secondary source

Find an illuminating secondary source for your research question. Explain where you found it, what search terms got you there, and why you’ve chosen this one as opposed to others. Summarize your source and explain how it changes how you are approaching your topic. Provide a proper citation for your source.

I found this source on JSTOR. It regards alcohol consumption among racial/ethnic minority groups, specifically regarding Native Americans (the part that I focused on). The search term that got me there was actually the title of the story, “The Blood Runs Like a River Through my Dreams.” For other websites, I have used the terms “Native American”, “alcohol”, and “stereotypes” and gotten plentiful results with these terms from advanced Google searches and from Google Scholar. JSTOR surprisingly didn’t have much of a display in regards to this title, and this was the only article that came up under this heading. While I could have researched different terms to find one for this blog post (I did use different terms, but thought this would be a good source for the blog), this one seemed relevant and important to address because of the scientists’ evaluation of how stereotypes are widespread across ethnic groups as a whole. I have inserted the notes I took on this and the citation.

Caetano, Raul, Catherine, Clark, Tam, Tammy. “Alcohol Consumption Racial/Ethnic Minorities.” Theory and Reserach 22.24 (1998): 233-237. Alcohol Health and Research World. JSTOR. Web. 29 Oct. 2015. <http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh22-4/233.pdf>.

• Native americans’ drinking patterns are shaped by other influences—not necessarily inherently a part of them
• Just because certain groups of native americans may be said to have alcohol addiction problems, it should not be a widely held generalization
  • Typically, minority groups are said to have these issues the most (Hispanics, blacks, Asian-americans, and native americans)
• We obtain these pre-dispositions from secondary sources and stories, such as “Fire-water Myth” which says that binge drinking is something that’s inherently a part of their culture and they cannot control this part of them—it’s inevitable
• Not only characterized by alcohol consumption, but excessive alcohol consumption
  • “Indian Way of Drinking” (237)
• this article describes that aside from stories, such as the Fire-water Myth, there’s no evidence to state that Native Americans are more predisposed to excessive alcohol intake as a part of their personality
• Native Americans in general are not predisposed to alcohol intake, but it depends on the specific tribe (there are over 500 with over 200 languages amongst the minority group of Americans)
  • Many groups completely abstain from alcohol consumption
  • The few that do engage in excessive intake tarnish the reputation of the whole
• Some theories state that Native Americans drink to cope with low self-esteem, frustration, boredom
  • Some drink to reach an alternative state of consciousness—spiritual ceremonies