Dances with Dependency: Out of Poverty Through Self-Reliance
Ebook
Overview
Dances with Dependency offers effective strategies to eliminate welfare dependency and help eradicate poverty among indigenous populations. Beginning with an impassioned and insightful portrait of today’s native communities, it connects the prevailing impoverishment and despair directly to a “dependency mindset" forged by welfare economics. To reframe this debilitating mindset, it advocates policy reform in conjunction with a return to native peoples’ ten-thousand-year tradition of self-reliance based on personal responsibility and cultural awareness.
Author Calvin Helin, un-tethered to agendas of political correctness or partisan politics, describes the mounting crisis as an impending demographic tsunami threatening both the United States and Canada. In the United States, where government entitlement programs for diverse ethnic minorities coexist with an already huge national debt, he shows how prosperity is obviously at stake. This looming demographic tidal wave viewed constructively, however, can become an opportunity for reform—among not only indigenous peoples of North America but any impoverished population struggling with dependency in inner cities, developing nations, and post-totalitarian countries.
“I read Dances with Dependency from cover to cover and could not put it down. [It raises] issues which must be discussed if progress is to be achieved. The fact that this book has aroused such interest is a positive sign for the future.” —The Right Honourable Paul Martin, twenty-first prime minister of Canada
“Self-reliance, personal responsibility, and self-respect are key to revitalizing native cultures. My father, Raymond Nakai, Chairman of the Navajo Tribe during the 1960s, suggested similar ideas to redirect the economic situation of [his] people; unfortunately, he played to deaf ears. Helin offers future-oriented solutions to counter the centuries of colonial federalism that have diminished and dismembered indigenous cultures worldwide. We should all heed the Raven’s call to take responsible action” —R. Carlos Nakai, PhD, Aktoka music productions and Native American flute music
Product Details
- Title : Dances with Dependency: Out of Poverty Through Self-Reliance
- Author: Helin, Calvin
- Publisher: Open Road Media
- Publication Date: 2014
- ISBN: 9781497638877
Reviews
1 rating
Isaac
3/30/2026
Dances with Dependency by Calvin Helin offers a direct critique of welfare-driven dependency as a barrier to progress in Indigenous communities. Helin argues that long-term reliance on state support has weakened personal initiative and disrupted older systems of responsibility and productivity. At points, the book reads less like detached analysis and more like a call to rethink entrenched assumptions. His central proposal is a return to culturally grounded self-reliance, combined with policy reform. He presents this as both necessary and achievable. The argument is clear and deliberately challenges prevailing views. The book’s strength lies in its clarity and its willingness to address sensitive issues. However, its framing can at times simplify complex historical and structural realities, including the enduring effects of colonial systems. For that reason, it works best as a strong contribution to ongoing debates rather than a complete account of the issue. It is most useful for readers interested in questions of development, responsibility, and the role of welfare in shaping long-term outcomes.