All posts by Archivist

Community Development, Indigenous Science

Native American Alcoholism: An Issue of Survival (PDF)

19851A Dissertation

Presented to The Faculty of the Florence Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare

Brandeis University

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

by Pam Colorado

December, 1985

Table of Contents

Section One: Native American Alcoholism,

An Introduction…………………………………………….1

Section Two: Scientific Thought And

Dine’ Alcoholism…………………………………………11

Section Three: Dine’ Alcohol Policy,

An Historical Analysis……………………………….66

Section Four: No One Makes You Drink……….150

The Politics of Alcohol Recovery…………………….162

AIM, The War Against Alcoholism…………………..173

Methodology…………………………………………………………193

Reference Notes……………………………………………………208

Bibliography…………………………………………………………..215

Section One:

Native American Alcoholism, An Introduction

Section one introduces the current relationship between Native Americans and alcohol/substance. This section explores both the social dimensions and the impacts of substance use/abuse among Native people. Several points are made:

1. Alcohol and substance abuse are the leading cause of death of Native people.

2. The prevalence, incidence is so great that it cannot be explained by theories based on individual deviance or pathology.

3. Despite efforts to combat alcoholism, the problem is increasing geometrically.

4. Substance abuse threatens the survival of Native Americans.

Section one concludes with a statement from an elderly Northern Cheyenne man. This man, a child at the time of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, spells out an interpretation of the changes alcohol has wrought among the People. He suggests that an answer to the problem may lie in re-discovery of the “Good Way”, that is, a way which is based on traditional tribal values and practices. The question is raised, why is the “Good Way” the answer and how can it be found?

Paint 1

A cold summer night on the northern plains of Montana

Winds come, fiercely whipping the squat tarpaper house where six children and three adults sleep

Four rooms crumbling plasterboard, rotting floor boards

backed up toilet and sink. Windows too few for air and too small

for light frame reality for this Native American family.

Earlier evening, after work, the Family gathered at the Tongue River, built fire, heated rocks and took Sweat.

The Way of the Sacred Sweat

Water – the Gift of Life, is poured on the Grandfathers, lava rocks, now radiant with heat and mingle with prayers into the steam – the Breath of Creator

Outside Sweat Lodge, Thunders rumble ominously and cedar is burned

the storm retreats held back through ancient understanding.

Inside Sweat, the Family gives thanks for – a day of life, a husband being sober again, a child recovering from illness and a

prayer for Mitakeoysin (all the Relations).

Evening Meal:

Eleven relatives sit down for boiled venison and Wonder Bread.

Thanks is given, again and again, especially for the food.

Oldest son, age fifteen, is proud, night before last,

freezer empty,

he got the deer.

Plentiful coffee and Kool Aide

reservation water, too brackish to drink alone,

its depredation visible oily slag on the top of drinks.

teasing and laughter conclude the Feast.

Now its two A.M.

heavy winds and driving rain pound against the house.

Lightening flashes; thunders roar and I awaken with a start.

Heart pounding, gnawing fear returns.

I cannot sleep for thinking…my sister, face lined with

pain and bitterness

a sespair which speaks of some final surrender.

Struggling for answers, tears slip down my face

as I beg Creator’s pity on this Family.

There was such hope

Just four years ago, the Family left Boston,

two advanced degrees, won at such a cost, and worth it too

This time the tribe stands threshold of new life.

Coal, black gold!

Harvard degrees wielded to extract a successful contract

with the

energy conglomerate, the first negotiated by a tribe on its own.

Now there is a way to feed and shelter the People.

yet my sister and family perish.

Today! Assassin! In your sights, my brother-in-law falls

to his knees.

Mind clouded in Whiteman’s poison, he steals from his wife

and children.

for the next bottle…

The baby stirs, lying next to me on the cot.

Water drips in and within seconds, soaks through the

blankets.

the bed is moved repeatedly to avoid the leaks.

A new home

BIA has been promising one for ten years

but it is a four A.M. promise

far away.

Exhausted and hungry, the baby and I fall into sleep.

