culture

The N e w Age Movement's Appropriation of Native Spirituality: Some Political Implications

for the Algonquian Nation

SUSANNE MISKIMMIN

University of Western Ontario

In the predawn darkness, a line of figures can barely be discerned as

they slip into the makeshift sweat lodge. Inside, in the oppressive heat,

they encircle the fire and concentrate on purifying the mind, the body and

the earth. Sweet grass is thrown on the fire to aid this process of

purification. In turn, each individual gives homage to the spirits. One

honours Kitche-Manitou, one the Four Directions, another acknowledges

the summer solstice while a fourth gives thanks to the Goddess. It is a

scene becoming more and more c o m m o n in the suburbia surrounding

large Canadian cities. It is the N e w Agers.

The participants are, for the most part, "white" and of Euro-Canadian

heritage. The leader, however, is often a person claiming "mixed blood",

although more often than not this claim to native heritage is only the

most tenuous genetic thread linking an otherwise "white" individual to a

vague and uncertain Indian ancestor. This thread is embellished and

relished. Even individuals with absolutely no possible claim to native

heritage are in fact making that claim, or are culturally adopting what is

genetically lacking. This desire to be Indian has much to do with the

New Age Movement which has sparked a new interest in traditional

native spirituality. Native spirituality is revered for its connection to the

earth and its respect for harmony and balance in all things and Indians are

envisioned to be the spiritual healers of Euro-Canadian maladies. A

market for Indian religious experience has developed throughout North

America and "guides" such as those noted above have come forward to

give spiritual counselling. In actual fact, the N e w Age Movement's

approach to native spirituality is a "grab bag" of native spiritual

traditions, with an emphasis on Algonquian and Plains spiritual belief

combined with holistic healing and "human potential" language.

206 SUSANNE MISKIMMIN

Not surprisingly, many entrepreneurs have embraced this fad as an

opportunity for great profit. They sell sweat lodges or vision quests

which promise individual and global healing. Or they sell books and

weekend retreats which propose to teach traditional ceremonies to bring

out the Indian in everyone. A visit to the local N e w A g e Shop reveals

a bevy of items created to enhance the spirituality of the N e w Ager.

Here, you can buy sweet grass for purifying, shaman's rattles and drums

for that at home ritual, dream catchers, medicine wheels or tools of

divination, such as "Sacred Path Cards" and "Medicine Cards". These

cards are heralded as "an extraordinary tool for self-discovery which

draws on the strength and beauty of Native American spiritual tradition.

Developed by [a] Native American medicine teacher... this unique system

distils the essential wisdom of the sacred tradition of many tribal

traditions and shows users the way to transform their lives." Each card

depicts a symbol of native spirituality and an accompanying text relates

an "authentic" native story to aid in interpretation and direct meditation.

N e w Agers are responding to a genuinely felt emotional need within

dominant society. Despairing of their feelings of spiritual emptiness and

the lack of meaning in their lives, N e w Agers look to others for succour

rather than seeking transformation from within. Those w h o embrace

native spirituality, for the most part, believe that in doing so they admire

and express respect for First Nations. O n the surface, this attitude toward

native heritage may indeed appear a positive thing; that native spiritual-

ity is being revered and celebrated. In this paper, I hope to illustrate that

this is not the case. Stereotyping, appropriation and the politics of

primitivism are intrinsic to the N e w Age Movement's "adoption" of

native spirituality and a dispute over ownership and authenticity has

resulted.

In her article "The tribe called Wannabee: playing Indian in America

and Europe", Rayna Green (1988) traces the history of the "whiteman's"

tendency to emulate Indians from the time of initial contact to the

present. This tendency, which she coins "playing Indian", offers an

unique opportunity to escape the conventional and often highly restrictive

boundaries of the "whiteman's" fixed cultural identity. Green finds that

the role of "playing Indian" began to have spiritual implications in the

late 19th century and was connected to several important notions: that

APPROPRIATION OF NATIVE SPIRITUALITY 207

Indians inhabit the spirit world, that Indians are wise and skilled in

healing, and that a medium directed by a guiding spirit can speak to, or

instruct, others. M a n y of these spirit guides were perceived to be Indian.

