Mark asks…
For Those Who Practice New Age Spirituality: Cultural Theft in New Age Religion?
I have a question for those involved in New Age religion/spirituality:
Do you ever feel bad about the cultural theft that happens? For example, the New Age is a syncretism, or bricolage, meaning that it takes from many different spiritual and cultural traditions. Many times, this is fine. But other times, a cultural group doesn’t like that their culture is taken and used (or mis-used). For example, vision quests, sweat lodges and smudging are all present in the New Age and are taken primarily from Native American traditions. Many Native Americans do not like this. Another example is Shamanism (aspects of shamanism are used in the new age and taken from various shamanistic cultures).
The question is, have you ever thought you were doing something wrong in using these traditions that weren’t yours (assuming you are not of a Native or Shamanistic tradition)? If you haven’t thought it is wrong, why? I suspect that it is because you’ve never thought about it (correct me if I’m wrong, please). It just isn’t something that’s talked about in the New Age, so I think many people who practice New Age just don’t think about it. I certainly don’t think there is anything malicious going on.
Please understand that I’m not being accusatory, I just am curious whether any of you have thought about the topic of cultural theft, and how it affects your spiritual practices.
For more on cultural appropriation (theft) look here:
http://www.hanksville.org/sand/intellect/NAbibBell.html
http://www.geocities.com/d0n0harm/
http://www.geocities.com/d0n0harm/links
“There is no harm in White people’s retreating into solitary places for spiritual insight and growth. This has been part of most religious traditions. So the popularity of calling such a retreat a ‘vision quest’ comes from the commodification [sic] of Native Americans as the latest consumer fad. By turning Indians into commodities, they are incorporated into capitalism’s way or perceiving and valuing reality. Their own perceptions and values are thus undermined. What is called “Indian spirituality” has actually become a distortion. Those words then cannot be relied on, they have been warped to fit another agenda. By this, the attempt to hold onto authentic Indian spiritualities has been rendered more difficult.”
http://www.geocities.com/d0n0harm/Wanting2BNDN8
Apeman: appropriation is not flattery. This cultural theft of Native American religions and Shamanist cultures lends to the further obliteration of Native communities. The Chinese government did (is doing) this consciously to Tibet: it is appropriating Tibetan culture and twisting it so that the original Tibetan culture itself is lost. Non-Natives are doing the same thing to Natives, but they are not aware of what they are doing.
[note: this part of the quote comes after the below quote]
“What are some of the effects of this warped agenda on Native people? The actual realities of Native communities are erased. Native communities have been under assault for 500 years, and are facing issues of dislocation, continued theft of land, poverty, unemployment, addiction, suicide, and despair. In Native communities, the recovery of traditional practices such as the vision quest helps build identity and community pride, helps empower Native communities for life struggles against a racist mainstream. If these ceremonies are diluted by misuse in White America, the communities are weakened in their struggles for survival.”
- From “Wanting to be Indian” http://www.geocities.com/d0n0harm/Wanting2BNDN8
grr sorry – these edits are screwing up the quote order. I put a quote from “Wanting to Be Indian”: The one that starts “There is no harm..” is first. The one that starts “What are some of the effects” continues the first quote.
admin answers:
We who are native have asked repeatedly for the appropriation of our ceremonies to be stopped. Some have gone so far as banning all non natives from our ceremonies because of the abuses. Yet still there are those who for a fee will give you an authentic spirt’ul experience. Some do it for money, some for their own ego. But all because they feel entitled to take whatever they want any time they want. You see the justification attempts all time.
Your self entitlement is destroying our ways because of your sheer numbers. We are few, less than 1% of the population and you have taken just about everything from us. Why can’t you leave us what makes us who we are and stop corrupting one of the last things we hold close as indigenous peoples?
@fire falcon. We do not need non natives to preserve our culture. We are not dying out. In fact we are the fastest growing group in the population. Your governments of usa and canada are no longer forcefully sterilizing us.
Our culture survives by passing it on to our children. It is not something we do…it is who we are. Our ceremonies are always done in our languages. Our beliefs and practices are not something one can do outside the community as everything is focused on the community. To try is to bastardize it. That is why we keep things to ourselves. We remember how we shared things and what happened to those things. We have learned the hard way.
It is pretty arrogant to think that without the non native’s help, we are destined to disappear, when it was your “help” that almost made it a reality. We have survived for thousands of years plus 500 yrs of genocide. We will continue to survive and that is why when it comes to our spirituality we say..hands off. It is not yours, it never was yours, it will never be yours. If people cared they would listen to us for once and respect our wishes. But of course respect is not a strong point with the dominent culture.
@fire falcon. If i ask to use your car and you say no and then i take it anyway, even if i am very careful with it, is it still stealing? I mean..i know EXACTLY where it came from so i couldn’t have stolen it! Of course it is stealing. When native people have asked for outsiders, meaning people not within our communities, to leave our ceremonies alone and yet they continue to mock them and us by attempting to use them, it is theft. Cultural theft. We are telling you.. It DOES harm us, but you dismiss what we say just like many others. You do not want to be lumped in with other people but you are justifying what so many of those others do. Its always the same story..”we respect native people..we just won’t listen to what you are saying or respect your wishes because obviously we as the dominant culture know better than you do what you need and don’t need.”
why is it so hard to understand? This is exactly the entitlement we speak about. You don’t like being told “no” especially by natives! All of us know the attitude even if it is unspoken…”we won, you lost, you don’t get to tell us what to do”. It is the same attitude that pervades the mascot issue. You want something and nothing will stop you from taking it. It is what your culture does all the time and all over the world. You make up excuses for why you should have it, and justify the usually forceful and deceitful means you use to take it, too. Like talking about the war you won to take this country as your own. There was no war! There were lies and legislation and massacres! But you get to write the history your way. We get it.
Perhaps you should read your own history to see what happens to native people when we share with your people. We’ve been there already and have no intention of going back.
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