Alcoholism (per Sherman Alexie)
Definition and Background
Encyclopedia Britannica defines alcoholism as “excessive and repetitive drinking of alcoholic beverages to the extent that the drinker repeatedly is harmed or harms others” (Vailant). Sherman Alexie was born on a reservation and has spent his life trying to figure out how to live as a Native American in contemporary America. In his interview, “Sherman Alexie on Living Outside Cultural Borders” Alexie discusses the alcoholism that is extremely prevalent in Native American society. He describes Native American’s as “having an epidemic rate of alcoholism.” Alexie named his brother, sister, both parents, every cousin, uncles and aunts as either alcoholics or recovering alcoholics. He even described some of the negative consequences that this culture of alcoholism has led to by stating, “my classmates, you know, three have died in alcohol-related accidents. My brother has had five best friends die in alcohol-related accidents. And we’re not atypical” (Sherman). Alexie describes alcohol as being medication that takes away the pain of being an Indian. Many Indian communities have experienced social and cultural devastation that can be directly attributed to alcohol. These issues have created a stereotype for Native Americans, even though not all Native Americans are alcoholics. Problems that stem from alcohol abuse include past oppression, social and cultural factors, poverty, and domestic abuse. Many policies and programs have been implemented in the past, however, so far nothing has been effective. This is due to the inconsistency of these policies and the lack of evaluation (Beauvais 1998).
Historical Context
Before European contact, there was no evidence of significant traditions of fermented or distilled beverages. Native Americans first came into contact with alcohol after they were colonized. Soldiers were known for being heavy drinkers and, therefore, Indians were exposed to this drinking behavior. However, they had no role models for drinking behavior, nor did they have mechanisms for dealing with the negative consequences of drinking. As European contact continued, “there was a progressive development of high-dose, prolonged collective binge drinking as a central element in many new native drinking cultures” (Frank 2000).
Alcohol eventually became a profitable trade good. The demand was inexhaustible, it was relatively lightweight for its trade value, and it was nonperishable. At first alcohol was used as a tool of diplomacy, but over time it became less innocent as it started being used for virtually all treaty parleys and other official negotiations (Frank 2000). Before long, alcohol was seen as a sign of success and a symbol of status among Native Americans.
Economic, cultural, and social factors were the initial influence in creating this alcoholic culture among Native Americans. Since then there have been many efforts to enforce prohibition on reservations all over the country. These alcohol addictions have been passed on from generation to generation and are still prevalent in society today.
Controversy/Perspective
In the past, prohibition have been the most prevalent policy, however, it has been proven ineffective. In 1832 the U.S. Congress passed legislation banning the sale of alcohol beverages to Indian people. This was repealed in 1953. Tribes were then given the choice to retain prohibition or not. Two-thirds of reservations are technically “dry”, however, this has not garnered significant progress. Researchers, for the most part, have found few differences between “wet” and “dry” reservations. In fact, some research suggests that a Native American is more likely to abuse alcohol if he or she grows up on a “dry” reservation (Beauvais).
Substance abuse prevention programs are commonly found in Native American communities. Unfortunately, most of these programs have not been evaluated for efficacy so their success is undocumented. In addition, specific details of these programs often are not published or available in a manner that allows them to be easily shared with other communities (Beauvais). The few programs that have been evaluated show some degree of efficacy in reducing substance abuse, however, this number is not high enough considering how big this issue is.
Relation to Politics of Health
Determinants of health are physical and social environmental factors that have as much influence on human health as do purely biological factors. In focusing on these factors as ways of understanding Native American drinking patterns, we necessarily deemphasize the role played by genetics. Native Americans have had a drinking culture for hundreds of years and they, as a group, have the highest alcohol-related death rates of all ethnic groups in the United States (Frank 2000). Contemporary reservations are afflicted with issues such as domestic violence, health disparities, rape/sexual assault, dropout, and suicide. When looking at all of these problems that a typical Native American will face, it is no wonder that they look to drink the pain away. As Sherman Alexie put it, “It’s medication. Trying to take the pain away” (Sherman). This creates a circular effect because at the heart of all of these problems is alcohol. Alcohol creates a lot of the issues these reservations have and then they drink to forget, thus the problems prevail. A child who grows up as a Native American on a reservation, bogged down by a traumatic past and exposed to an oppressed culture, has a greater risk factor than a child not born into these circumstances.
Poverty is another risk factor that is common among Native Americans. This along with extremely poor social conditions makes it more likely for them to abuse alcohol and other drugs (Bentley 2013). Life stress is a demonstrated risk factor for alcohol use. This stress is even more evident in adolescence when stress pertaining to social, physical, cognitive, and academic growth is enhanced (Bentley 2013). As a result, youth are particularly vulnerable to developing potentially harmful methods of coping with stressors such as drinking alcohol.
Works Cited
Andrew Bentley
- “Alcohol: It’s difference for Native Americans.” Partnership with Native Americans. Accessed February 12. http://blog.nativepartnership.org/alcohol-its-different-for-native-americans/
Fred Beauvais
- “American Indians and Alcohol.” Spotlight on Special Populations, Vol. 22, no. 4. https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh22-4/253.pdf
George E. Vailant, Mark Keller
Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica. “Alcoholism.” Accessed February 13th, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/science/alcoholism .
John W. Frank, Roland S. Moore, Genevieve M. Ames
- “Historical and Cultural Roots of Drinking Problems Among American Indians.” Public Health Then and Now. Accessed February 12, 2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1446168/pdf/10705850.pdf
Sherman Alexie, interview by Bill Moyers. Moyers and Company. “Sherman Alexie on Living Outside Cultural Borders.” April 12, 2013.
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