By Pegi Eyers, Stone Circle Press
To understand how cultural appropriation shows up in our environmental movements and spiritual life, we need to look at the backstory, or how cultural appropriation came to be. About 50 years ago a strange phenomena began to happen. In mainstream society young white people were rebelling against the imperialist machine, while in a much less visible sphere, First Nations were just starting to recover from the dark ages of genocide, oppression, residential school displacement and segregation. In the dominant society of the mid-20th century, our ties to a genuine spiritual life had been broken, organized religion was on the decline, and all of a sudden young white people were reconnecting with nature. This was a wonderful thing – but they had no role models to follow so they turned to First Nations, freely adopting these cultural tools and spiritual traditions, and some going so far as to create a whole new indigenous identity for themselves. Without proper boundaries, the whitewashed genre of “Native Spirituality” was born, and cultural appropriation became imbedded in the flourishing New Age Industry.
Of course we owe a huge debt to the original rebellion of the hippies and the counterculture that gave us the alternative choices, sexual freedom, new spiritualities, holistic self-care and healthy life-sustaining practices we enjoy today. These are features of society we now take for granted, but unfortunately within the massive self-help, transformational and New Age marketplace the genres of “Native Spirituality” and “Shamanism” have been normalized. Being exposed to this material for so long, many New Agers are shocked to find these genres being questioned, yet an interrogation is exactly what is needed. Not only are white practitioners of “Native Spirituality” on shaky moral ground, First Nations have made it abundantly clear that they are completely opposed to the theft of their cultural and spiritual property.
Today, cultural appropriation occurs on a continuum from relatively harmless practices, to serious mental disorders such as identity theft. Having moccasins, native jewellery, native art, or a drum in the privacy of your own home (acquired from native artisans) can be considered good Allyship by supporting the livelihood of First Nations. But in mainstream industries like fashion, fine art, entertainment and home décor, items like dreamcatchers and headdresses are big business, and these cultural signifiers are casually used by white people for fun and self-expression. Many of these symbols, often products made in China, are the sacred property of First Nations! We can just imagine how deeply hurtful this must be.
It’s just fashion, why are you so upset?
Native-themed fabrications rely on stereotypes, and infer that First Nations are a thing of the past or “frozen in time,” whereas the reality is that indigenous people are part of contemporary, living cultures. Indigenous people are also erased and made invisible by the use of sports team names and mascots, and dehumanized by decorative props used to sell goods, ideas and services. With all this “Columbusing” going on, the genuine voices, cultural markers and indigenous knowledge of First Nations themselves are lost in the shuffle.
At the far end of the cultural appropriation continuum, identity theft is by far the greatest problem. White people who have a superficial understanding of traditions held by indigenous people for millennia create a fake native identity for themselves, and then offer spiritual services and ceremonies to other white people for a fee. Since spiritual guidance is not part of the economic paradigm in traditional First Nation societies, the phenomena of the self-styled “Shaman” charging money for ceremonies and other quasi-native experiences is shockingly reprehensible and morally wrong.
Unfortunately, using the title of “Shaman” to describe one’s practice is now so widespread it is probably impossible to send it back to the Pandora’s box from whence it came. The origins of the term “shaman” first appeared in the 1914 reports of American ethnologists to describe the practices of the Evenki-speaking Tungusian and Samoyedic tribes of eastern Siberia, and it can be argued that only practitioners from those specific indigenous societies have the right to use the term. Also adopted by the early anthropology and New Age communities, as we unpack these movements today we see that the contemporary use of “Shamanism” is based on an intrusive and offensive European interpretation.
Why is cultural appropriation such a serious problem, and why is it so harmful to First Nations?
Taking on a native identity is a continuation of colonization, which (1) seeks to eradicate indigenous people, (2) take the land and resources, and (3), erase the cultural identity of the indigenous people themselves. And when we consider the phenomena of cultural appropriation on a deep level, we see that the activity of white wannabees or pretendians is not harmless or “spiritual” – it is an act of the deepest racism. The cultural markers white folks are drawn to, like drums, pipes and sweatlodges, are the very same things that were outlawed by the colonial powers. What white people freely use in their everyday lives are objects First Nations could be killed for using, not that long ago. What could be more macabre?
