Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming

Description

When she invites us to “recover the sacred,” well-known Native American
organizer Winona LaDuke is requesting far more than the rescue of ancient
bones and beaded headbands from museums. For LaDuke, only the power to define
what is sacred—and access it—will enable Native American communities to
remember who they are and fashion their future.Using a wealth of Native
American research and hundreds of interviews with indigenous scholars and
activists, LaDuke examines the connections between sacred objects and the
sacred bodies of her people—past, present and future—focusing more closely on
the conditions under which traditional beliefs can best be practiced.
Describing the plentiful gaps between mainstream and indigenous thinking, she
probes the paradoxes that abound for the native people of the Americas. How,
for instance, can the indigenous imperative to honor the Great Salt Mother be
carried out when mining threatens not only access to Nevada’s Great Salt Lake
but the health of the lake water itself? While Congress has belatedly moved to
protect most Native American religious expression, it has failed to protect
the places and natural resources integral to the ceremonies.Federal laws have
achieved neither repatriation of Native remains nor protection of sacred
sites, and may have even less power to confront the more insidious aspects of
cultural theft, such as the parading of costumed mascots. But what of
political marginalization? How can the government fund gene mapping while
governmental neglect causes extreme poverty, thus blocking access to basic
healthcare for most tribal members? Calling as ever on her lyrical sensibility
and caustic wit, moving from the popular to the politic, from the sacred to
the profane, LaDuke uses these essays not just to indict the current
situation, but to point out a way forward for Native Americans and their
allies. Read more

Features:

Product Details:

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ South End Press; First Edition (August 1, 2005)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 294 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0896087123
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 25
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Best Sellers Rank: #1,796,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #2,887 in Native American Demographic Studies #4,284 in Environmentalism #7,047 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)
• #2,887 in Native American Demographic Studies
• #4,284 in Environmentalism