BOOKS WE RECOMMEND*



Many people have asked for( or more accurately demanded) a list of good books on Native Spirituality. We can't think of any legitimate books that reveal any legitimate indigenous spiritual knowledge. Indigenous spiritual knowledge isn't transmitted by books. Like gramma says, a good rule of tumb to follow is:

"Those who know, don't tell. Those who tell, don't know."


Now,that's more "Native Wisdom" than you'll ever get in any book!


We can recommend some books that you need to read in order to understand why spiritual appropriation is so damaging to indigenous communities. Anyone who truly wants to "honor Native people" will not buy books that exploit our spirituality and will challenge anyone who they encounter that buys exploitive books or purchases exploitive serives. Please don't purchase these books from Amazon dot com - they censor indigenous criticism of their twinkie books. You can sign a petition to boycott Amazon for its racist double standards. You can CLICK HERE to see the type of comments that Amazon dot com didn't want you to read.

Also, please support small, locally owned bookstores that make it their policy NOT to carry Nuage books that appropriate Native Spirituality. Remember to Buy-cot the good guyz

Book and Journal List

HISTORICAL REVISIONISM

Stripes, James D. "The Problem(s) of (Anishinaabe) History in the Fiction of Louise Erdrich: Voices and Contexts" in Wicazo Sa Review Vol. 7, No. 2 (Autumn, 1991), pp. 26-33 URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0749-6427%28199123%297%3A2%3C26%3ATPO%28HI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M

Critical Thinking About Wicca, the New Age and Neo-paganism

Why Wiccans Still Suck Links Page a huge resource

Culutural Imperialism in Witchcraft

Chapman, Malcolm. The Celts: Construction of a Myth. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

Allen, Charlotte, January 2001 " The Scholar and the Goddess" in Atlantic Monthly “Historically speaking, the ‘ancientErituals of the Goddess movement are almost certainly bunkE (jbburnett.com/resources/atlmo-goddesses/atl-mo-allen-goddesses.html )

"In all probability, not a single element of the Wiccan story is true."



Cultural Imperialism and Wicca

Fisher, Barbara A Review of Phyllis Curott's Witchcrafting November 14, 2001.

"I am not saying that Wiccans cannot revere any of these Goddesses or work with their energy but to ignore the religions from which they came and then call them Wiccan is blatant cultural imperialism of a rather ugly kind. I say it is ugly, because it was done so blithely, so easily, as if it was tossed off the top of her head in passing, without thought for the implications of the statement. Practitioners of Native American religions, in particular, already have issues with New Agers appropriating and misrepresenting their spiritual paths, so they don't need a respected Wiccan priestess jumping onto the wannabe bandwagon and proclaiming one of their most sacred Goddesses, White Buffalo Woman, as Wiccan. That, to me, is completely unnecessary and damaging to both Wicca and Curott. I suspect that she isn't insensitive to this issue, and I wouldn't want to portray her that way. However, I think that she just didn't think about it." (/www.journeytothewest.com/wordmain.htm)

Gaia Shamanism and Cultural Imperialism (www.cosmicwind.net/800/CWind/FreedomVoices/Shamanism.html)

Books on the Nazi Occult

Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology, The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890-1935 (published 1985).

Sklar, Dusty. Gods and Beasts: The Nazis and the Occult (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1977).

Misrepresentation of Aztec Culture

Vento, Arnold Carlos. "Aztec Myths and Cosmology: Historical-Religious Misinterpretation and Bias" in Wicazo Sa Review Vol 11, no. 1 (Spring, 1995), pp. 1-23 URL: : http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0749-6427%28199521%2911%3A1%3C1%3AAMACHM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7

The Misrepresentation and Commodification of Hopi Culture

Pearlstone, Zena. Katsina: Commodified and Appropriated Images of Hopi Supernaturals 2001, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles, CA, distributed by University of Washington Press, Seattle

Walker, Dave. Cuckoo for Kokopelli Flagstaff, AZ : Northland Pub.,1998. ISBN 0873587324

Misrepresentation of Maya Culture

The Maya and the 2012 Prophesies Craze

Montejo, Victor D. "BECOMING MAYA? APPROPRIATION OF THE WHITE SHAMAN" Spring, 1999, Native Americas Journal. http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu/spr99pe.html

White Shamanism

Hobson, Geary. 1978. 'The Rise of White Shaman as a New Version of Cultural Imperialism.' In The Remembered Earth, edited by Geary Hobson, Albuquerque, Red Earth Press, pp. 100-108.(Read online: www.jstor.org/view/00107484/ap040132/04a00040/0)

Rose, Wendy 1992. "The Great Pretenders: Further Reflections on Whiteshamanism." In The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance, edited by Annette Jaimes, South End Press, Boston, pp. 403-421. Read online excerpts: (www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98122260) (http://books.google.com/books?id=CJb41xwjnPYC&pg=PP13&lpg=PP13&dq=the+state+of+native+america+genocide+colonization+and+resistance&source=web&ots=MMwVPql51f&sig=Imd_2-aXMTwLAAYlZ3NLGWYHbRQ#PRA1-PA403,M1)