Cultural appropriation is an enormous widespread problem that interferes with First Nations resurgence and sovereignty. More than just the lifting of ideas, practices and physical objects, cultural appropriation dominates how oppressed groups present themselves to the world, and undermines their efforts to preserve their own traditions. Not to mention the disempowerment and loss of basic human dignity this suggests, indigenous people no longer have their own autonomy or control over how they are represented in the public domain, which is a fundamental right for every human being. When white academics, scholars, writers, New Agers and Neo-Pagan practitioners (those with advantage and power) appropriate, write or teach about the cultural and spiritual traditions of indigenous societies, they are in fact dominating the original indigenous knowledge (IK). Their versions of IK become the valid narratives, fabrications that are sold back to the white majority and even to indigenous peoples themselves.
Fabricated Identities as “White Shamans”
Playing around with one’s personal identity is an indulgence for privileged white people, and critical responses by First Nations to the appropriation of their spiritual and cultural property is readily available in books, essays, blogs, Facebook groups and pages. Judging from their comments, they are shocked, horrified and insulted by any adoption of native identity in any sphere of popular culture or spiritual life. NDN’s stress over and over that there are absolutely no conditions that make it acceptable for a non-native person to assume a native identity and become a “cultural ambassador” of First Nations IK to other white people. Battling cultural appropriation has been at the forefront of indigenous resistance in the Americas for many decades now, and has been addressed with legal means, documents from leaders such as Chief Arvol Looking Horse, and up to the highest level with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIPS). White pseudo-shamans are also the objects of ridicule and derision. This can easily be witnessed by following the work of indigenous activists and organizations that monitor cultural appropriation such as NAFPS: New Age Frauds & Plastic Shamans; Native Appropriations: Examining Representations of Indigenous Peoples; or F.A.I.R. MEDIA for a couple of days.
In response to the white seeker’s claim of having “permission” from one First Nations person to use their spiritual or cultural property, it doesn’t follow that the rest of that FN community agrees. By going ahead and using FN spiritual or cultural property as a non-native person, you are (a) still going to look ridiculous, (b) appear to be “tokenizing” by separating out one FN’s opinion from their wider community, (c) are still indulging in racist and colonizing behavior, and (d) are showing that you have no clue what your own cultural identity is. Beyond the universal tools found in nature to make fire, shelter, and regional wild foods that are going to be similar whatever culture you belong to, it is best to recover the indigenous practices from your OWN ancestry.
What is the difference between cultural exchange and cultural appropriation?
There is one simple Rule – ask yourself if the cultures are on a level footing, and one culture is freely sharing with another, or is there an oppressor/oppressed relationship, and is the oppressor taking from the oppressed? With the history of settler colonialism on Turtle Island, identity theft is the final link in the chain of cultural genocide. Cultural appropriation is made possible by white supremacy and systemic racism.
What does cultural appropriation say about our own identity as white people?
In the massive Empire-building project on Turtle Island, white people had our ethnocultural identity stripped from us as we joined homogeneous nation-states with whiteness as the default. Colonized for centuries now, we have forgotten why having an ethnoculture is important, yet we yearn for it at the same time. This collective soul loss is at the root of our attraction to indigenous societies and the exotic “other.” We exist in the cultural vacuum known as Settler-Colonialism, but Turtle Island Indigenous Knowledge is not our culture!
The popularity of New Age Capitalism has allowed us to use the cultural and spiritual property of indigenous people without realizing that it is cultural appropriation. These boundaries should have been in place years ago, but the timetable of healing from genocide and slavery did not enable people of colour to be empowered to speak out on this serious issue until recently. Now that white people are aware of the problem, we are obligated to educate each other and stop these harmful practices.
Even if the false “shamanic” identity has been perpetuated for years and the practitioner has an established business, they need to stop aligning with the racist policies of colonialism and white knowledge domination. Shifting to the authentic earth-connected wisdom traditions of one’s own ancestors and offering that European Indigenous Knowledge (EIK) to one’s cultural group is not all that difficult, and would be a blessing to all involved. So-called “shamans” have re-created themselves once, and can do it again (!) this time using their own true identity and ethnicity, and their followers will love them for it. In fact, with the millions of spiritually-starved and culturally-alienated diasporans in the Americas, it is inconceivable that those focused on spiritual and cultural renewal would not see the value in offering their own authentic EIK teachings to others!
When First Nations people are telling us over and over that cultural appropriation is demeaning and disempowering (as well as a continuation of colonialism), we really need to rearrange our ethical maps and stop this offensive behavior. In grappling for the shiny treasures we lack in our own lives, we have forgotten basic values like honour and respect.
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Pegi Eyers is the author of “Ancient Spirit Rising: Reclaiming Your Roots & Restoring Earth Community,” a new book that explores strategies for neurodecolonization, rejecting Empire, social justice, ethnocultural identity, Apocalypse Studies, building land- emergent community & resilience in times of massive change.
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Unsettling America 