Jeannette Armstrong tells us about her community, the okanagan people, and how the land and people cannot be separated. She describes the four capabilities of self, the physical self, emotional self, the thinking-intellectual, and the spiritual-self and how they all have an importance in the way they function. She dives deep into her culture explaining what different words mean in the Okanagan Language and how she believes they connect to the earth. She also says hot the Okanagan People stay connected to each other, to the land, amd all things by their hearts. How every person is always connected to a family and community, no matter the circumstances their in, that we are all tied together by our ancestors.

Armstrong, Jeanette. 1996 "Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community." p. 460-470 in Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith

"How place names impact the way we see landscape" by B.Toastie is an article how us indigenous people have names for places, landscapes, and natural features. These places carry stories, power, history, and identity in our communities. These places are extremely important for our history and to our people and how they should not be disrespected. That some of the places have names that colonizers now call them instead of how the indigenous people used to call them. How that her people don't give a place a name of a person who is no longer living. In that way you don't want to hold that person back from their journey. That when an indigenous place is named or renamed, it has it's own history and being. It has a story to tell to the generations. That these stories connect to the land and connect to that place will always be there.

Toastie, B. May 1 2022. "How place names impact the way we see landscape". High County News 8 pages

"And then I went to school" By Joe Suina is an article explaining his experiences during the boarding school era. He tells us how life was before he went to school, how he loved being home and spending time with his grandmother. How his grandmother taught him the rights and responsibilities of what it means being a young boy in the village of Cochiti. Often recalling the many memories of his grandmother's stories, teachings, and cooking. How her affection would be completed with her warmth and security beside him. Her teachings started adapting to his everyday life as a young boy. By the time he went to school everything changed. They were punished for speaking their language and they were required to learn the English language. They would be told to leave their language at home, he didn't understand why, when all he grew up with was with the teachings of his grandmothers'. When he would return back home he realized he was adapting to the white man's ways. But it didn't take him long to adapt being back home because he knew where he belonged.

Suina, Joe. 1991 "And then I went to school, Memories of a Pueblo childhood"

In this article he talks about how all these different tribes had these different methods of making their own alcoholic beverages with different ingredients. But most AI/AN knowledge and use of alcohol coincided with white contact. He explains how settlers, traders, explorers offered alcohol and how it was a gesture of friendship. Soon after it became a key item in trading with things like furs, land, etc. But before all this was happening, different tribes around the country including Pueblos, Apache, Yuman, Navajo, and many others were producing wine in their homelands and these beverages before they had any white contact. They used different kinds of plants, fruits, vegetables to produce these drinks, they would produce the drinks and then use them for ceremonial purposes. Some tribes would set a rule in place that you could not drink and that it was forbidden outside of these ceremonies.

Abbott, P. J. (1989). AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE ABORIGINAL USE OF ALCOHOL IN THE UNITED STATES. American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research, 7(2), 2–3.

In this article Mr Beauvais talks about the high prevalence of alcohol use among Native Americans may be attributed to a number of factors like the influence of the colonizers who first came and introduced them to it. Alcohol Abuse and alcoholism have caused problems for Native Americans. These problems have also led to a stereotype that all Indian people are afflicted with alcohol problems, that all Native Americans are alcoholics. Studies have shown that drinking among Native Americans have focused on Indians living on reservations or on traditional Indian lands. 

Beauvais, F. “American Indians and alcohol.” Alcohol health and research world vol. 22,4 (1998): 253-9.

In this article the author talks about how alcohol related problems among Native Americans are sought in cultural responses to the European arrival. How Native Americans' responses to alcohol were heavily influenced by the example of white colonizers, who drank while they were meeting with Indigenous people and their behavior was unacceptable while drunk. This article concerns drinking that has negative health and social impacts. Also the historical record suggests that hundreds of distinct peoples across the continent had little to no exposure to alcohol, while they may have produced their own beers and wine. 