Community Development, Indigenous Science

Voices Upon the Water (PDF)

Voices Upon the Water

A Report

Submitted To: The Southeast Alaska Regional Training Program

September 1985

Prepared By: Pam Colorado Ph. D.

Colorado Consultants

136 Davis Avenue

Juneau, Alaska 99801

Foreword

Since its inception, the Southeast Regional Training Program has committed itself to responding to identified needs of substance abuse workers within this region. Traditionally, the prograrm has concentrated on the provision of counselor certification training in the eight courses contained in Level I and Level II. Additionally the program has seen the need for and offered non-certification related training courses in such areas as Advanced Counseling Skills, Working With Youth, and Supervision.

It has been the philosophy of the program that village-based counselors have unique training needs above and beyond the certification areas and within the realm of limited resources, the Regional Trainer has attempted to respond to those needs.

The unique setting of village-based training, viewed in contrast to residential, centrally located 3-5 training workshops implies special strategies that, in this writer’s experience, require above all else, a respect and recognition of the village milieu in which the training is offered. In terms of participation and methodology, village-based training becomes literally that — training of the community.

The extensive time in preparation, recruitment, course design, materials development, and evaluation methodology that is part of any successful manpower development activity takes on new meaning when applied to village settings, where such activities as appropriate resource development of local resources, attention to local customs, trainer credibility, and community involvement are of at least equal importance as the aforementioned activities.

In recognition of these special circumstances, the Southeast Regional Training Program embarked in FY 85 on a specialized research project which would begin to identify in more specific terms, the special needs of village-based counselors. This document was intended to provide direction and focus for further activities in the areas of training development and delivery.

We have been most fortunate in securing the services of Dr. Pam Colorado Morrison of Juneau as the principal investigator. Pam’s sensitive professionalism and her dedication to the creation of a useful and appropriate document has succeeded in giving to u a place to start. As in recognition of the unanimity of concern in all of the respondents to the study, it becomes clear that the commitment to assisting the village worker is present throughout the system.

It remains now for us to collectively continue this effort and to expand our resources in a manner that is the most helpful in the creation of training strategies that respect the integrity of the community, assist the workers in their exceptionally difficult task, and relieve the suffering created by substance abuse.

John M. Sullivan

Regional Trainer

Index

Acknowledgements……………………………..1

Section I, Introduction………………………….2

Section II, Selecting the Design …………..3

SectionIII, The Biculture Research Design…10

Section IV, Findings………………………………….14

Section V, Recommendations……………….24

Section VI, A Talking Circle…………………..27

(The Triangulation Of Data)

Section VII, Bibliography……………………….40

Acknoledgements

Thank you, Matt Felix and the SOADA staff, for sharing your thoughts, time, offices and for your encouragement.

David Bond, Arlene Dangell and James Jack of SEARHC, thank you for the many hours of discussion, for the wealth of information, direction and guidance to this effort.

A special thanks to you, the traditional People, Austin Hammond, Cyrus Peck, Richard Dalton, George Jim and Deborah Dalton, who gave so much of your time and energy to this project. To you I would say, that I have tried to “get it right”, to hear, interpret and reflect your words in a way that will be helpful to the People and to the professionals who work in Native alcoholism. If I have left anything out, or said too much, I hope that you will call the error to my attention.

To Richard Dalton and Austin Hammond, who were there at all hours to take my calls, clarify a point or instruct me in some matter of this report, I thank you.

To the staff at the Southeast Regional Training Program, I am reminded of the many long phone calls, and complicated arrangements that this project necessarily involved. For your persistence, patience and hard work in meeting very tight deadlines with you, thank you.

Finally, I give thanks to the traditional Indian Elders and Medicine People who have given so much to my own training and education.

Pam Colorado Morrison, Ph. D.

September 1985, Juneau, Alaska

Section I

Introduction

Southeast Alaska Regional Training Program Study on the Training Needs of Village-Based Counselors.

Introduction

The field of alcoholism is undergoing a fundamental shift from the present medical based counselor model to a more holistic approach. This shift is marked by great stress in the system. Nowhere is the stress more evident than in the question of village-based versus urban-based counselor training needs.

While nearly everyone agrees that the role of the village-based counselor differs from its urban counterpart, few have been able to specify what the differences are or more important what these differences mean in terms of practice and training.

