To Come to a Better Understanding: The Medicine Men and Clergy Meetings, 1973-1978, on Rosebud Reservation

FAIN: FT-60758-13

Sandra L. Garner, PhD
Miami University (Oxford, OH 45056-1846)

This project looks specifically at the Medicine Men and Clergy Meetings held on Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota from 1973-1978 to analyze and articulate the multiple meanings of “understanding” that emerged in this exchange. The two groups stated the purpose of the historic theological discussions was to come to a better understanding. What happens when two very different cultures, with a long history of inequitable power relationships, come to the table to come to a better understanding? What constitutes success? Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival analysis, this project focuses on the Medicine Men participants, serving as translators, interpreters and cultural mediators. It explores the negotiation of modern political, social, and religious issues from an indigenous perspective. This exchange demonstrates a rich Native intellectual tradition and expands understanding contact zone mediation, making an important contribution to the Bridging Cultures Initiative.

Associated Products

To Come to a Better Understanding:Medicine Men & Clergy Meetings on the Rosebud Reservation 1973-1978 (Book)
Title: To Come to a Better Understanding:Medicine Men & Clergy Meetings on the Rosebud Reservation 1973-1978
Author: Sandra L. Garner
Abstract: To Come to a Better Understanding analyzes the cultural encounters of the medicine men and clergy meetings held on Rosebud Reservation in St. Francis, South Dakota, from 1973 through 1978. Organized by Father Stolzman, a Catholic priest studying Lakota religious practice, the meetings fit the goal of the recently formed Medicine Men’s Association to share its members’ knowledge about Lakota thought and ritual. Both groups stated that the purpose of the historic theological discussions was “to come to a better understanding.” The groups ended their formal discussions after eighty-four meetings. This cultural exchange reflects a rich Native intellectual tradition and articulates the multiple meanings of “understanding” that necessarily characterize intercultural encounters.
Year: 2016
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 0803285604
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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