More links in the US Hitory: Native American History LibGuide
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
A Seat at the Table: Huston Smith In Conversation with Native Americans on Religious Freedom by
In this collection of illuminating conversations, renowned historian of world religions Huston Smith invites ten influential American Indian spiritual and political leaders to talk about their five-hundred-year struggle for religious freedom. Their intimate, impassioned dialogues yield profound insights into one of the most striking cases of tragic irony in history: the country that prides itself on religious freedom has resolutely denied those same rights to its own indigenous people. With remarkable erudition and curiosity--and respectfully framing his questions in light of the revelation that his discovery of Native American religion helped him round out his views of the world's religions--Smith skillfully helps reveal the depth of the speakers' knowledge and experience. American Indian leaders Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux), Winona LaDuke (Anishshinaabeg), Walter Echo-Hawk (Pawnee), Frank Dayish, Jr. (Navajo), Charlotte Black Elk (Oglala Lakota), Douglas George-Kanentiio (Mohawk-Iroquois), Lenny Foster (Dine/Navajo), Tonya Gonnella Frichner (Onondaga), Anthony Guy Lopez (Lakota-Sioux), and Oren Lyons (Onondaga) provide an impressive overview of the critical issues facing the Native American community today. Their ideas about spirituality, politics, relations with the U.S. government, their place in American society, and the continuing vitality of their communities give voice to a population that is all too often ignored in contemporary discourse. The culture they describe is not a relic of the past, nor a historical curiosity, but a living tradition that continues to shape Native American lives.
A Theology of the In-Between: The Value of Syncretic Process by
Syncretism is a word with an ambivalent, not to say bizarre history. It originated with the Greek historian Plutarch as a descriptive noun for advantageous political alliances among the Cretan tribes. It was later adopted by the Renaissance humanist Erasmus to propose to other humanists a way for them to unite against barbarism. But in the seventeenth century some Protestant theologians, followed later by some Catholics, used it to describe unprincipled compromise with conflicting teachings. Since then, among Christians the word has signified theological distortion, although anthropologists have employed it neutrally to describe the phenomena of religious mixtures resulting from intercultural contacts.The present work seeks to "retrieve" the ancient meaning of syncretism, since the book's thesis is that such mixing grows out of a human desire for unity and synthesis. More, among oppressed tribal peoples, it is an attempt to understand and rationalize their situation. While acknowledging that not all syncretism is good and that some cases, like Nazism, have been demonic, this book argues that "syncretic process" is a historical movement by which Christianity can understand itself better as a faith to be shared by all cultures. Thus, once again, theology becomes "faith seeking understanding."
How It Is by
Viola Cordova was the first Native American woman to receive a PhD in philosophy. Even as she became an expert on canonical works of traditional Western philosophy, she devoted herself to defining a Native American philosophy. Although she passed away before she could complete her life's work, some of her colleagues have organized her pioneering contributions into this provocative book.
In three parts, Cordova sets out a complete Native American philosophy. First she explains her own understanding of the nature of reality itself--the origins of the world, the relation of matter and spirit, the nature of time, and the roles of culture and language in understanding all of these. She then turns to our role as residents of the Earth, arguing that we become human as we deepen our relation to our people and to our places, and as we understand the responsibilities that grow from those relationships. In the final section, she calls for a new reverence in a world where there is no distinction between the sacred and the mundane.
Cordova clearly contrasts Native American beliefs with the traditions of the Enlightenment and Christianized Europeans (what she calls "Euroman" philosophy). By doing so, she leads her readers into a deeper understanding of both traditions and encourages us to question any view that claims a singular truth. From these essays--which are lucid, insightful, frequently funny, and occasionally angry--we receive a powerful new vision of how we can live with respect, reciprocity, and joy.
Mother Earth, Father Sky by
Explore the rich worldview of the first Americans, from creation stories to tales of the afterlife. Learn about the ceremonies and rituals that connect these people to each other and to the earth and animals that are so revered in Native American cultures.
Native American Spirituality by
Spirituality may be the most contentious and poorly understood dimension of Native American communities today. For generations the religious beliefs and practices of Native Americans have been the subject of public fascination and scholarly inquiry. Unfortunately, this ongoing interest has all too frequently been fueled by facile generalizations, inaccurate information, or inappropriate methods of investigation. Given the legacy of misrepresentation and mistrust, is it possible to fully appreciate the religious meanings and experiences of Native Americans?
This volume offers a stimulating, multidisciplinary set of essays by noted Native and non-Native scholars that explore the problems and prospects of understanding and writing about Native American spirituality in the twenty-first century. Considerable attention is given to the appropriateness and value of different interpretive paradigms for Native religion, including both "traditional" religion and Native Christianity. The book also investigates the ethics of religious representation, issues of authenticity, the commodification of spirituality, and pedagogical practices. Of special interest is the role of dialogue in expressing and understanding Native American religious beliefs and practices. A final set of essays explores the power of and reactions to Native spirituality from a long-term, historical perspective.