Based on this issue, the Southeast Alaska Regional Training Program initiated a research project to provide a functional analysis of village-based counselors. The purpose of the research was to answer the following questions:

1. What are the functions of village-based counselors?

2. What do counselors think of certification?

3. What are the community specific historic elements used to address substance abuse?

4. What important activities are not occuring? Why?

5. What healing elements are available to communities that may be useful to counselors?

6. What is “community development”?

7. What is the distinction, if any, between village-based and urban-based counselors?

Selecting an appropriate research design was a great challenge. The Southeast Alaska Regional Training Program needed information that was reliable and valid in two cultures, Native and non-Native, and it wanted the research to be helpful to the communities involved in the effort. Finally, the data needed to produce directions, postures and positions that would really work in both cultures as well as in the interface of the cultures. These needs were confounded by the fact that social science is undergoing a shift in paradigms, at least in so far as multi-cultural inquiry is concerned. Until the last two or three years, cross-cultural research has merely been an extension of western domination; that is, the stretching and pulling of western science across to other cultures, especially Native.

The results have not been fruitful for anyone. Western scientists became frustrated with the degrading of science which necessarily occurs when it is stretched beyond its capacity to make meaningful interpretations or predictions, and Native people have generally resented intrusion of yet another form of ideological control. Furthermore, except as informants, Native people have had very little say in matters of alcohol research within the village or community.

Therefore, the need to find a design that would work became paramount. Reviewing the literature became an essential but in the end, rewarding task, which led to the selection of the new “Bicultural Research Design.”

 

Indigenous Science

Native Science and Participatory Research (PDF)

Native Science and Participatory Research

Pam Colorado

Assistant Professor

University of Calgary

Faculty of Social Welfare

Paper presented at the Participatory Research Conference, University of Calgary, May 3, 1988

Introduction

Until the present time, we have had to stretch Western science so far that knowledge about Indian culture seems unreal. Research has been perceived and presented as mono-cultural, thus not accepted by the Indian community. All peoples including Native Americans have science or a way of coming to knowledge; each tribe has its specific methods, but for the purposes of introducing the concept of Native science and exploring its relationship with Participatory Research, we will deal in generalization about “Native” metaphysics.

Reflecting on the implications of two sciences, it is clear that a bicultural research model recognizing both Indian science and Western science needs to emerge. Newly evolved Western research methods such as ethnographic research, content/issue analysis, and the framework of Participatory Research can be drawn upon to complement of meet Indian science and culture.

Traditional Indian science must be articulated in contemporary terms to permit scholarly exchange growth and to empower Indian people in the scientific arena. Further, an integration of Western and Indian ways of thinking must occur if we are to develop research strategies and outcomes which are acceptable and respected by both cultures. (“Integration” refers to a blending of research findings, not the domination or extension of ideological control by one culture’s science).

A bi-cultural research model must be both valid and reliable; strengthen traditional Indian science and enhance cross cultural communication and understanding, while at the same time promoting the growth of both sciences. This paper will present an epistemological foundation of Indian science and will explore the possibility of creating a scientific, intercultural, infrastructure by the use of Participatory Research as a rosetta stone or translator.

Indigenous Science

Only Three Words (PDF)

Only Three Words

A presentation to His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Columbia University, 1994

Apela Colorado, Ph.D.

Only Three Words

“…so, the old man asked, Which part of the Pipe do you think is most important?…. The Stem because it’s the living part….”

Introduction

I am Opispheyiehawie, Turtle clan of the Oneida Nation. I am able to speak today because, my Grandfather who was the sole remaining traditional person in my family, gave me a message. It was the winter of 1961; my Grandfather was dying of cancer, yet, in the midst of a blowing snowstorm, he travelled thirty five miles to talk with me. The message consisted of only three words but through those words, our traditional mind, culture and science embraced me.

What is Indigenous Science?

It’s good to be here because New York State and Southeastern Ontario are Iroquois traditional homelands. Much earlier in our history, possibly 15,000 years ago, we originated from the South. But long before that, we originated from the Stars and the first woman. Our Creation history contains detailed information of that first epic journey and tells us how the first woman and nature conspired to make life on this Earth.

