Acculturation, alcoholism and Indian-style Alcoholics Anonymous.

Abstract

end of the 18th century, they did not want to expose the Indians to alcohol and offered them only tea and coffee to drink, using muskets, ammunition, blankets, iron and copper for barter. But once it became known that a lucrative fur trade was awaiting adventurers along the western coast of North America, exploitation of the Indians by whisky traders could not be prevented. When fur traders and settlers reached the coast overland in the early 19th century, the Indians were already demanding alcohol in trade for their goods. Knowing the miraculous effect of firewater, they would hardly accept anything else and newcomers had to follow suit (1). A brief introduction to traditional Coast Salish Indian culture will help explain why these Indians have been particularly vulnerable to the impact of Western ways of life, including the use of alcohol. Thanks to the favourable ecological conditions of the coastal strip of the Northwest, its river deltas and fertile offshore islands have been inhabited for thousands of years. Archeological findings suggest a continued cultural growth throughout the centuries, and societies reaching peaks of artistic expression unparalled in any other North American culture(2). The abundance of sea mammals, salmon and other fish, game, edible plants, fruits and berries, gave the Coast Salish leisure to develop and refine their culture in a democratic way, unheard of by other, less fortunate Indiantribes. The lush forest contained huge cedar trees, which were easily split even with stone tools, enabling the people to build large plank-houses. In precontact times it was the custom to shelter as many family members as possible under one roof. Barnett (3) describes hoe such plankhouses grew by accretion so as to accommodate an increasing number of relatives. A bilineal kinship system recognized both paternal and maternal relatives, but the system was patriarchal and usually patrilocal so that the household would consist of a headman, his sons and grandsons and their wives and children. Around this nucleus were grouped uncles and nephews of both lines with wives, children, parents, grandparents, widows, orphans and other kin. Together with a number of visiting relatives, and the slaves, a single such household could number several hundred people; the more