Drinking and Sobriety Among the Lakota Sioux

Book excerpt: 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.