Wallis, Robert J. Shamans/Neo-Shamans: Ecstasies, Alternative Archaeologies and Contemporary Pagans Wallis; Routledge, 2003. ISBN : 041530203X Read excerpts online: (www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&se=gglsc&d=103955673) (online excerpts: http://books.google.com/books?id=ZNxliLtNVyYC&dq=%22shamans+neo+shamans%22+ecstasies+alternative+archaeologies+and+contemporary+pagans&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=9dyelAlBic&sig=Tg6B_CeeMZo-7yyDiBsJCiT553A#PPP1,M1)

Theosophy

Washington, Peter. Madame Blavatsky's Baboon: Theosophy and the Emergence of the Western Guru London: Secker & Warburg, 1993; ISBN 0-436-56418-1,. (1995 American edition subtitled: A History of the Mystics, Mediums, and Misfits Who Brought Spiritualism to America).

Playing Indian: Honour or Insult?

Deloria, Philip. Playing Indian (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).

Douglas,Mary. Purity and Danger (London: Routeledge, 1995)

Cultural/Intellectual Property Rights

Greaves,Tom, ed Intellectual Property Rights for Indigenous Peoples: A Sourcebook (Oklahoma City: Society for Applied Anthropology, 1994).

Green, Rayna. "The Tribe Called Wannabee," Folklore99 (1988):30-35.

Hobson, Geary. "The rise of white shaman as a new version of cultural imperialism." The Remembered Earth, edited by Geary Hobson, (Albuquerque: Red Earth Press 1978).

Kratz, Peter. Die Götter des New Age Berlin: Elefanten Press, 1994).

New Age Capitalism

Heath, Joseph and Andrew Potter The Rebel Sell :How the Counter Culture Became Consumer Culture Capstone Publishing 2005.

Lau, Kimberly J. New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000).

Rothsteined, Mikael New Age Religion and Globalization (Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 2001).

Religious Freedom for Indigenous People

O'Brien, Sharon. "A Legal Analysis of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act", in Handbook of American Indian Religious Freedom, ed. Christopher Vecsey, (New York: Crossroad, 1991).

The Harm or Cultural Appropriation

Butterfield, Nancy "The New Age Movement Stealing American Indian Ceremonies". In The Seattle Times. Pp. A 15. Seattle.

Donaldson, Laura E 1999 On Medicine Women and White Shame-ans: New Age Native Americanism and Commodity Fetishism as Pop Culture Feminism. Signa: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 24(3):677-696.

Root, Deborah. Cannibal Culture: Art, Appropriation, and the Commodification of Difference Westview Press 1996.

Rose, Wendy. "The Great Pretenders: Further Reflections on Whiteshamanism." The State of Native America: Genocide, Colonization, and Resistance, edited by Annette Jaimes, (Boston: South End Press, 1992).

Sitler, Robert. "The 2012 Phenomenon: New Age Appropriation of an Ancient Mayan Calendar" Nova Religio, Vol. 9, Issue 3 (www.ucpress.edu/journals/nr/).

NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE: (http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v020/20.1smith.html)Smith, Andrea. Chapter 6 "Spiritual Appropriation as Sexual Violence" in Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide, (Cambridge: South End Press, 2005).

Haunani-Kay Trask, From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawaii (Monroe: Common Courage Press, 1993).

Shanley, Kathryn W."The Indians America Loves to Love and Read: American Indian Identity and Cultural Appropriation" in American Indian Quarterly Vol. 21, No. 4 (Autumn, 1997), pp. 675-702 URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0095-182X%28199723%2921%3A4%3C675%3ATIALTL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2

Guides to Critical Reading of Indigenous Authors

Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth. Why I Can’t Read Wallace Stagner and Other Essays A Tribal Voice (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1996).

Davis, Philip G. The Goddess Unmasked: The Rise of Neopagan Feminist Spirituality Dallas: Spence Publishing Co., 1998 . ISBN 0-9653208-9-8

Treur, David. Native American Fiction: A Users manual (Saint Paul: Graywolf Press, 2006).

Wernitznig, Dagmar Going Native or Going Naive?: White Shamanism and the Neo-Noble Savage

Whitt, Laurie Anne. "Cultural Imperialism and the Marketing of Native America," in Natives and Academics: Researching and Writing About American Indians, ed. Devon Mihesuah (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1998).

Bruce Ziff and Pratima V. Rao. Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation, Rutgers University Press).

Tribal Elders Speak Out

Little Eagle, Avis 1991a After the Sweat: Caviar, Wine & Cheese. In The Lakota Times. Pp. A1, A2. Rapid City.

Little Eagle, Avis 1991b False Prophets will Suffer. In The Lakota Times. Pp. A1, A2. Rapid City..

