The People Awakening Project (PA) began in 2001 as a three-year research study of Alaska Native (AN) pathways to sobriety, today it continues in its fourth phase of programmatic investigation as the Elluam Tungiinun (ET) project. Prior to PA, most past research on alcohol and ANs had focused on problems and abuse. As a result, little research attention had been given to the many AN people who are sober, who are not problem drinkers, and who have succeeded in recovery from alcoholism. It was this negative orientation that not only existed in the research literature but also in written and spoken popular media as well, that led AN leaders to join forces with University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) researchers to study and document the positive aspects of AN individuals and their culture that allowed them to avoid the dangers of alcohol abuse.
Gerald Mohatt, PhD, Principal Investigator
Funded by NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism