scholarly journals The Cactus and the Anthropologist: The Evolution of Cultural Expertise on the Entheogenic Use of Peyote in the United States

Laws ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Aurelien Bouayad
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
The United States ◽  
Native American Church ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
American Legal System ◽  
Cultural Experts

This paper explores the complex evolution of the role anthropologists have played as cultural experts in the regulation of the entheogenic use of the peyote cactus throughout the 20th century. As experts of the “peyote cult”, anthropologists provided testimonies and cultural expertise in the regulatory debates in American legislative and judiciary arenas in order to counterbalance the demonization and prohibition of the medicinal and sacramental use of peyote by Native Americans through state and federal legislations. In the meantime, anthropologists have encouraged Peyotists to form a pan-tribal religious institution as a way to secure legal protection of their practice; in 1918, the Native American Church (NAC) was incorporated in Oklahoma, with its articles explicitly referring to the sacramental use of peyote. Operating as cultural experts, anthropologists have therefore assisted jurists in their understanding of the cultural and religious significance of peyote, and have at the same time counseled Native Americans in their interaction with the legal system and in the formatting of their claims in appropriate legal terms. This complex legal controversy therefore provides ample material for a general exploration of the use, evolution, and impact of cultural expertise in the American legal system, and of the various forms this expertise can take, thereby contributing to the contemporary efforts at surveying and theorizing cultural expertise. Through an historical and descriptive approach, the analysis notably demonstrates that the role of anthropologists as cultural experts has been marked by a practical and substantive evolution throughout the 20th century, and should therefore not be restrictively understood in relation to expert witnessing before courts. Rather, this paper underlines the transformative and multifaceted nature of cultural expertise, and highlights the problematic duality of the position that the two “generations” of anthropologists involved in this controversy have experienced, navigating between a supposedly impartial position as experts, and an arguably biased engagement as advocates for Native American religious rights.

Sacred and Profane Uses of the Cactus Lophophora Williamsii from the South Texas Peyote Gardens

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarissa T. Kimber ◽  
Darrel McDonald
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
American Indians ◽  
The United States ◽  
South Texas ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
North American Indians ◽  
Native American Church ◽  
History Of

Peyote is one of the best-known plant sources for a psychedelic experience. This small cactus is also associated in the popular mind with North American Indians and Hippies. Although its ritual use is thought to be over 7,000 years old (Furst 1989, cited in Schaefer 1996: 141), its use by Indians of the Native American Church (NAC) is less than 100 years old. The peyote button is the essential ingredient in the ritual ceremony associated with NAC meetings and is referred to as “the medicine” by those who regard the button as a god-being and ingest it as a sacrament (Slotkin 1956: 29; Smith and Snake 1996: 80, 91, 105–6). Even more recently, non-Indians have formed churches (the Neo American Church) to follow the Peyote Way or Road (Trout 1999: 47). Secular uses of peyote are as medicine, especially for topical application to the skin on open wounds (Schultes 1940), for divination to discover something lost or when possible attacks of the enemy will occur; or for mind-altering experiences of a nonreligious nature, that is, for recreation. These nonritual (profane) uses have a long history, but peyote’s more significant sacred use in the United States, as measured by numbers of participants, has been in force for little more than 100 years. Various plants are called peyote in Mexico (Schultes 1938: 157), and their usage in the public and official literature of Texas and the United States has not been precise over the years (Morgan 1976: 12, La Barre 1975: 14–17). The major confusion over the common name among field anthropologists and government officials has been with the mescal bean, or Texas mountain laurel [Sophora secundiflora (Ort.) DC]. This hardy, small tree produces a hard, highly toxic, red seed, which has had a long history of ritual use by Amerinds (La Barre 1975: 15). The distribution of the mescal bean is on the southern edge of the Edwards Plateau, on the caliche cuestas in the Rio Grande Plains, and in the mountains of the Trans-Pecos. The native Americans of this region strung the beans into necklaces or bracelets, and a shaman might have passed down to another shaman some of these items as important paraphernalia.

scholarly journals Making Religion on the Reservation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tisa Wenger
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The United States ◽  
Native People ◽  
Ghost Dance ◽  
Colonial Society ◽  
Native American Church ◽  
The Pacific

This chapter explores the dilemmas of religious freedom for a very different colonized population: the indigenous people whose dispossession marked the very foundation of the United States as a settler-colonial society. It explores the limited utility of this ideal for Native Americans in the 1890 Ghost Dance, the Indian Shaker churches of the Pacific Northwest, and the Peyote movement that institutionalized as the Native American Church. While religious freedom claims sometimes served indigenous assertions of cultural and political self-determination, Native people often found their traditions transformed in the process. Across these movements, Indians found their religious freedom claims limited by the cultural biases and coercive structures of settler-colonial rule.