A precursor of the N e w Age fascination with Algonquian spirituality

began in the 1960s, when counter culture hippies, wearing headbands,

love beads, fringed jackets and feathers and inspired by such cult books

as those of Carlos Castaneda, began to show up on Southwestern mesas

and reservation areas in search of peyote cults and a state of "higher

consciousness" (Green 1988:44).

Two early forms of "guruism" constitute the major literary forms in

North American culture which led to the birth of the N e w Age Move-

ment. In the first of these, the persona of a famous Indian leader offers

the "truth" of the human condition through the voice of a wise, old, (and

now conveniently dead) chief. In the second mode, the old guru gives

the teachings through the transcriptions of a non-native student. Indian

"truth" and wisdom are purveyed by the "white Indians" to an audience

which prefers the white shaman to the real Indian (Green 1988).

One of the more notorious authors to write in an Indian persona was

Jamake Highwater, an alleged Cherokee/Blackfoot from either Montana

or Canada (the story varies), born by his own assertion in several

different years. Prior to his "rebirth" as an Indian, Highwater appeared

as Jay Marks, a non-Indian whose main literary claim to fame was his

"authorized" biography of rock star Mick Jagger in the late 1960s. In

response to having been revealed by a native newspaper to be of

Armenian Jewish heritage, Highwater, clad in expensive "Santa Fe Chic"

clothing, insisted that he is Indian because — and I quote — "I say I am"

(Highwater 1981).

Two recent works in the "guru" genre attract attention because of

their phenomenal success — Carlos Castaneda and Lynn Andrews (Green

1988). Castaneda's series of works on the teachings of Don Juan were

tendered both as serious anthropology and as an authoritative treatise on

Indian life. Lynn Andrews capitalized on Castaneda's success and her

own interest in feminism with her account of the teachings of her wise

spiritual guide, Agnes Whistling Elk, whose apparent life's ambition was

to unburden herself of her people's sacred knowledge to the first available

"white" woman. These works, along with Highwater's, have been

208 SUSANNE MISKIMMIN

instrumental in engendering the vast and avid demand for native religious

experience.

The image of native people held by many Euro-Canadians has been

imprisoned in history. This has made it possible for N e w Agers to

identify with images of First Nations people in the past and attempt to

possess part of this identity, without considering the impact of this

appropriation on the present. A s D o n Alexander writes, "From cigar

store Indian, to cowboy and Indian movies, to the 'noble savage', native

people live in a prison of images not of their o w n making" (1986:45).

These pervasive images, removed from the daily reality of native peoples,

mask their struggles for empowerment. They do not reflect the history

of native people but rather express another heritage; those representations

of natives by the non-native social imagination which fragments and

freezes native identity. Native peoples exist within a milieux of images

and contradictory symbols which result from history, consumerism and

popular culture. These images have silently contradicted the lived

experiences of native people and have worked to construct a discourse of

subordination. They are pervasive and powerful and their influence on

native identity has political implications. These images are intrinsic to

the debates surrounding aboriginal rights and resources, cultural tourism

and cultural trespassing, intellectual property and cultural appropriation.

Further, the concern for "authenticity" and the "desire to rescue

'authenticity' out of destructive historical change" as Clifford puts it

(1985:121) denies culture its dynamic quality. Indians are today what

they have always been (constructed as it is): silent, stoic, mystical and

clad in beads and feathers. A contemporary First Nations person is

deemed less "authentic" than the distorted caricature residing in the Euro-

Canadian imagination. This notion that native people today are not "real"

or "authentic" makes the appropriation of aspects of their cultural heritage

a non-issue.

The N e w Age Movement's conception of native spirituality is

superficial at best; it seems they are after a quick spiritual fix. They

cling to the positive aspects of spirit forces and deny the dualistic nature

of the spiritual world. As an Ojibwe friend recently elaborated,

Spiritual learning is a lifelong process; it has taken m e m y whole life to learn what I know about m y tradition. H o w can a N e w Ager expect

APPROPRIATION OF NATIVE SPIRITUALITY 209

to learn all there is to know just from one book or a weekend course? What they know of native spirituality is so superficial, it makes it look as if it's not real or genuine; not something to be taken seriously.

The concern is for the reaction of those Euro-Canadians w h o have had

limited experience concerning First Nations people themselves and are

forming their impressions of them based on what N e w Agers are doing.

