Overview

Religion and Culture in Native America will provide a comprehensive introduction to the variety of Native cultures and religious practices in North America, while concentrating on those issues in which tribal communities themselves are currently invested. The book will emphasize current research in the area of Native American studies and Native American religious studies. This textbook locates contemporary challenges facing Native communities within their historical, religious, and cultural contexts. As such, it reflects current methods of scholarship and the kinds of questions, concerns, and issues that dominate conversations within scholarly and tribal circles today. Written in an engaging, conversational and narrative style, the intended audience would be upper level high school students, undergraduate university students, and the interested general reader.

Full Product Details

9781538104743

Table of Contents

Reviews

Religion and Culture in Native America is an indispensable addition to the literature, liberating varied Native American spiritual traditions from the tyranny of overtrodden themes found in standard religious studies texts written from a Western perspective. As a starting place, each chapter ends with a list of references and recommendations for further reading, a springboard for teachers and students to explore rich (and neglected) insights from Indigenous researchers, writers, culture bearers, and those who work with them. . . it is a critically urgent introduction, demonstrating that without the ongoing protection and stewardship of Indigenous spiritual traditions, we risk losing our collective connection to our Mother Earth while inching ever closer to the end of the Anthropocene.--Journal of Folklore Research A critically important book in which readers are provided with powerful stories of how Indigenous peoples have sustained our cultures, communities, and sacred connection to place. In this challenging contemporary moment, Religion and Culture in Native America is a precious gift that can help all readers, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, critically understand the past and draw inspiration to build a better future.--Michelle M. Jacob, University of Oregon Suzanne Crawford O'Brien provides a sensitive, indigenously-centered tour de force primer, rich with fresh vignettes of imagery and insight on the contemporary world of Native America. A book destined to be a classic, setting the bar high for subsequent scholars.--Rodney Frey, University of Idaho The major contribution this new volume on Native American religious traditions makes is to discuss religious life in relation to the most pressing issues impacting Native America today. It is organized thematically and, importantly, centers land, challenging scholars of religion to rethink the relationship between the material and immaterial as well as the categories of analysis we've been accustomed to exploring.--Natalie Avalos, University of Colorado, Boulder

Suzanne Crawford O'Brien provides a sensitive, indigenously-centered tour de force primer, rich with fresh vignettes of imagery and insight on the contemporary world of Native America. A book destined to be a classic, setting the bar high for subsequent scholars.--Rodney Frey, University of Idaho The major contribution this new volume on Native American religious traditions makes is to discuss religious life in relation to the most pressing issues impacting Native America today. It is organized thematically and, importantly, centers land, challenging scholars of religion to rethink the relationship between the material and immaterial as well as the categories of analysis we've been accustomed to exploring.--Natalie Avalos, University of Colorado, Boulder

Author Information

Suzanne Crawford O’Brien is associate professor of religion and culture at Pacific Lutheran University. She is the author of Native American Religions Traditions, Coming Full Circle: Spirituality and Wellness Among Native Communities in the Pacific Northwest, and Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways for Renewal, as well as co-editor of American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available