Little Eagle, Avis 1991c Lakota Rituals Being Sold. In The Lakota Times. Pp. A1, A2. Rapid City..

Little Eagle, Avis 1991d Oh Shinnah; Prophet for Profit. In The Lakota Times. Pp. A1, A2. Rapid City..

Little Eagle, Avis 1991e Paid Ads Call her "Medicine Woman'. In The Lakota Times. Pp. A1, A2. Rapid City..

Little Eagle, Avis 1991f Sacred Pipe Keeper Fears Feds will Step In. In The Lakota Times. Pp. A1, A2. Rapid City..

Little Eagle, Avis 1992a Lakota discuss exploitation of religion, preservingt culture. In Indian Country Today. Pp. B1, B2, Vol. 12..

Little Eagle, Avis 1992b 'Spiritual Orphans' Peddle Religion in Great Round. In The Lakota Times. Pp. A8. Rapid City..

Lincoln, Michel Karen. 1995 Native American Traditionalists Worry as Sacred Rituals Become Mainstream. In The Buffalo News. Pp. 7A. Buffalo.

Journal Articles

Aldred, Lisa "Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality " in American Indian Quarterly Vol. 24, No. 3 (Summer, 2000), pp. 329-352 URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0095-182X%28200022%2924%3A3%3C329%3APSAASD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V

Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth "How Scholarship Defames the Native Voice... and Why" in Wicazo Sa Review Vol. 15, No. 2, Native American Literature on the Edge of a New Century (Autumn, 2000), pp. 79-92 URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0749-6427%28200023%2915%3A2%3C79%3AHSDTNV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I

Cook-Lynn, Elizabeth "Who Gets to Tell the Stories? " in Wicazo Sa Review Vol. 9, No. 1, Native American Literature on the Edge of a New Century (Spring, 1993), pp. 60-64 URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0749-6427%28199321%299%3A1%3C60%3AWGTTTS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B



Videos

Jeffrey Himpele (NYU) and Quetzil Castaneda Incidents of Travel in Chichen ItzaThis original ethnographic video depicts how New Agers, the Mexican state, tourists, and 1920s archaeologists all contend to "clear" the site of the antique Maya city of Chichen Itza in order to produce their own idealized and unobstructed visions of "Maya" while the local Maya themselves struggle to occupy the site as vendors and artisans. The setting is the spring Equinox when a shadow said to represent the Maya serpent-god Kukulkan appears on one temple pyramid. As more than 40,000 New Age spiritualists lead by Hunbatz Men and secular tourists from the United States and Mexico converge to witness this solar phenomenon, the video depicts the surrounding social event as a complicated entanglement of expected dualisms concerning tourism. Going beyond previous films that reduce tourism to neo-colonial and exoticizing social relations, this video portrays a Maya cultural site where US New Agers -- rather than local Mayas -- appear as exotic ritualists who are on display for other secular tourists and for local Mayas. While the video does examine representations of Mayas by visiting New Agers as part of globalizing discourses on the exotic and evolution, it also shows how during the ongoing economic crisis resident Mayas struggle against the Mexican state -- rather than against tourists -- that regularly "sweeps" them from the tourist zone in order to anchor the nation in an image of pure antiquity. This video also asks what kind of fieldwork is possible at such a spectacle and it questions the status of ethnographic authority as people from the various groups converging on the event, including the anthropologist-videomakers, ironically trade positions as well as compete to speak about the Maya.

Terry Macy and Dan Hart White shamans, plastic medicine men Native Voices Public Television, 1995. 26 minutes. A documentary that deals with the popularization and commercialization of Native American spiritual traditions by Non-Indians. Important questions are asked of those seeking to commercially exploit Tribal rituals and sacred ceremonies...and those vested with safeguarding sacred ways. The film offers a thoughtful critique of the appropriation of Native American culture and spirituality by white new age people who make a living and lifestyle from using and selling indigenous spiritual ritual and symbols. Throughout the video, Native Americans speak about their feelings and thoughts about the role of spiritual practice and the historical appropriation of indigenous land, resources, and now spirituality, by white people. White practitioners of Native American spirituality also share their feelings, thoughts and intentions. The contrast provided by these conflicting interviews raises many questions for viewers about the impacts of cultural appropriation and what it means to respect and appreciate cultures different from our own.
Available for loan from: Western States Center, PO Box 40305, Portland, OR 97240, 503-228-8866, E-mail Taneisha White Available for purchase: Native Voices Public Television

The Secrets of the Third Reich The similiarities to modern New Age beliefs will blow your mind!



*DISCLAIMER: Since there is no such thing as a perfect artist, poet film-maker or writer; there is no such thing as a perfect, book, essay or documentary. We are listing these works to provoke deeper thought on the subjects they deal with. As always, you should think for yourself about these issues.



This page is perpetually under construction
We're working on getting links to sample books online if possible