Further, the N e w A g e Movement's approach to native spirituality does

not acknowledge the cultural diversity among native people and creates

a "generic" Indian. Such a perception fosters the idea that the First

Nations are not viable nations — nations that have ownership and

jurisdiction over natural resources. Such a perception also implies that

there is no political foundation for First Nations, that they exist, for the

New Age Movement, merely as a spiritual guides.

It has been suggested that when N e w Agers see h o w "white" people

have historically oppressed others and how they are coming very close to

destroying the earth, they often want to disassociate themselves from their

"whiteness". They do this by opting to "become Indian". In this way

they can escape responsibility and accountability for "white" racism

(Smith 1994:70). This dissociation also allows the individual to continue

to benefit from the colonialism of which they are part, but to not take

responsibility for it. Certainly, N e w Agers want to become only part

Indian. They do not want to acknowledge First Nation struggles for

cultural survival, treaty rights, self-determination or an end to substance

abuse. They do not want to acknowledge that which would deny them

their romanticized vision of Indian reality. Rather, N e w Agers see

Indians as "gurus" w h o exist to meet their consumerist needs.

Andrea Smith writes that

The New Age movement completely trivializes the oppression we as Indian women face: Indian women are suddenly no longer the women who are forcibly sterilized and tested with unsafe drugs such as Depo Provera; we are no longer the women who have a life expectancy of 47 years; and we are no longer the women who generally live below the poverty level and face a 7 5 % unemployment rate. No, we're too busy being cool and spiritual. [Smith 1994:71]

A further concern regarding the N e w Age Movement is its appropria-

tion of native voice in the telling of native stories. Native stories are

powerful and often sacred. Stories affect change, impart strength and

heal. Stories convey the social values that the community deems

210 SUSANNE MISKIMMIN

essential and storytelling situates people in the world and keeps them

connected to it and each other. Stories are the fabric of native societies

and if they are appropriated by others, native people will no longer

control the process that is the very weave of their societies (Walkem

1993). Given the importance of stories in transmitting First Nations

cultures, a mistelling represents a destruction.

The question of ownership of stories and the licence of outsiders to

tell the stories of other cultures are issues that are currently being

debated. M u c h of the colonialist existence of the past few hundred years

has silenced native voices. Native stories were largely appropriated and

retold by non-native experts in such fields as anthropology, history and

in the political realm. Not surprisingly, the appropriated stories distort

the realities of native histories, cultures and traditions. Underlying this

practice is the assumption that these "experts" have the right to retell

native stories because of their place in dominant society. What is

disturbing about those w h o would appropriate the voices of native

peoples is that they do not see their actions as political or as a continua-

tion of their o w n colonialist past. The appropriation of native voices

through the telling of their stories is a political act; it dislocates First

Nations people and attempts to restructure reality: it is assimilationist

(Walkem 1993:38).

It has been suggested that cultural appropriation is not necessarily a

bad thing all of the time, and that the world cultures are already very

entwined. However, such thinking assumes that individuals are playing

within an even field. This is not the case. The history of colonialism has

led to significant inequities and to the exclusion of communities not

regarded as belonging to the "mainstream" of society from telling their

o w n stories.

As Smith (1994) comments, respecting the integrity of native people

and their spirituality does not mean that there can never be cross-cultural

sharing. However, such sharing should take place upon the initiative of

First Nations. Interested individuals should acknowledge and become

involved in native political struggles and should develop an ongoing

relation with native communities based on trust and mutual respect.

W h e n this happens, native people may invite a non-Indian to take part in

a ceremony, but it will be on native terms.

APPROPRIATION O F NATIVE SPIRITUALITY 211

REFERENCES

Alexander, Don. 1986. Prison of images: seizing the means of representation. Fuse, February/March 1986, 45-^6.

Clifford, James. 1985. Histories of the tribal and the modern. Art in America, April 1985, 164-177.

Green, Rayna. 1988. The tribe called Wannabee: playing Indian in America and Europe. Folklore 99(l):30-55.

Highwater, Jamake. 1981. The primal mind: vision and reality in Indian America. New York: Harper & Row.

Smith, Andrea. 1994. For all those who were Indian in a former life. Cultural Survival Quarterly 17(4):70-71.

Walkem, Ardith. 1993. Stories and voices. Fuse, summer 1993, 31-38.