The Notion of the Body and the Path to Healing
A great number of indigenous people in the United States, Canada, and Australia have suffered from pain and humiliation from the boarding school system intended to kill the native and save their humanity. They still continue to suffer from this trauma, and both the individuals and the communities to...
| Published in: | The international journal of religion and spirituality in society |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Common Ground Publishing
2013
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| In: |
The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
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| Further subjects: | B
Soul music
B Belief-Systems B Religious Tradition B Boarding School B Healing B Spirit B Body B Decolonization B Metaphor B Survival B Trauma B Colonization |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | A great number of indigenous people in the United States, Canada, and Australia have suffered from pain and humiliation from the boarding school system intended to kill the native and save their humanity. They still continue to suffer from this trauma, and both the individuals and the communities to which they belong have to deal with numerous social ills caused by the broken sense of self and the inability to imagine a livable future. The gravity of the matter manifests in the form of prevalent suicide, the predominance of domestic violence, and widespread alcoholism, which are a testimony to the intensity of the psychological impair- ment. The colonial governments implemented the policy since they were fully aware that the way toward the total destruction of the native had to be directed to the weakest members of the communities, i.e. the children. I argue that what underlined this policy was the repugnance of the human body on the part of the proponents of the boarding school system, which led to the destruction of the native body aimed at saving the soul. The focus of this essay is on how Native American belief systems deem the body as a crucial part of their spiritual understanding. There are a lot of references to the body in multiple and dynamic forms in Native American religious concepts and practices. I will examine these concepts and practices and demonstrate the way toward healing, both for individuals and communities, which Native people have conducted, utilizing a healthy sense of the body, something that is relatively absent within Western religions and philosophy. |
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| ISSN: | 2154-8641 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The international journal of religion and spirituality in society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.18848/2154-8633/CGP/v02i03/51006 |