Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways for Renewal

by O'brien, Suzanne J. Crawford

• ISBN13: 9780275990138
• ISBN10: 0275990133
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-01
• Publisher: PRAEGER AGENCY ACCOUNT

Summary

What it means to be healthy or to heal is not universal from culture to culture, from religion to religion. Indeed, in many cultures religion and healing are intimately tied to each other. In Native American communities healing is conceived as the place where ideas about the body and selfhood are brought to light and expressed within healing traditions. Healing is defined as self-making, and illness as whatever compromises one's ability to be oneself. This book explores religion and healing in Native America, emphasizing the lived experience of indigenous religious practices and their role in health and healing. Indigenous traditions of healing in North America emphasize that the healthy self is defined by its relationship with its human, spiritual, and ecological communities.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	p. vii
Foreword	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Healing the Soul Wounds of Colonialism	p. 17
"Lightning Followed Me": Contemporary Navajo Therapeutic Strategies for Cancer	p. 19
"This Path Will Heal Our People": Healing the Soul Wound of Diabetes	p. 43
Cultural Reprise, Identity, and Social Well-Being	p. 63
Alcohol Abuse Recovery and Prevention as Spiritual Practice	p. 65
Figuring It Out: Sundancing and Storytelling in the Lakota Tradition	p. 91
Native American Notions of the Embodied Self	p. 113
Restoring Sacred Connection with Native Women in the Inner City	p. 115
Healing Generations in the South Puget Sound	p. 135
Healing through Narrative and Storytelling	p. 161
"The Stories Are Very Powerful": A Native American Perspective on Health, Illness, and Narrative	p. 163
If All These Great Stories Were Told, Great Stories Will Come!	p. 185
Afterword	p. 207
Index	p. 215
About the Editor and Contributors	p. 219
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