Indigenous Vignette #1

An American Indian male client enters a white psychotherapist’s office for the first time. The office is quite expensively decorated.  On one wall are several dreamcatchers, on another wall is a colorful Navajo rug, and on the table facing the client’s chair is a large Hopi Kachina doll.

When the therapist sees the client silently taking in all Indian objects, she exclaims, “As you can see, I love to decorate with Native American art.”  The client shifts uncomfortably in his chair and castes his eyes downward.

Question for the reader: Why might the American Indian client
be uncomfortable with therapist's statement "I love to decorate with
Native American art?"

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