Citation

Spicer P. Cult. Med. Psychiatry 1998; 22(2): 139-169.

Affiliation

National Center for American Indian and Alaska Native, Mental Health Research, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80220, USA. paul.spicer@uchsc.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9693873

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of American Indian people's experiences on the kinds of accounts they offer for their drinking. Based on the analysis of three transcripts that are representative of open-ended interviews with 48 self-defined problem drinkers from the Minneapolis American Indian community, it develops the argument that narrative is neither a necessary nor inevitable way to talk about illnesses and other difficulties. Distinguishing between narratives, which are marked by the element of evaluation where the implications of a person's drinking are clearly stated, and chronicles, in which this element is absent, this paper discusses the implications of non-narrative accounts for our treatments of culture and experience in anthropology.

Language: en