This course examines how Indigenous communities saw the world before contact—primarily exploring early creation narratives and ways of engaging with the natural world through ceremonials of reciprocity and acknowledgements. It engages with how early colonial societies and Western-based religions evaluated and understood Indigenous spiritualities and practices. We consider Indigenous critiques of Western religion as it has actually been practiced as opposed to what has been taught as constituting the ideals of civilization. Finally, we analyze how Indigenous communities and culture begin to create “New Religions” that blend Indigenous values and thinking with aspects of Western culture or emerge in direct response to re-imagining spirituality in attempts to prove humanness and civility in contexts where little of Indigenous culture and values has been seen as acceptable.
This course examines how Indigenous communities saw the world before contact—primarily exploring early creation narratives and ways of engaging with the natural world through ceremonials of reciprocity and acknowledgements. It engages with how early colonial societies and Western-based religions evaluated and understood Indigenous spiritualities and practices. We consider Indigenous critiques of Western religion as it has actually been practiced as opposed to what has been taught as constituting the ideals of civilization. Finally, we analyze how Indigenous communities and culture begin to create “New Religions” that blend Indigenous values and thinking with aspects of Western culture or emerge in direct response to re-imagining spirituality in attempts to prove humanness and civility in contexts where little of Indigenous culture and values has been seen as acceptable.
