This week's topic in my feminist theories class was Indigenous Feminism. In one of the readings, Anna Louise Keating refers to "Plastic Shamanism, which she explains by citing the discussion by Aldred (2000) of "commercial exploitation of indigenous spiritual traditions." The author explores whether the work of a noted Native American feminist sharing of various Native traditions and stories in her books and other writings represents this kind of exploitation of indigenous spirituality. I found myself very drawn to the question of whether this was Plastic Shamanism because this is a question I find myself asking all the time.
I grew up in Salina, Utah. I was not raised as part of a tribal community. The only kind of spirituality I was raised to understand was the LDS (Mormon) religion, and LDS religious ordinances were the only kind of ceremony I knew. At the same time, I had a strong sense of myself as being Native American primarily because I heard many messages from the White people that surrounded me about their view of me as "other than White." Salina is a tiny community and most people who knew me, also knew that my father is a dark-skinned man who grew up on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. And so, I experienced myself as Native American in contrast to the white community that surrounded me, in spite of not belonging to a tribal community. This experience of myself as Native has morphed in many directions over time, and actually in some ways I see it as problematic for me to identify that way- though in some ways I don't (all fodder for discussion in another post or series of posts, probably).
At any rate, all my life I have been bombarded with messages about what it is supposed to mean for me to identify myself as Native. Very frequently, when a non-Indian person learns that I identify myself as Native American, this seems to conjure up all sorts of imaginings about who I am. How do I know this? Because many people have been very eager to tell me all about their imaginings. In this post, I'll stick to the exploration of one such story.
A past supervisor of mine was one of those non-Indian people (to be specific, a middle class straight White American male) eager to share with me his image of who an Indian is. He told me all about a vision quest he had been on and how it made him aware of the existence of spirits. He was very excited about this experience and shared it in a way that suggested to me that he thought it would be a source of bonding for us. But for me, I felt offended on so many levels I did not know where to begin to address it. Even now as I try to write about this, I feel like there are so many layers to peel back it is difficult to be concise or even organized.
Here's the thing. As I experience it, there were several assumptions he made in that interaction:
- That my religious or spiritual beliefs, or cultural practices, were traditional Native American.
- That traditional Native American is a 'thing.' In other words, there is a generic Native American spirituality, and it includes vision quests.
- That, as a Native American, I would identify with or understand a vision quest.
- That I would be comfortable discussing a Native religious or spiritual ceremony with my supervisor.
- That I would be okay with a White person (my supervisor) participating in such a ceremony AND subsequently sharing details about it with others.
Those are a lot of assumptions, all of which seem to me to be false. I will say that, going back to my own history, I have not been raised with knowledge of traditional Native American beliefs. Therefore, I am not particularly qualified to evaluate the authenticity of my supervisor's vision quest. But I have listened as much as possible. I have listened to White people and Native people. I have filtered in the media, and I have read books (some by White people and some by Native people). I have participated in ceremony led by Natives who WERE raised in a tribal community context. I have received a little bit of education, and what I have learned is this...
Historically, Native spiritual beliefs have been subject to the forces of colonization in much the same way Native lives and bodies have been. There is so much I could say about this, but in the interest of time, I'll say that if you want to know more, comment below and I'll talk to you about it or connect you with resources. The environment was made hostile for the continuation of Native traditions, and the people were devastated with the loss of sacred lands that were central to the practice of ceremony, the loss of so many lives, the destruction of culture and tradition through the boarding school system, the illegalization of Native religious practices through the Dawes Act, the disconnection of the young from the old, the introduction of disease and alcoholism and PTSD and homelessness and hopelessness... and as a result less and less of the Indian people were raised with a true understanding of the Indigenous knowledge of their tribes and families. But in the 60's and especially in the 70's, there became a resurgence of interest. Some of that interest came from within Native communities, such as with some segments of AIM (the American Indian Movement) for example. But some of that interest came from White America. Since then, White America seems to have found a fascination with Indigenous belief systems. Information gets shared, gets twisted, gets adapted and a whole industry has been built around selling indigenous culture... or at least what would appear to be indigenous culture. There are many frauds and much misinformation out there, and I encounter it all the time. When a friend tells me she's really into Native spirituality, which is why she bought Native tarot cards at Borders. Or a brand new acquaintance who knows nothing of my history or religious beliefs asks me to take her to a sweat lodge. I could make an entire blog out of just listing experiences, telling these stories just within my own life. Probably most people who identify as Native could. In fact, hey, here's a blog about Native appropriations.
It creates a situation in which this really disconnected, messed up, stereotype about Native spirituality is out there, being perpetuated and "embraced" and practiced by all kinds of people. I find this frustrating, as a Native-identified woman not raised within a clear tradition and with the generations-old knowledge about Who We Are surrounding me. It stirs up all kinds of mixed feelings about whether should, and can, learn about that part of my heritage. Trying to learn that traditional knowledge if you have not been rooted in it requires sifting through a lot of garbage to know whom you can trust and what is real. As a mostly-White (blood quantum-wise as well as in terms of the way I was raised) person, is my attempt to understand that history just another appropriation? But then, I had no choice about how I was raised or how my family line has incorporated both White Americans and Natives. Many of us have been forcefully cut off from that traditional knowledge, tribal life, and family line. I have, and I grieve that just about every day. I yearn to know more what is real, and where I come from. I feel like it is a part of who I am, and I'm angry about the destruction and even more angry about the appropriation and false representations I encounter continually. It all hurts my heart, and raises so many feelings of injustice and and loss, despair and insult.
"Who's Got My Back Now?" by Creed
run, hide
all that was sacred to us, sacred to us
see the signs, the covenant has been broken by mankind
leaving us with no shoulder, with no shoulder
to rest our head on
to rest our head on
to rest our head on
who's got my back now
when all we have left is deceptive, so disconnected
what is the truth now?
there's still time
all that has been devastated
can be recreated, realized
we pick up the broken pieces
of our lives
giving ourselves to each other, ourselves to each other
to rest our head on
to rest our head on
to rest our head on
But how does my yearning to know distinguish me from hipsters who go on these vision quests and wear their fake head dresses, completely disconnected from community and context? How can I live in such a way that is neither rejecting my heritage nor appropriating what is NOT mine, like every other person out there seeking out the Plastic Shaman?
I feel like I have to dodge and duck, and constantly re-evaluate and question in order to avoid being duped. I feel like I have to exert conscious effort to understand, anticipate, and explain myself in order to resist that image of the earthy spiritual guru that so many people seem to want to project onto me, not taking into consideration my context, no matter how much I urge them to.
And all I really want to do is know myself.
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