The Renaissance of Shamanic Dance in Indian Populations of North America

Paleolithic migrants crossing the Bering land bridge from Siberia to North America between 80,000 and 7,000 b.c. brought shamanic practices that prevailed until European colonization 400 years ago. Colonial authorities and some modern experts have misrepresented shamans as charlatans, imposters, or mentally ill, a Eurocentric fallacy rooted in misinterpretations of altered states of consciousness during rituals. Legal suppression of shamanic ceremonies in the United States intensified after the Ghost Dance, a shaman-inspired movement originating in the Prophet Dance of the Pacific Northwest, which culminated in the Sioux uprising of 1890 and the tragedy of Wounded Knee.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Consecutive waves of paleolithic migrants crossing the Bering land bridge from Siberia to North America between 80,000 and 7,000 b.c. brought with them the shamanic way of harnessing supernatural powers. This way prevailed until the White intrusion 400 years ago, into the living space of the aboriginal peoples of North America. Wherever European political, religious, and economic dominance was established, shamanic institutions became the focus of negative attention. The shamanic practitioner was variously depicted by governmental and ecclesiastic authorities as a charlatan and imposter or a purveyor of evil influence. Some well-known ethnological and medico-psychological experts have until very recently portrayed the shaman as a mentally deranged person whose “primitive” culture permits the acting-out of psychopathology in a prestigious role, a eurocentric and positivistic fallacy rooted in Western misinterpretations of learned behavior manifested during shamanic rituals involving altered states of consciousness. Legal measures to suppress shamanic ceremonials were taken in the United States, especially in the aftermath of the Ghost Dance. This shaman-inspired movement, originating in the Prophet Dance of the Pacific Northwest (Spier 1935), sent waves of hectic sacro-nativistic ceremonial activity through many Amerindian tribes, and finally culminated in the Sioux uprising of 1890 which ended in the tragedy of Wounded Knee (cf. Mooney 1896).