Opening Wounds in Indian Country: Some Challenges in Studying Native American Women's Roles in Temperance Movements

This paper will explore some practical and ethical challenges associated with academic inquiry into the history of temperance movements in Native American communities. This pursuit can run up against painful family and community histories of alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault. Some modern Native American recovery programs even eschew Christian-based temperance efforts in favor of traditional medicine, leading some people to show little interest in discussing the topic of the Christian-based organizations in Indian Country at all.  Yet, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Independent Order of Grand Templars, and many other mainstream, white-dominated organizations attracted Native American women to their ranks—and even to leadership positions—due to their shared interest in curtailing alcohol abuse in Native American communities. The organizations, however, often had the additional agenda of ending tribal sovereignty, promoting acculturation, and eradicating Native American spiritual practices. Therefore, Native American women found themselves balancing a number of competing and opposing forces in their lives. The challenges associated with their participation in these organizations illuminate the paradoxes of reservation life as a whole at the turn of the twentieth century. Thus, historians must still engage in these challenging conversations, somehow, to understand the difficult routes Native American women took to improve their communities.