Movement has always been key to the identity and science of Iroquois peoples. In fact, the Thanksgiving prayer, central to our lives and ceremony, completes each stanza or round with the verse, “those who move about the face of the Earth”. The movement is not random. It is sequential and orderly because the balance of life depends on our doing it right. Doing it right means moving/acting in accordance with the great cycles of life recorded in complex calendrical systems; oral history; menemic devices, songs, dances, chants and art.

Just like Western science, indigenous science relies upon direct observation; there are tests to insure validity and data is used for forecasting and generating predictions. Individuals are trained in various specialisations for example, herbalists, weather specialists, mental health and time keeping. Unlike western science, the data from indigenous science is not used to control the forces of nature, instead the data tells us ways and means of accommodating nature. Other critical distinctions include the following:

Indigenous Science

American Indian Science (PDF)

American Indian Science

Pamela Colorado, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

University of Calgary

Faculty of Social Welfare

Paper presented to 46th Congress of the Americanists

Amsterdam, Holland. July 4 – 8, 1988

1

Introduction

Until the present time, we have had to stretch Western science so far that knowledge about Indian culture seems unreal. Research has been perceived and presented as monocultural, thus not accepted by the Indian community. All peoples including Native Americans have science or a way of coming to knowledge; each tribe has its specific methods, but for the purposes of introducing the concept of Native science, we will deal in generalization about “Native” metaphysics.

Reflecting on the implications of “sciences”, it is clear that a bicultural research model recognizing both Indian science and Western science needs to emerge. Newly evolved Western research methods such as ethnographic research, content/issue analysis, and the framework of Participatory Research can be drawn upon to complement or meet Indian science and culture.

Traditional Indian science must be articulated in contemporary terms to permit scholarly exchange growth and to empower Indian people in the scientific arena. further, an integration of Western and Indian ways of thinking must occur if we are to develop research strategies and outcomes which are acceptable and respected by both cultures. (“Integration” refers to a blending of research findings, not the domination or extension of ideological control by one culture’s science).

A bi-cultural research model must be both valid and reliable; strengthen traditional Indian science and enhance cross-cultural communication and understanding, and simultaneously promote the growth of both sciences. This paper will present an epistemological foundation of Indian science and will explore the possibility of creating a scientific, intercultural, infrastructure.

 

Indigenous Science

Nine Distinctions of Indigenous Science (PDF)

NINE DISTINCTIONS OF INDIGENOUS SCIENCE

APELA COLORADO

Just like western science, indigenous science relies upon direct observation; there are tests to insure validity and data are used for forecasting and generating predictions. Individuals are trained in various forecasting and generating predictions. Individuals are trained in various specializations, for example, herbalism, weather observations, mental health and time keeping. Unlike western science, the data from indigenous science are not used to control the forces of nature, instead, the data tell us ways and means of accommodating nature. Other critical distinctions include the following:

1. The indigenous scientist is an integral part of the research process and there is a defined process for insuring this integrity.

2. All of nature is considered to be intelligent and alive, thus an active research partner.

3. The purpose of indigenous science is to maintain balance.

4. Compared to western time/space notions, indigenous science collapses time and space with the result that our fields of inquiry and participation extend into and overlap with past and present.

5. Indigenous science is concerned with relationships, we try to understand and complete our relationships with all living things.

6. Indigenous science is holistic, drawing on all the Sense including the spiritual and psychic.

7. The end point of an indigenous scientific process is a known and recognized place. This point of balance, referred to by my own tribe as the Great Peace, is both peaceful and electrifyingly alive. In the joy of exact balance, creativity occurs, which is why we can think of our way of knowing as a life science.

8. When we reach the moment/place of balance we do not believe that we have transcended — we say that we are normal! Always we remain embodied in the natural world.

9. Humor is a critical ingredient of all truth seeking, even in the most powerful rituals.

This is true because humor balances gravity.

Colorado, Pamela. -1994. Indigenous science and westem science: a healing convergence.

Presentation at the World Sciences Dialog I, New York City, April 25-27, 1994.