living off the land, healers, leaders, and more.  However, I do not fully understand the role of Indigenous elders because I am an outsider (and I always will be). However, I try to read at least one book a month about indigenous people. I am working at being an active listener to the messages in the statements made by people from the First Nations. 

I find it better if I refer people to reading the works by indigenous people themselves instead of having the message garbled (in content, tone, and style) if I try to summarize.  

Here are a few sources (with an acknowledgement that there may be glaring omissions): 

National Indian Council on Aging creates several genres for providing information pertinent to older adults. There are some statements I found about the vital role elders play in Native American communities; however, they stress the importance of providing resources to elders to demonstrate their value to the younger generations. This organization looks at laws, policies, and programs that help (or harm) elders from the indigenous communities of the US. 

The National Resource Center on Native American Aging describes their mission this way: They are "committed to identifying Native Elder health and social issues. Through education, training, and technical assistance, we assist in developing community-based solutions to improve the quality of life and delivery of related support services to the Native aging population. They have an informative set of pages online, but I find this 2024 report about the needs of Native Elders to be worth reading. For an overview of their work after 30 years, read this article from December of 2024.  

Wisdom of the Elders, Inc. records stories and information provided by Native American adults as one more way of preserving traditions / heritage / knowledge. They maintain a list of storytellers who are available for speaking engagements.  Their information includes photos and bios.  However, that is just ONE of their initiatives. They list eight initiatives that their organization supports.

Native American Today is an online magazine / blog that publishes a variety of stories, not just those about elders. However, it does have a page that lists some programs and services for older adults.  

Native Reservations is a blog that published posts about Indigenous issues. I cannot find information about the person or persons who run the blog. Nevertheless, some of the content is focused on issues related to Indigenous Elders, such as this post from April of 2025. 

The following organizations are not run solely by and for Indigenous peoples, but they have some relevant information: 

Seremount, an organization that helps women of all cultures and races to soar to new heights, has a list of organizations that serve Indigenous Elders. 

The International AARP organization represents the interests of older adults across borders and cultures. They do have a summary of a 2022 United Nations report, highlighting some of the needs and programs to meet the needs of Indigenous Elders.  

Related: 

Death Comes to All: A Native American Elder Tale (I recognize that Indigenous people are not a monoculture, so this story is not universal but particular to one tribe.)

From Age-ing to Sage-ing (The author is a Jewish rabbi, but he looks to Indigenous Elders for guidance as he entered his own elderhood.) 

Plotkin Describes Life Stages (The author is white, but his work is grounded in nature, and he draws on the work of Indigenous Elders.) 

I need to read more books about aging by Indigenous people instead of just work appropriating Indigenous wisdom!!!