Religion and Culture in Native America

Product Description

Religion and Culture in Native America presents an introduction to a diverse array of Indigenous religious and cultural practices in North America, focusing on those issues in which tribal communities themselves are currently invested. These topics include climate change, water rights, the protection of sacred places, the reclaiming of Indigenous foods, health and wellness, social justice, and the safety of Indigenous women and girls. Locating such contemporary challenges within their historical, religious, and cultural contexts illuminates how Native communities’ responses to such issues are not simply political, but deeply spiritual, informed by sacred traditions, ethical principles, and profound truths.
In collaboration with renowned ethnographer and scholar of Native American religious traditions Inés Talamantez, Suzanne Crawford O’Brien abandons classical categories typically found in religious studies textbooks and challenges essentialist notions of Native American cultures to explore the complexities of Native North American life. Key features of this text include:

Consideration of Indigenous religious traditions within their historical, political, and cultural contexts
Thematic organization emphasizing the concerns and commitments of contemporary tribal communities
Maps and images that help to locate tribal communities and illustrate key themes.
Recommendations for further reading and research

Written in an engaging narrative style, this book makes an ideal text for undergraduate courses in Native American Religions, Religion and Ecology, Indigenous Religions, and World Religions.

Review

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

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

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

About the Author

Suzanne Crawford O’Brien
is 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,