Women and Indigenous Religions
Ebook
This book examines the critical and often undervalued contributions of women to the culture, well-being, and subsistence of their communities as active, powerful, and wise ritual specialists.
From the Dalit midwives in India to the women of the Nahua region in the state of Morelos, Mexico, from the indigenous nations in Turtle Island in Canada to the shamans (male and female) of South Korea and Vietnam, there are still many vital indigenous cultures around the world in which women often hold positions of religious authority and leadership.
Women and Indigenous Religions addresses specific issues in the study of religion, such as the multifaceted tensions between indigenous traditions and gender and the genealogy of positions of authority in religion or spiritual matters. A close examination reveals that native religions, with their women specialists, are still a source of inspiration for millions of men and women even in the "advanced" areas in the world. This fact challenges the opinion that indigenous cultures are becoming extinct.
This book examines the critical and often undervalued contributions of women to the culture, well-being, and subsistence of their communities as active, powerful, and wise ritual specialists.
Coverage includes local practices in countries as diverse as Australia, Peru, India, Mexico, South Korea, Vietnam, Chile, Canada, and Guatemala
Presents information from interviews with women who serve as powerful sociopolitical agents, healers, leaders, and religious ritual specialists
Introduction: Perspectives of Indigenous Religious Traditions from the Americas, Asia, and Australia
Part I. Women, Family, and Environment
1. Ngarrindjeri Women's Stories: Kungun and Yunnan
Diane Bell
2. Feminine Rituality and the Spirit of the Water in Peru
Frédérique Apffel-Marglin
Part II. Socioeconomics, Politics, and Authority
3. Indigenous Spirituality, Gender, and the Politics of Justice: Voices from the First Summit of Indigenous Women of the Americas
Sylvia Marcos
4. Authority and Ritual in the Caves of Tepoztlán, Mexico: Women Priestesses in Popular Religion
Ana María Salazar Peralta
Part III. Body, Mind, and Spirit
5. Dressing up the Spirits: Costumes, Cross-Dressing, and Incarnation in Korea and Vietnam
Laurel Kendall and Hien Thi Nguyen
6. Women and Sacred Medicines among the Khasis in the Highlands of Northeast India
Darilyn Syiem
7. The Not-So-Subtle Body in Dais' Birth Imagery
Janet Chawla
Part IV. Sexuality, Power, and Vulnerability
8. Ritual Gendered Relationships: Kinship, Marriage, Mastery, and Machi Modes of Personhood
Ana Mariella Bacigalupo
9. Sexuality and Ritual: Indigenous Women Recreating Their Identities in Contemporary Mexico
Nuvia Balderrama Vara
Part V. Women, World view, and Religious Practice
10. Drawing the Connections: Mayan Women's Quest for a Gendered Spirituality
Morna Macleod
11. Decolonizing our Spirits: Cultural Knowledge and Indigenous Healing
Renee Linklater
Suggested Reading
About the Editor and Contributors
Index
- Title: Women and Indigenous Religions
- Authors: Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan, Karen Jo Torjesen, Sylvia Marcos, Lillian Ashcraft-Eason
- Publisher: Praeger
- Print Publication Date: 2010
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBN: 9798216166221
- Resource ID: LLS:9798216166221
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-15T17:55:57Z
Sylvia Marcos, PhD, researches, teaches, and publishes on gender issues in ancient and contemporary Mesoamerica.