Geneticizing the Drunken Indian? How Scientists Talk About American Indian/ Alaska Native Alcohol Use

• In Event: Science, Knowledge & Technology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 2: Distinguishing difference: classification, standardization, and racialization

Abstract

For centuries, American Indian/ Alaska Native (AIAN) populations have been subjected to the “firewater myth”, or rather, the belief that as a group they experience a “biological vulnerability” to alcohol (Gonzalez and Skewes 2016; Vizenor 1983). Indeed, AIAN drinking habits have garnered attention in the fields of anthropology (Leland 1979; Spicer 1997), literature (Davis 1991) history (Duran 2018; Lurie 1971), and public health (Frank, Moore, and Ames 2000; Tingey et al. 2012). Sociologists have argued that “scientific” constructions of race (e.g. biology) emphasize biology, genes, and phenotype(Morning 2008; Roberts 2018). At the same time, other sociologists argue that “race” is an anti-Indigenous concept that harms tribal sovereignty (Small-Rodriguez and Beardall 2021) and the political dimension of AIAN lived experience remains largely unexamined (Huyser And Locklear 2023). Given what is at “stake” to racialize AIANs, this paper unpacks how scientists draw on genetic evidence to explain alcohol use among American Indians in the United States. We draw on peer-reviewed bibliographic data from 1976-2024 to investigate how scientists draw on genetics to explain AIAN alcohol use. Exploratory results find that 1) scientists seek out genetic explanations for alcohol use as a health behavior and 2) situate AIAN identity as biological, rather than socially constructed and political. Because of the emphasis of genetics, the social conditions that shape AIAN health behaviors (alcohol use and misuse) are left largely unexplored in these bodies. We argue that scientists “geneticize” AIAN alcohol use and through scientific inquiry give legitimacy to ideas like the firewater myth.

Authors

• Kiana Kristine Wilkins, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Jina Lee, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign