Individuals that grow up with poverty in their lives end up committing actions that are out of desperation, enlarging their problems in the end. Alcohol quickly gets dragged into the picture when poverty comes up. In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian poverty has its grasp on most members of the reservation, and many of them have drinking problems in order to deal with their fiscal troubles.…
The most prevalent issue among the Native Americans living on the reservation is alcoholism. Around 80 percent of adults living on Pine Ridge are alcoholic. The interactionist perspective argues that drug and alcohol use is learned through others (Leon-Guerrero, 332). However, “research indicates that factors such as demography…
Alcoholism is a common theme within Native American society. Some characters became so infatuated with the sensation of being intoxicated that they actually believe being drunk solves all of their problems. Natives think that,…
The data for the study are from 184 community leaders, and informants spread across the United States, in the cities of Baltimore, Milwaukee, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Oakland, and Raleigh. The cities were chosen on the basis of 5 years or more history of activism against alcohol abuse. The funding for the study was provided from the grants of the National institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the Substance Abuse Research Policy Program at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The data was collected through interviews from the informants and community leaders in each of the respective communities. These informants were selected using the snowball sampling techniques. For an individual to be considered for an interview, he or she must be referred by two or more informants. The data collection took almost two and a half years i.e. from 1996 to 1999. Majority of the data i.e. 40 informants each were collected from the Oakland and Los Angeles i.e. from the state of California. The rest of the 104 informants were from the remaining five cities across the country, with 28 informants from Milwaukee, and 17 to 21 informants each from San Antonio,…
Substance abuse and dependency persist as a major health and social concern in America. Author Joseph A. Califano, a former secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare notes, “it is hard to find an American family or circle of friends that substance abuse has not touched directly (Califano, J. A., p. 1, 2008).” Califano further explains that although Americans are 4 percent of the world’s population, Americans consume 65 percent of the world’s illegal drugs. Furthermore, one in four Americans will have an alcohol or drug disorder at some point in his or her life. Most of these individuals have parents, children, siblings, friends, community and colleagues who will “undergo psychological and social harm" (Califano, J. A., p. 1, 2008.).” Authors…
As an outlet for depression, many Native Americans have turned to alcohol. In fact, “Native Americans have the highest weekly alcohol consumption of any ethnic group” (Chartier). Alcohol has wreaked havoc on countless Indian communities. For example, in The Diary of a Part Time Indian, during a short period of time, Junior loses his grandmother, Eugene, and his sister. In Junior’s tribe, “about 90 percent of the deaths have been because of alcohol” (Alexie 200). Junior’s grandmother perished when she journeyed home from a powwow and was hit by a drunk driver. Furthermore, Eugene was shot, by his friend Bobby, who was intoxicated. Soon, Junior learns about the death of his sister, Mary, in Montana. An accidental fire erupted and under the influence…
Sacred tribal grounds were taken by the Federal Government and the members were relocated to reservations. Reservations were places where Indians were supposed to die and disappear. Also, reservations were a place for U.S. soldiers to go and havoc massacres on Indians to kill them off. Reservation life was hard; seclusion and economic issues. They deal with past trauma of government theft, lies, and exploitation. To help drown the pain of reservation life, Native Americans drink. Alcoholism is a common disease among Native Americans. Violence is frequent in their homes and unemployment is high. To keep tribal cultures a live, Native Americans story tells. Storytelling gives meaning to a tribe 's past and existence.…
I am writing my research paper on the Navajo Indians once called Dine’s; the Pueblo’s gave them the name Navajo as it was a Pueblo word meaning “planted fields” or “farmlands”. The Navajo Indians came from the Northwest Pacific coast and Canada between the 1300’s and the 1600’s. I chose to do my research paper on the Navajo Indians because I am French, Irish, and Indian, therefore I will be learning a about some of my own family history.…
Substance use is viewed in the Hispanic culture as an illness. Therefore, because the Hispanic culture sees it as an illness they accepted the substance use. When Hispanic/ Latinos are suffering from substance use the family is very supportive and help the client until the end of the treatment. Hispanic culture is similar to the Native culture because they are family oriented. According to psychiatric times states "Family involvement is an important focus in working with Hispanic and Native American communities. Both the patient's immediate family and extended family are significant and should be involved in the intervention process because alcohol and drug abuse can erode important family and social ties, and…
Field, C. A., Caetano, R., Harris, T. R., Frankowski, R., and Roudsari, B., (2009). Ethnic differences in drinking outcomes following a brief alcohol intervention in the trauma care setting. Society for the Study of Addiction, 105, 62–73.…
Native Americans in the United States have historically had extreme difficulty with the use of alcohol. Many believe that Native Americas drink so much because f how hard life is on the reservation. They have delt with a lot of trouble and trauma since there lands where taken away from them and they where killed. Also it runs in there families and it effects all the generations. "A study has shown the Native Americas, who have a high rate of alcoholism, do not have protective genes. a mutation of the gene for the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase, which plays a major role in metabolizing alcohol.…
Another way to eradicate this issue would be to educate communities and treat those who are effected. According to Sunrise House, the best way to treat substance abuse would be to acknowledge the importance of Native American culture and spiritual conditions in recovery and healing, engage family and community members in the process of treatment, providing support…
Alcohol abuse is a serious issue affecting certain groups of Natives in Alaska. Alcohol abuse is a type of substance abuse, that present itself when an individual starts drinking heavily which eventually leads to addictive behaviors. The point of this paper isn’t to blame any particular individual or group in this matter, rather to establish awareness and try to come with solutions. The majority of society has overlooked this problem mainly because it does not affect them and that the Alaska Natives live isolated from our surroundings. To me the reason this issue is so important is that their population size will continue to decrease substantially if the issue is not solved. Throughout the paper I will explain how alcohol abuse is affecting…
In a report by "Alcohol and the Hispanic Community"(2015), alcoholism is currently classified among health issues affecting significant proportion of the aged Hispanic population. This…
Everyone must share in the responsibility. Not just tribal and other governments, but the private sector, churches, community groups, and families must be involved. Education of the community plays an important role in pursuing these forces. As such, education and the media should define the problems in public health terms and propose possible solutions. Education should emphasize especially the collective or structural basis of the problems. It should also promote the public acceptance of the fairness of control measures and a more equitable distribution of the responsibility for prevention among all who have anything to do with the community. A particular focus that might be beneficial is a partnership with those involved in the production, distribution, and consumption of alcohol. Nevertheless, the focus of education should be on the control of the substance, changes in social and institutional structures, and general improvement in the community. The movement should not dwell on the failures of the minority of individuals who suffer the greatest…