Navaho Drinking: Some Tentative Hypotheses

Ferguson, Frances

doi:10.17730/humo.27.2.v60370332122gx27

Cited by 45 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…The high rate of Indian arrests in comparison to other U.S. minority groups and to the dominant white community has been documented by several researchers (Graves, in preparation;Yonigmann and Honigmann 1968;Stewart 1964;Ferguson 1968;Whittaker 1962). Tables 1 and 2 present figures based on official FBI statistics and census data for the nation at large and the city of Denver, Colorado, as summarized by Stewart (1964:61, 65).…”

Section: The Problem Of Indian Drunkennessmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…The socialrecreational nature of Navajo drinking (Heath 1964;Ferguson 1968), common to most American Indian groups, was observed in Denver as well. In fact, recreational activities among migrants almost always involve some drinking, more often than not heavy drinking and drunkenness (Snyder 1968).…”

Section: Graves]mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The typical anthropological approach is to examine factors in the history of the Navajo, or of American Indians in general, to discover aspects of their cultural tradition, particularly with respect to alcohol use, that might explain their apparent low threshold for drunken excess (Heath 1964; Stewart 1964;Ferguson 1968). For example, most North American Indian groups lacked aboriginal intoxicants; they acquired a taste for hard liquor within the context of a "frontier" society; their long history of prohibition gave them little opportunity to learn and practice patterns of "moderate" social drinking; and so forth (Dozier 1966).…”

Section: The Strategy Of Explanationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, the modal position of Navajo subjects on the analytic variables we have investigated results in large part from the way their culture patterns the typical learning experiences of the Navajo child and subsequently conditions his likely position within the wider American society. Furthermore, the typical form that Navajo drinking takes (Heath 1964;Ferguson 1968), its social and public nature, makes it particularly susceptible to notice by the police, so that arrest rates can be used as a convenient and objective index of drunkenness rates, something that could not be done if Navajo drinking were generally more covert.…”

Section: Graves]mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Personal Adjustment of Navajo Indian Migrants to Denver, Colorado¹

Graves

1970

American Anthropologist

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Urban migration creates many adjustment problems for those American INTRODUCTIONN E WEDNESDAY morning in mid-0 September a young Indian stepped off the bus at the Trailways depot in downtown Denver, Colorado. Like most Navajo migrants, Harrison Joe2 was in his early twenties and single. He had graduated two years before from the Special Navajo Program at Intermountain School in Brigham City, Utah. This program, now discontinued, was a five-year course for Navajos with little or no prior educational experience. It emphasized basic language skills and vocational training and was all the education Harrison Joe had ever had. Nor had experience served as a substitute. The majority of Navajos who come to Denver have never been in a city before, and neither had Harrison Joe. Other than boarding school his only off-reservation experience was two months picking potatoes in Idaho, at $120 per month.At Intermountain, Harrison Joe received vocational training in upholstery. But this didn't help him find a job near his reservation home. During the two years following graduation his only wage labor work was ten days for the tribe at $10 per day. So he decided to try relocation. Denver was his first choice because he had a relative there and it was close to home. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) which "sponsors" most Navajo migrants, agreed to pay his way to the city and to help him find a job there, under a special government program in operation since 1954.And so on arrival in Denver, the first thing Harrison Joe did was to ask his way to the BIA Office of Employment Assistance. There he was given intake interviews and a haircut and was taken to a rooming house where several other Indian relocatees lived. His first weekly subsistence check was issued: $30, which after paying $21 for room and board still left him with a bit of pocket money. On Friday and Saturday the Office also gave him job counselling and sent him out on three nonproductive job interviews.Though unsuccessful at finding a job those first few days, Harrison Joe had no difficulty finding friends. The first morning in town he met another Navajo at the Bureau office, and his new roommate at the boarding house was also Navajo. Thursday evening he went looking for his "uncle," a young man about his age with a couple of years of urban experience in both Chicago and Denver. But he had moved. Friday, Harrison Joe tried again, and this time found him sitting in the park with some other migrants. So the whole group spent the evening together. On Saturday afternoon another Navajo took him out to see the town, and later to watch TV at his apartment. Sunday, Harrison Joe struck up an ac- 35quaintance with a former Navajo roomer at his boarding house who was to become his closest friend. Together they went to the "Pink Elephant," a popular Navajo bar where they spent the evening with his "uncle" and other friends. Though this was fun, the evening was marred on his way home by a fight with another group of Navajos, who taunted the shy stranger.During his next week in Denv...

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Section: The Problem Of Indian Drunkennessmentioning

confidence: 90%

Section: Graves]mentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: The Strategy Of Explanationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Graves]mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Personal Adjustment of Navajo Indian Migrants to Denver, Colorado¹

Graves

1970

American Anthropologist

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“…Evidence from Indian Alcohol Programs patterned after clinical, medical (antabuse), Alcoholics Anonymous, and non-ethnic or acultural models indicate a low level of efficiacy in treatment (Ferguson 1968(Ferguson , 1970Levy, J.E., andKunitz, S.J. 1973, Savard 1963).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%