Culture and the restoration of self among former American Indian drinkers

This paper explores the social and cultural context of remission From alcoh ol problems in an urban American Indian community. Using the discourse of i nterviews conducted with 48 self-defined problem drinkers, 13 of whom had a bstained from alcohol for at least a year prior to the interview, it explor es the ways in which alcohol problems have been understood and dealt with b y these Indian men and women. Drawing on the ethnographic literature on AA and culturally specific healing practices, the analysis centers on how new understandings of the self are articulated in sobriety and the ways in whic h this discourse draws on the themes of cultural restoration that are widel y articulated in Indian communities. The paper closes with a consideration of how this inquiry with a community sample forces us to broaden models of self transformation that are derived from work in more circumscribed instit utional contexts and, in turn, how the testimony of these men and women for ces us to take quite seriously the idea that cultural restoration can be cr ucially involved as Indian people and communities grapple with problems wit h alcohol. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.