The Renaissance of Shamanic Dance in Indian Populations of North America
Diogenes June 1, 1992 Wolfgang G. Jilek 5 citations
Paleolithic migrants crossing the Bering land bridge from Siberia to North America between 80,000 and 7,000 b.c. brought shamanic practices that prevailed until European colonization 400 years ago. Colonial authorities and some modern experts have misrepresented shamans as charlatans, imposters, or mentally ill, a Eurocentric fallacy rooted in misinterpretations of altered states of consciousness during rituals. Legal suppression of shamanic ceremonies in the United States intensified after the Ghost Dance, a shaman-inspired movement originating in the Prophet Dance of the Pacific Northwest, which culminated in the Sioux uprising of 1890 and the tragedy of Wounded Knee.