Coming Full Circle: Spirituality and Wellness among Native Communities in the Pacific Northwest

by Suzanne Crawford O'Brien

Overview

Coming Full Circle is an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationships between spirituality and health in several contemporary Coast Salish and Chinook communities in western Washington from 1805 to 2005. Suzanne Crawford O’Brien examines how these communities define what it means to be healthy, and how recent tribal community–based health programs have applied this understanding to their missions and activities. She also explores how contemporary definitions, goals, and activities relating to health and healing are informed by Coast Salish history and also by indigenous spiritual views of the body, which are based on an understanding of the relationship between self, ecology, and community.

Coming Full Circle draws on a historical framework in reflecting on contemporary tribal health-care efforts and the ways in which they engage indigenous healing traditions alongside twenty-first-century biomedicine. The book makes a strong case for the current shift toward tribally controlled care, arguing that local, culturally distinct ways of healing and understanding illness must be a part of contemporary Native healthcare.

Combining in-depth archival research, extensive ethnographic participant-based field work, and skillful scholarship on theories of religion and embodiment, Crawford O’Brien offers an original and masterful analysis of contemporary Native Americans and their worldviews.

Suzanne Crawford O’Brien is an associate professor of religion and culture at Pacific Lutheran University. She is the author of Native American Religions and the editor of Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways for Renewal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496209061
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	02/17/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Suzanne Crawford O’Brien is a professor of religion and culture at Pacific Lutheran University. She is the author of Native American Religions and the editor of Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways for Renewal.

 

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations vii

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction: The Case of Ellen Gray xvii

Part 1 Locations

1 Theoretical Orientation: Embodied Subjectivity and the Self in Motion 3

Part 2 Illness, Healing, and Missionization in Historical Context

2 "The Fact Is They Cannot Live": Euroamerican Responses to Epidemic Disease 35

3 "Civilization Is Poison to the Indian": Missionization, Authenticity, and the Myth of the Vanishing Indian 71

Part 3 Restoring the Spirit, Renewing Tradition

4 "A Good Christian Is a Good Medicine Man": Changing Religious Landscapes from 1804 to 2005 103

5 Both Traditional and Contemporary: The South Puget Intertribal Women's Wellness Program 149

6 Coming Full Circle: Defining Health and Wellness on the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation 190

Part 4 Person, Body, Place

7 "Rich in Relations": Self, Kin, and Community 223

8 The Healthy Self: Embedded in Place 264

9 "A Power Makes You Sick": Illness and Healing in Coast Salish and Chinook Traditions 287

Conclusion: The Case of Ellen Gray, Reconsidered 311

Notes 321

Bibliography 385

Index 417

Editorial Reviews

"As scholars in history, anthropology, environmental studies, nursing, and biology, among others, continue to explore indigenous food restoration as a location of sovereignty and cultural reclamation, the case studies featured in Coming Full Circle provide important community examples. Crawford O’Brien’s collaboration with these communities highlights the significance of academic/Native community partnerships and results in accounts of poignant and meaningful health solutions."—Laurie Arnold, Western Historical Quarterly

Western Historical Quarterly - Laurie Arnold

"This is an important book."—Eric Anderson, Pacific Northwest Quarterly

Pacific Northwest Quarterly - Eric Anderson

"Coming Full Circle is a strong example of interdisciplinary, mixed-methods research. By analyzing the historical, religious, spiritual, economic, and cultural factors influencing tribal peoples' healing and spiritual traditions, Crawford O'Brien demonstrates the beauty and resilience of tribal communities and tribal cultural traditions."—Michelle M. Jacob, Oregon Historical Quarterly

Oregon Historical Quarterly - Michelle M. Jacob