Sacred Lands of Indian America by 
Shadowcatchers: a journey in search of the teachings of Native American healers by
The author's explorations of Native American culture lead him to the elders of thirteen different tribes and encounters with wise men and women, tribal leaders, healers, high priests, and sorcerers.
Spirit Wars by
Spirit Wars is an exploration of the ways in which the destruction of spiritual practices and beliefs of native peoples in North America has led to conditions of collective suffering--a process sometimes referred to as cultural genocide. Ronald Niezen approaches this topic through wide-ranging case studies involving different colonial powers and state governments: the seventeenth-century Spanish occupation of the Southwest, the colonization of the Northeast by the French and British, nineteenth-century westward expansion and nationalism in the swelling United States and Canada, and twentieth-century struggles for native people's spiritual integrity and freedom. Each chapter deals with a specific dimension of the relationship between native peoples and non-native institutions, and together these topics yield a new understanding of the forces directed against the underpinnings of native cultures.
The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions by
"Encyclopedia of Native American Religions is a guide to the rich spiritual traditions and practices of Native Americans in the United States and Canada. Included are more than 1,200 entries, alphabetically arranged and fully cross-referenced. Long regarded as quaint curiosities or exotic pagan rites, the religious practices of Native Americans make up a rich, enduring legacy deserving of a place among the great spiritual traditions. Encyclopedia of Native American Religions is a comprehensive resource to these traditions and practices and accords them the respect, status, and attention they deserve." "In this edition, new or updated information has been included on such topics as: national and state legislation, such as the Native American Church Bill, which allows the religious use of peyote, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; religious rights in the military; sacred sites; sacred use of tobacco; and court cases involving the participation of non-Indians in Native American religious ceremonies, such as the Sun Dance."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Stars Above, the Earth Below: American Indians and nature by
This timely collection of essays and photographs explores the creation stories, rituals and myths, hunting and farming methods, and the belief in using the gifts of the earth to present Native American perspectives on nature.
The World We Used to Live In: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men by
The world lost a courageous leader and a treasured friend with the passing of Vine Deloria Jr. He was and is one of the greatest spiritual thinkers of our time. Before his death, Deloria was re-examining Native spirituality. His years of collecting Native stories of the medicine men, and exploring spirituality from different perspectives are brought together in this book. Although Deloria was annoyed and disapproving of the commercialization of Native spirituality (sweat lodges conducted for $50, peyote meetings for $1,500, medicine drums for $300), he did not wish to chastise those finding solace in these pseudo rituals. Instead, he wanted to open people's eyes to the rituals and ceremonies as they were originally intendedto stop the empty recitation of songs and blessings and bring meaning and spirit back to the sacred Native rites. To do so, he explored the medicine men, their powers, and the Earth's relation to the cosmos.
To You We Shall Return by
"Grandmother, you who listen and hear all, you from whom all good things come...It is your embrace we feel when we return to you..." This traditional Lakota prayer to Grandmother Earth opens Joseph Marshall III's newest work, a meditation on our connection to the land and an exhortation to respect it. Using a combination of personal anecdote, detailed history, and Lakota tales, Marshall takes us back to his childhood and shows us how we, too, can learn to love our planet.
Although he was educated in Euro-American schools, Marshall had the benefit of growing up with wise grandparents who taught him never to walk a path without knowing the trail from which he'd come: that the bow does not make the hunter, and above all, that the earth can be boundlessly generous-if we can learn to accept its gifts.
We Have a Religion: the 1920s Pueblo Indian dance controversy and American religious freedom by
For Native Americans, religious freedom has been an elusive goal. From nineteenth-century bans on indigenous ceremonial practices to twenty-first-century legal battles over sacred lands, peyote use, and hunting practices, the U.S. government has often acted as if Indian traditions were somehow not truly religious and therefore not eligible for the constitutional protections of the First Amendment. In this book, Tisa Wenger shows that cultural notions about what constitutes "religion" are crucial to public debates over religious freedom.
In the 1920s, Pueblo Indian leaders in New Mexico and a sympathetic coalition of non-Indian reformers successfully challenged government and missionary attempts to suppress Indian dances by convincing a skeptical public that these ceremonies counted as religion. This struggle for religious freedom forced the Pueblos to employ Euro-American notions of religion, a conceptual shift with complex consequences within Pueblo life. Long after the dance controversy, Wenger demonstrates, dominant concepts of religion and religious freedom have continued to marginalize indigenous traditions within the United States.
American Indian religious revivalist movement that spread through the Plains Indians and other ethnic groups in the 1890s.
