Among the outsiders are "plastic shamans" and "wannabes." Both terms need some definition. A shaman, in Siberia where the term originated, is a traditional healer who mediates between the spirit world and that of daily life. A traditional spirit healer made of plastic is just a contradiction in terms, right? Hence the joke behind the name. A "wannabe" is just somebody who wants to be something he is not. The "American Idol" show is full of wannabe musicians, for example, and karaoke clubs make their money off of wannabe singers.
So white people who "wannabe" Native American can go to a "plastic shaman" and try to buy the kind of spiritual "wisdom" that traditional people would fast and pray for years to attain. At least so goes the stereotype.
Has the revival of Native American religions spread too far? Some believe that's the case, as whites have expressed an interest in the Native world view and incorporated some of its features into "New Age" philosophies -- and New Age marketing ventures that take some of the trappings of Native spirituality but trivialize its spirit. Rather than feeling honored by this, many Native people feel ripped off. Sharing their unease with New Age hype, according to Wikipedia, are "adherents of traditional disciplines from cultures such as India, China, and elsewhere; a number of orthodox schools of Yoga, Tantra, Qigong, Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda and martial arts (the traditional Taijiquan families, for example), groups with histories reaching back many centuries in some cases." It is a form of cultural appropriation ...
Two newspaper stories detail the practice. In 1997 a reporter for The Navajo Times told about traditional Dine (Navajo) people who were ripped off by a fake healer, at a time when the real traditional healers are getting fewer and fewer. And another Navajo Times writer surveyed plastic shamans on the Internet. See also the survey of rip-offs and authentic practices in California's Sonoma County Free Press.
In 1993, a Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality was adopted at the Lakota Summit, an international gathering of U.S. and Canadian Lakota, Dakota and Nakota nations. It says, "for too long we have suffered the unspeakable indignity of having our most precious Lakota ceremonies and spiritual practices desecrated, mocked and abused by non-Indian "wannabes," hucksters, cultists, commercial profiteers and self-styled "New Age shamans" and their followers."
4 comments:
they're angry because the people who try to sell native rituals either have no idea what they're doing or perform these rituals incorrectly.
most people dont have any idea about native rituals and this is what makes the natives angry
I feel that Native Americans are angry because people who act like they know what they are doing by trying to be authentic Native Americans when they aren't are just plain wrong.
I understand how it could make the Native Americans upset to have people who do not live their lifestyles or know the meaning behind their culture and try to practice their ways!! It makes them look bad...also they feel like others do not take them seriously!
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