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A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremonial leaders in their particular cultures.
Ethnobotany from a Native American Perspective: Restoring Our Relationship with the Earth
" in '' Botanic Gardens Conservation International'' Volume 1 Number 19 - December 1999Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry,
Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Sustaining Our Lives and the Natural World
at '' United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service''. Newtown Square, PA. December 2011 The terms ''medicine people'' or ''ceremonial people'' are sometimes used in Native American and First Nations communities, for example, when Arwen Nuttall ( Cherokee) of the National Museum of the American Indian writes, "The knowledge possessed by medicine people is privileged, and it often remains in particular families."National Museum of the American Indian. ''Do All Indians Live in Tipis?'' Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2007. . Native Americans tend to be quite reluctant to discuss issues about medicine or medicine people with non-Indians. In some cultures, the people will not even discuss these matters with American Indians from other tribes. In most tribes, medicine elders are prohibited from advertising or introducing themselves as such. As Nuttall writes, "An inquiry to a Native person about religious beliefs or ceremonies is often viewed with suspicion." One example of this is the
"Shamanism."
''Cabrillo College''. (Retrieved 28 June 2011) and is not used in Native American or First Nations communities.
* Bomoh or Dukun in South-East Asia
*
Cultural context
In the ceremonial context of Indigenous North American communities, "medicine" usually refers to ''spiritual'' healing. Medicine men/women should not be confused with those who employ Native American ethnobotany, a practice that is very common in a large number of Native American and First Nations households.Alcoze, Dr Thomas M.Ethnobotany from a Native American Perspective: Restoring Our Relationship with the Earth
" in '' Botanic Gardens Conservation International'' Volume 1 Number 19 - December 1999Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry,
Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Sustaining Our Lives and the Natural World
at '' United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service''. Newtown Square, PA. December 2011 The terms ''medicine people'' or ''ceremonial people'' are sometimes used in Native American and First Nations communities, for example, when Arwen Nuttall ( Cherokee) of the National Museum of the American Indian writes, "The knowledge possessed by medicine people is privileged, and it often remains in particular families."National Museum of the American Indian. ''Do All Indians Live in Tipis?'' Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2007. . Native Americans tend to be quite reluctant to discuss issues about medicine or medicine people with non-Indians. In some cultures, the people will not even discuss these matters with American Indians from other tribes. In most tribes, medicine elders are prohibited from advertising or introducing themselves as such. As Nuttall writes, "An inquiry to a Native person about religious beliefs or ceremonies is often viewed with suspicion." One example of this is the
Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
medicine cord or whose purpose and use by Apache medicine elders was a mystery to nineteenth century ethnologists because "the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them."
The 1954 version of ''Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language'' reflects the poorly-grounded perceptions of the people whose use of the term effectively defined it for the people of that time: "a man supposed to have supernatural powers of curing disease and controlling spirits." In effect, such definitions were not explanations of what these "medicine people" are to their own communities but instead reported on the consensus of socially and psychologically remote observers when they tried to categorize the individuals. The term ''medicine man/woman'', like the term '' shaman'', has been criticized by Native Americans, as well as other specialists in the fields of religion and anthropology.
While non-Native anthropologists often use the term ''shaman'' for indigenous healers worldwide, including the Americas, ''shaman'' is the specific name for a spiritual mediator from the Tungusic peoples of SiberiaSmith, C. R"Shamanism."
''Cabrillo College''. (Retrieved 28 June 2011) and is not used in Native American or First Nations communities.
Frauds and scams
There are many fraudulent healers and scam artists who pose as Cherokee "shamans", and the Cherokee Nation has had to speak out against these people, even forming a task force to handle the issue. In order to seek help from a Cherokee medicine person, a person needs to know someone in the community who can vouch for them and provide a referral. Usually one makes contact through a relative who knows the healer.See also
* Bomoh or Dukun in South-East Asia
* Cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity. This can be controversial when members of a dominant culture appropriate from ...
* Curandero
* Folk healer
* Herbalism
* Holism
Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book ''Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED Onl ...
* Keewaydinoquay Peschel
* Kallawaya
* Kennekuk
* Medicine bag
* Native American ethnobotany
* Native American religion
Native American religions are the spiritual practices of the Native Americans in the United States. Ceremonial ways can vary widely and are based on the differing histories and beliefs of individual nations, tribes and bands. Early European ...
* Plastic shaman
* Prehistoric medicine
* Quesalid Quesalid was a Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations shaman who lived on Vancouver Island, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward int ...
* Trance
Notes
External links
{{Authority control Religious occupations of the indigenous peoples of North America Traditional healthcare occupations