Frank, J W et al. “Historical and cultural roots of drinking problems among American Indians.” American journal of public health vol. 90,3 (2000): 344-51.

"The impact of Historical Trauma on Substance Use Disorders in Native American Communities" By Richard Cavaliere is an article that talks about a significant disparity in substance use among the Native American community and people. That us Native Americans have substance use disorders, especially alcoholism, and we deal with it more than any other community in the United States. That historical Trauma can be collective complex trauma resulting from traumatic past experiences occurring over the generations from then to today. How the Native American community in the United States have experienced numerous collective traumatic events, ranging from direct physical violence, to forced assimilation, etc. 

Cavaliere-Mazziotta, R. (2025, September 4). The impact of historical trauma on substance use disorders in Native American communities. Published in Critical Debates in Humanities, Science and Global Justice.

"The Relationships of Historical Loss, Acculturation, and Alcohol Expectancies with Alcohol Use Among American Indian and Alaska Native People"-By Melanie J. Cain, Carrie Winterowd, Aisha Farra explains a study conducted to explore a relationship among thoughts and feelings associated with historical loss, levels of acculturation, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol use among American and Alaskan Native People. The study showed that American Indian men are more prone to engage in heavier drinking than AI/AN women. Also men are also expected more feeling of social and physical pleasure as well as power and aggression as a result of drinking alcohol.

Cain MJ, Winterowd C, Farra A. The Relationships of Historical Loss, Acculturation, and Alcohol Expectancies with Alcohol Use Among American Indian and Alaska Native People. Am Indian Alsk Native Ment Health Res. 2024

In this article, it explains that alcohol consumption among Indigenous people in Columbia is shaped by complex social, cultural, and historical factors rather than simply individual choices. The study found that alcohol plays different roles in Indigenous communities, including cultural traditions, social relationships, and responses to social change. How factors such as interactions with non-indigenous society, cultural transitions, authority structures, and normalization of alcohol all influence drinking patterns among the Colombian indigenous people. These findings show that alcohol use is deeply connected to social conditions. How more and more of the younger generation are getting introduced to alcohol.

Arévalo Velásquez, Canma Liliana et al. “Social determination of alcohol consumption among Indigenous peoples in Colombia: a qualitative meta-synthesis.” BMC public health vol. 23,1 478. 13 Mar. 2023

In this article it talks about the Baka, an indigenous group in four different countries: Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Central African Republic and Cameroon. The Author initiated the idea to conduct a study to focus on alcohol and drug consumption among the Baka after some severe incidents like violent fights, rape, and ethylic coma between 2012 and 2014 that were closely related to alcohol use and consumption of other severe drugs. The Baka have different alcoholic beverages available in the Baka villages ranging from homemade and commercially produced. They observed that younger children were consuming small amounts of alcohol. Alcohol consumption has since increased during the last decades they have did studies among the Baka, for one, the introduction of commercial drinks in the village.

Arévalo Velásquez, Canma Liliana et al. “Social determination of alcohol consumption among Indigenous peoples in Colombia: a qualitative meta-synthesis.” BMC public health vol. 23,1 478. 13 Mar. 2023

In this article the authors talk about the Indigenous Maori people have distinct patterns of alcohol use that are associated with disproportionate alcohol-related harm. They reported that the Maori people have larger and more integrated social networks which may provide more opportunities for social engagement and alcohol use. Also those who belonged to a more private, self-contained networks were more likely to engage in hazardous drinking, whereas people who had close friends or family members were not likely to report hazardous alcohol use. Also traditional meeting and gathering places were popular locations for alcohol consumption.

HERBERT, SARAH & FORSTER, MARGARET & MCCREANOR, TIM & STEPHENS, CHRISTINE. (2017). THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF ALCOHOL USE AMONG MĀORI IN AOTEAROA/NEW ZEALAND: REFLECTIONS OF LIFE EXPERIENCES OF ALCOHOL USE BY OLDER MĀORI. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDIGENOUS HEALTH.