Drinking and Sobriety among the Lakota Sioux

By (author) Beatrice Medicine

Publication date:

24 November 2006

Length of book:

193 pages

Publisher

AltaMira Press

ISBN-13: 9780759105713

Whereprevious studies have focused primarily upon drinking styles among Indian populations, Beatrice Medicine develops an indigenous model for the analysis and control of alcohol abuse. This new ethnography of the Lakota (Standing Rock in North and South Dakota) examines patterns of alcohol consumption and strategies by individuals to attain a new life-style and achieve sobriety. Medicine describes the ineffectiveness of treatments when researchers, policy makers, and health professionals do not use a tribal-specific approach to addiction. She offers an indigenous perspective and understanding that should lead to improved approaches to treatment in mental health and alcohol abuse. Her book is essential for medical anthropologists, Native American studies researchers, and health professionals concerned with Native American health issues and alcohol abuse.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 1 "All Indians are Drunks": A Pervasive Myth
Chapter 3 2 Uncorking the Keg: Beginnings of Alcohol Use among American Indians
Chapter 4 3 The Recent Past: Minnewakan "Magic Water"—Alcohol and the Lakota Bands
Chapter 5 4 A Siouan Social System: Standing Rock Reservation
Chapter 6 5 "Everyone Drinks!": Drinking Behavior among Contemporary Lakota (Sioux) Indians
Chapter 7 6 American Indian Sobriety: An Uncharted Domain
Chapter 8 7 Religious Renaissance and the Control of Alcohol: The Lakota Sun Dance
Chapter 9 8 Siouan Sobriety Patterns: "I Was a Better Drunk Than You Were…"
Chapter 10 9 "I Got Tired of Drinking. . .": Interpretations of Intents and Continuities of Siouan Sober States
Chapter 11 10 Summary and Conclusions: "There's a Lot to Drinking…"

I believe that treatment centers do not treat the whole person. They do not, for instance, tell a person that their treatment equips them with coping skills that deal with physical addiction, but cannot eliminate craving. I don't think they delve into the spiritual aspects profoundly enough even though there is a concept of a higher power in AA meetings. Bea Medicine's study will give a new and revealing perspective on American Indian alcoholism, one that will contribute immensely to the treatment of American Indians.