Ethnography Project
Cultural Anthropology – 270
Introduction
This ethnography will be a study based on the spiritual aspect of the program, Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) as perceived by individuals from different religious backgrounds. I myself am a recovering alcoholic, with a sobriety date of January 26, 1988, and have a good understanding of the program of A.A. and the importance of a strong spiritual foundation upon which to build a life of sobriety. The founders of A.A. with their thoughtful insight understood the need for a program that allowed persons of all backgrounds to be able to establish a relationship with a power greater than themselves, but most importantly of their own understanding. It is this very concept that I will attempt to elicit from members of the fellowship.
The interview strategy that I plan to employ is the informal type, conversation style, my reasoning behind this is actually based on the format of A.A. itself. Although I chose the informal type, I will be asking the same standard questions of each subject. Also, I will be recording the interviews electronically, again to make the conversations more relaxed, and to allow the talk to flow at its natural pace. The information that l am attempting to gain would be difficult to get in a formal question setting. As for my informants-due to the primary purpose of AA is anonymity- from here on out they shall be referred to as Subject#1, Subject#2 and Subject#3. As I have chosen subjects with long term sobriety, they are also people that I have known for some time, I do not foresee any challenges that could not be overcome relatively easily. Also, the anonymity issue would probably be the largest challenge to face, but as I stated previously I have established relationships along with, an existing level of trust with each of these subjects. The guarantee of privacy will be discussed beforehand.
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Section 1 – The Interview
I interviewed my informants in order, the location I have chosen is the Alano Club West in Lansing, and it is an old school building that now houses four rooms where A.A. meetings are held, along with a coffee shop and lounge. I believe that this environment will be conducive to putting my informants at ease, and to help them be comfortable when talking about such a personal issue.
Subject #1 is a 54 year old Caucasian female with 15 years of sobriety, raised in the Catholic faith. She is a homemaker and part-time student, living in Williamston. She is married with no children. I interviewed her on November 21, 2009, the interview lasted 90 minutes.
Subject# 2 is a 66 year old African-American male with 16 years of sobriety, raised in the Baptist faith. He is retired from Michigan State University, living in the Holt area. He has been married for 42 years, and has 6 grown children, and 18 grandchildren. I interviewed him on November 21, 2009; the interview lasted approximately 2 hours.
Subject #3 is a 63 year old Caucasian female with 19 years of sobriety, raised as an agnostic. She is retired from General Motors, living in the Lansing area. She is divorced, and has 5 grown children. I interviewed her on November 22, 2009, the interview lasted 1 hour.
The reason for these interviews was explained to each of the informants. The anonymity of all involved was discussed thoroughly. Although each interview was more like an informal interview – following the format of a formal interview – I asked the same standard questions of each subject. The questions and answers follow.
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How did your faith of upbringing manifest itself in your life prior to finding Alcoholic’s Anonymous?
Subject #1: I was brought up in an n extremely devout Catholic home. Not long after leaving home, and eventually marrying, I had all but divorced the Catholic faith. God as I saw him was a punishing God that wanted nothing to do with me.
Subject#2: I had always stayed involved in my faith community, but in my heart I was pulling away from god, but still attending services. It was all for show. God and I were not on speaking terms. It was all me, it made it so much easier to drink, and all of the behaviors that go with it, to not have anything forcing me to look at my actions.
Subject#3: My communication (praying) before AA consisted of,” If you get me out of this, I’ll do that in return”.
The first indication of a higher power in AA is in the 2nd step, which generally hangs on the wall of meeting rooms. What was your reaction to this?
Subject #1: It scared the living shit out of me.
Subject#2: The first thought through my mind was that, I was gonna have a whole lot of penance to pay. Everything that happened in my life was my doing, repairing my relationship with God was all on me. I just knew that I was going to have to work extremely hard.
Subject#3: Although I consider myself an agnostic, the fact is that I am sure of one thing, that I am open to all possibilities in the realm of higher beings. I knew the power that alcohol had enormous power over me. I just wasn’t sure that something from a different level, would guide me to a better place.
It is a fact that AA is not a religious organization, it is a spiritual program. Were there any internal conflicts between past belief systems and this new spiritual way of living?
Subject #1: Definitely. I was so afraid that I was going to Hell. I really, really, did not want to have to face the deity that I had grown up fearing. I struggled for a really long time until I finally figured out the difference between religion and spirituality.
Subject#2: Some changes were going to have to be made, I saw that right away. But as far as having any real internal conflicts between the two, nothing insurmountable.
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Subject#3: Not really. Since I had never really committed to any one certain belief, the issue was the belief in any higher power.
A more direct question would be, did your prior belief in God, affect connecting with a “higher power”?
Subject #1: It had a huge impact on me being able to grow in the spiritual aspect of the fellowship.
Subject#2: As I said before, it was more of a matter of making changes.
Subject#3: I would have to say no.
Were you able to merge the two?
Subject #1: No! There was no way that was going to happen. The God that I was brought up with was to be feared. There is something about judgment that I really don’t want to associate with a higher power. My higher power today is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the God I grew up with.
Subject#2: Yes, very much so. I still have the God in my life that I always have had. My view of him has definitely changed, but only for the better.
Subject#3: Believe it or not, I have been able to meld some of those possibilities that we talked about with the spiritual belief system that I have now.
Does your vision of a power greater than yourself change?
Subject #1: Yes, it seemed like it was changing daily when I was new in sobriety. As time has gone on I still get new insights, but my main view is pretty constant.
Subject#2: I would have to say that I become more enlightened. God is everything, so it is I that must continue to grow in order to understand his will for me better.
Subject#3: Yes. I still learn new things about the spiritual realm.
What is your view of a higher power today?
Subject #1: My higher power today is a truly loving God. I rely on him to help be a better person everyday. I do not fear my God today.
Subject#2: My view of God today is the creator of all. As I was saying before, my understanding of God and his will for me grows more each day. It is very dependant on the amount of effort that I am willing to put into it.
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Subject#3: Today I do believe in something. Spirituality is the foundation of my life, and the people that I choose to share myself with are also very spiritually connected. I believe that we all have to have our own version of a power greater than ourselves, and that it must be of our own understanding.
The answers that I received were really quite varied. It would be quite interesting to have a little larger group of informants to see if it could be determined whether certain traits were determining factors. All three informants had different religious backgrounds which really seemed to have an impact on their ability to attain the spiritual aspect of the program of AA. All were eventually able to build a relationship with a higher power. Subject #1, had to completely find a new God, unable to retain any part of her former beliefs. While Subjects #2 and #3, were able to merge past with present.
