Indigenous Studies and “the Sacred” (original) (raw)

American Indian Quarterly, 2014

Abstract

Th is study of the sacred as a categorical tripping point at the intersection of Indigenous studies and the history of religions begins with the words of Grant Bulltail, an Apsaalooke (Crow) elder, recorded on video when he traveled from his home on the Crow Reservation in Montana to speak to schoolchildren in Cody, Wyoming, about an extraordinary landmark, Heart Mountain. In the quotation above, Mr. Bulltail was addressing the categorical problem that exists when he discusses the sacred with people from the dominant Anglo- Christian culture. He has to set the stage that there are two diff erent worlds of meaning with regard to “the sacred” before he can discuss what Heart Mountain means to him. His words and that mountain are the ground upon which the following questions stand: Is sacred a category that merits continued development in the service of Indigenous studies? Is it best avoided as the appendix on a body of passe, Eurocentric, dualistic thought? Will Indigenous studies methodology be served best to move away from this category as quickly as possible, as it appears that even the un is doing in its recent embrace of the phrase “intangible cultural heritage”? Or does the category work , formally and pragmatically, in situations of cross- cultural dialogue, serving the interest of Indigenous people in their struggles for justice in the face of global economic and ecologi

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