Alcohol problems in Native America : the untold story of resistance and recovery - "the truth about the lie"

Coyhis, Don. (author.). White, William L., 1947- (author.). White Bison, Inc. (Added Author).

Summary: Native American experiences are seen through the lens of the presence of alcohol in Indian communities, and more importantly, how communities resisted alcohol. The "Firewater Myths" told about Indians and alcohol are listed and carefully contrasted with the actual facts. Early Native American advocates for sobriety walk across these pages and repeat the messages they gave in their time, including Samson Occom, Mohegan; William Apes, Pequot; Handsome Lake, Seneca; brothers Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh, Shawnee; Kennekuk, Kickapoo; George Copway (Kahgegagahbowh), Ojibwa; Quanah Parker, Comanche; and Jack Wilson (Wovoka). The book moves from some of the earliest indigenous experiences in the Western hemisphere in the 1500s, all the way to the vibrant sobriety movement taking place today. The roles of the traditional culture, the Indian Shaker Church, the Native American Church, the "Indianization" of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the modern Wellbriety movement follow chapter after chapter. A chapter on Addiction, Recovery, and the Processes of Colonization and Decolonization places historical trauma into an addictions context for the first time.

Record details

ISBN: 1599752298
ISBN: 9781599752297
Physical Description: print
258 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 23 cm
Publisher: Colorado Springs, Colo. : White Bison, Inc., [2006]
Copyright: �2006

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Before Columbus: ritualized and ceremonial drug use -- Early post-contact drinking patterns -- The rise of Native alcohol problems -- Firewater myths: ideas as weapons of colonization -- Native responses to alcohol and alcoholism: an overview -- The Delaware prophets -- Redemption and recovery: the Indian preachers -- Handsome Lake movement -- The prophets: American Indian prophets, Temperance Societies and the Indian Shaker Church -- Peyote, the Native American Church and recovery from alcoholism -- The Ghost Dance movements and the Sun Dance and Gourd Dance -- The 'Indianization' of Alcoholics Anonymous: culturally-congenial alcoholism treatment and the rise of community recovery movements -- The modern wellbriety movement: birth of the Wellbriety Movement -- The Wellbriety Movement comes of age -- Addiction, recovery and the processes of colonization and decolonization -- Appendix 1, the Jefferson-Handsome Lake letter -- Appendix 2, The good mind.
Language Note:	Text in English.