“I Hope to Hell Nothing Goes Back to The Way It Was Before”: COVID-19, Marginalization, and Native Nations

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Raymond Foxworth ◽  
Laura E. Evans ◽  
Gabriel R. Sanchez ◽  
Cheryl Ellenwood ◽  
Carmela M. Roybal
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Original Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Tribal Health ◽  
Tribal Lands ◽  
Health Regulations

We draw on new and original data to examine both partisan and systemic inequities that have fueled the spread of COVID-19 in Native America. We show how continued political marginalization of Native Americans has compounded longstanding inequalities and endangered the lives of Native peoples. Native nations have experienced disproportionate effects from prior health epidemics and pandemics, and in 2020, Native communities have seen greater rates of infection, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19. We find that Native nations have more COVID-19 cases if they are located in states with a higher ratio of Trump supporters and reside in states with Republican governors. Where there is longstanding marginalization, measured by lack of clean water on tribal lands and health information in Native languages, we find more COVID-19 cases. Federal law enables non-members to flout tribal health regulations while on tribal lands, and correspondingly, we find that COVID-19 cases rise when non-members travel onto tribal lands. Our findings engage the literatures on Native American politics, health policy within U.S. federalism, and structural health inequalities, and should be of interest to both scholars and practitioners interested in understanding COVID-19 outcomes across Tribes in the United States.

Intolerance toward Native American Religions

2020 ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
John Corrigan ◽  
Lynn S. Neal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
North America ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Military Force ◽  
Native American Religions

Settler colonialism was imbued with intolerance towards Indigenous peoples. In colonial North America brutal military force was applied to the subjection and conversion of Native Americans to Christianity. In the United States, that offense continued, joined with condemnations of Indian religious practice as savagery, or as no religion at all. The violence was legitimated by appeals to Christian scripture in which genocide was commanded by God. Forced conversion to Christianity and the outlawing of Native religious practices were central aspects of white intolerance.

Crackdown

2020 ◽  
pp. 88-109
Author(s):  
Russell Crandall
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Legal System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pharmaceutical Market ◽  
Drug Control ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Drug Laws ◽  
Federal Level ◽  
American Legal System ◽  
The U.S

This chapter recounts how the United States in the nineteenth century permitted considerable personal freedom of choice regarding drugs, citing the idiosyncrasies of the U.S. Constitution that helped ensure potent forms of opium, cocaine, and cannabis remained widely available nationwide. It talks about how the American legal system made states responsible for regulating drugs, particularly opium and cannabis, on their own turf. It also discusses how most states and several major cities by 1910 had anti-drug laws wherein ritual police raids were a hallmark of the states' haphazard enforcement schemes. The chapter recounts the first efforts at drug control at the federal level, which were designed not to break up underground dealer networks but to regulate the runaway pharmaceutical market. It refers to the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, which simply mandated that certain active ingredients meet standardized purity requirements and forced drug makers to label in a clear way any of ten ingredients considered unsafe.

scholarly journals 453. High Burden of Invasive and Severe Group A Streptococcus Disease Among Native Americans on the White Mountain Apache Tribal Lands

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. S223-S223
Author(s):  
Catherine Sutcliffe ◽  
Ryan M Close ◽  
Anne M Davidson ◽  
Angelina Reid ◽  
Dianna Quay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Group A Streptococcus ◽  
Penetrating Trauma ◽  
The United States ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
White Mountain Apache ◽  
Group A ◽  
Tribal Lands

Abstract Background Native Americans are overrepresented in outbreaks of Group A Streptococcus (GAS) in the United States (US). In 2016, several invasive cases of GAS were detected at the Whiteriver Indian Health Service (IHS) Hospital in Arizona that primarily serves the White Mountain Apache (WMA) Tribe. The objective of this study was to determine the burden of invasive and severe GAS disease among Native Americans on the WMA Tribal lands. Methods Prospective population and laboratory-based surveillance for invasive and severe GASinfections was conducted for two years from March 2017 through February 2019. A case was defined as a Native American individual living on or around WMA Tribal lands with GAS isolated from a normally sterile body site (invasive) or from a non-sterile site (e.g., wound, throat, ear) requiring hospitalization (severe). Incidence rates were calculated using the IHS User Population as the denominators. Age-standardized incidence rates were calculated using US Census data from 2015 as the reference group. Results 157 cases were identified (Year 1: 85; Year 2: 72), including 42 (27%) invasive and 115 (73%) severe cases. Most cases were adults (88.5%; median age: 40.5 years) and had ≥1 underlying medical condition (99.4%), including alcoholism (57.1%), hypertension (37.2%), and diabetes (34.0%). 47.8% of cases had a trigger in the past two weeks, including penetrating trauma (31.8%) and blunt force trauma (14.0%). For 72.9% of cases, a co-infection was detected (most commonly Staphylocccus aureus: 96.8%). 4.5% of cases required amputation and 1.9% died within 30 days of initial culture. The incidence of invasive and severe GAS was 460.9 per 100,000 persons (95% confidence interval: 394.3, 538.8), with no significant difference by year. The incidence was highest among adults ≥65 and lowest among children 5–17 years of age. Age-standardized incidence rates of invasive and severe GAS and invasive only GAS are presented in the Figure. Conclusion The WMA community has experienced disproportionately high rates of invasive and severe GAS for over two years. Studies to determine the reservoirs for transmission are urgently needed, as are interventions to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with these infections. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

