Indigenous Australia and Alcohol Policy: Meeting Difference with Indifference

Gives a unique perspective on approaches to problem drinking among Aboriginal people, and the role that cultural difference has played. It finds that in the 1980s there was an innovative and lively international debate about addictions, yet these understandings – and potential solutions – did not find their way into Aboriginal programs.

‘I confess to becoming swept up in the story told in this book of how Indigenous alcohol issues can fall through the cracks, both in mainstream thinking and analysis of health and alcohol policy, and in the development of Indigenous perspectives. It is a walk through history. It also brings together a rich and extensive analysis of the Aboriginal policy and administrative structures over the last three decades, and an understanding of the conceptual and pragmatic contexts of drug and alcohol studies.’ – Professor Margaret Hamilton, Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Melbourne

‘Illuminating and extremely well put together. This is a remarkable study, which brings together three separate traditions of work in the area of alcohol and drug studies –anthropology, public health policy and treatment and intervention strategies – in a new and productive way.’ – Robin Room, Centre for Social Research in Alcohol and Drugs, Stockholm University Sweden

Maggie Brady is a social anthropologist with a focus on Indigenous health and substance misuse. She has undertaken research in remote and rural Australia for Indigenous organisations, government departments and universities. Her publications include the award-winning publication The Grog Book. Dr Brady has been an advisor to the World Health Organization and has worked on AusAID-sponsored community development projects in South Africa.

This important book gives a unique perspective on approaches to problem drinking among Aboriginal people, and the role cultural difference has played. It finds that in the 1980s there was an innovative and lively international debate about addictions, yet these understandings – and potential solutions – did not find their way into Aboriginal programs. Provocatively, the book finds that this hesitation meant various governments did not intervene to stem the devastating impact of alcohol on Aboriginal communities. It asks what impact this had on broader health policy and the ways we think about cultural difference, health and drinking.

The book examines the ways in which Aboriginal health was defined and treatment strategies developed since the 1970s and the role of bodies such as the World Health Organization in this. It traces national and international changes in alcohol policy, considering the ways in which divergent views of alcoholism and abstinence developed and the immediate impact this had on treatment options for Indigenous people.

By moving between the world of fieldwork with Aboriginal people throughout Australia and the world of public health research, Maggie Brady has produced a landmark study.