Kenrick and the Paulists: A Conflict of Structures and Personalities

1969 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-105
Author(s):  
John P. Marschall
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oxford Movement ◽  
Religious Congregation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Catholic Church

In spite of the nativism that agitated the United States during the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the Catholic Church experienced a noticeable drift of native American converts from other denominations. Between 1841 and 1857 the increased number of converts included a significant sprinkling of Protestant ministers. The history of this movement, which had its paradigm in the Oxford Movement, will be treated more in detail elsewhere. The purpose of this essay is simply to recount the attempt by several converts to establish a religious congregation of men dedicated to the Catholic apostolate among native Americans.

Lawyers' use of humor as persuasion

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Legal System ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Supreme ◽  
Oral Argument ◽  
Linguistic Skills ◽  
Court Mandated ◽  
American Legal System

AbstractLegal humor is a topic of perennial appeal, and has long been a prolific source of books, articles, and scholarly commentaries which are avidly consumed by popular and professional audiences alike. However, although a number of scholars have analyzed the use of humor in judicial opinions, there is no comparable body of scholarly examinations of lawyers' use of humor in their role as legal advocates. This omission is significant, because in the American legal system, humor and wordplay serve as highly-valued evidence of forensic skill which is deemed appropriate for display both within and outside of the courtroom. Accordingly, this paper attempts to fill the gap in the existing literature by examining attorneys' use of humor as persuasive advocacy in two widely divergent settings, informal court-mandated mediation and oral argument before the United States Supreme Court. In these data, the attorneys use humor aggressively to ridicule the plaintiffs' claims, depicting them as laughable and unworthy of serious consideration, while placing themselves at the center of a comic performance which allows them to display their linguistic skills. These data thus demonstrate that humor can be a potent weapon in an attorney's arsenal.

Native American Ethnicity: a View from the British Museum1

2000 ◽  
Vol 73 (182) ◽  
pp. 221-238
Author(s):  
J. C. H. King
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
North America ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
The United States ◽  
Native Identity ◽  
Native North America ◽  
American Ethnicity

Abstract Identity in Native North America is defined by legal, racial, linguistic and ethnic traits. This article looks at the nomenclature of both Indian, Eskimo and Native, and then places them in a historical context, in Canada and the United States. It is argued that ideas about Native Americans derive from medieval concepts, and that these ideas both constrain Native identity and ensure the survival of American Indians despite accelerating loss of language.

scholarly journals SPECIAL ISSUE INTRODUCTION

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-582
Author(s):  
Dawn Chatty
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Land Occupation ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Salvage Operation ◽  
Memory Culture

Academic interest in the study of forced migration as a specific field developed only in the late 20th century. But its conceptual tools had a much earlier incarnation in the United States. In the early 20th century historical linguistic and ethnographic research was being conducted with Native American peoples who had been subjected to massive ethnic cleansings in the preceding two centuries. Much of that early work was with tribes who had been displaced, dispossessed, and involuntarily marched into resource-poor reservations. The scientists working with them thought they were engaging in a kind of salvage operation to record ways of life before they disappeared. These researchers largely ignored or failed to recognize the impacts of displacement—destroyed settlements, land occupation, nonviable reservations, inadequate welfare, and hostile administrations and lack of legal rights—and focused instead on trying to reconstruct memory culture of “what life was like in the old days.” Nevertheless, these studies gave us many of our basic concepts to describe and analyze the experience of uprootedness and dispossession. These fundamental concepts have become important in the discipline of forced migration studies. They include understandings of: role and identity, hierarchy, social networks, conflict mechanisms, reciprocity and trust, boundary creation, rites of passage, liminality, and the role of myths.

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