Medicine man
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A medicine man (from Ojibwe mashkikiiwinini) or medicine woman (from Ojibwe mashkikiiwininiikwe) is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Each culture has its own name in its language for spiritual healers and ceremonial leaders.
Cultural contextEdit
In the ceremonial context of Indigenous North American communities, "medicine" usually refers to spiritual healing. Medicine people use many practices, including specialized knowledge of Native American ethnobotany.<ref name=thomas>Template:Cite journal</ref> Herbal healing is a common practice in many Indigenous households of the Americas;<ref name=Alcoze>Alcoze, Dr Thomas M. "Ethnobotany from a Native American Perspective: Restoring Our Relationship with the Earth Template:Webarchive" in Botanic Gardens Conservation International Volume 1 Number 19 - December 1999</ref><ref name=Moerman>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name=USDA>Northeastern 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</ref> however, medicine people often have more in-depth knowledge of using plants for healing or other purposes.<ref name=thomas/>
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."<ref name="nmai">National Museum of the American Indian. Do All Indians Live in Tipis? Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2007. Template:ISBN.</ref>
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.Template:Citation needed As Nuttall writes, "An inquiry to a Native person about religious beliefs or ceremonies is often viewed with suspicion."<ref name="nmai"/> One example of this is the Apache medicine cord or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} whose purpose and use by Apache medicine elders was a mystery to nineteenth century ethnologistsTemplate:Who? 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."<ref name="ref69jeviq">Template:Citation</ref>
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.Template:Citation needed
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 Siberia,<ref>Smith, C. R. "Shamanism." Template:Webarchive Cabrillo College. (Retrieved 28 June 2011)</ref> which has been adopted by some Inuit communities but is not preferred by Native American or First Nations communities.
See alsoEdit
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- Witch doctor
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External linksEdit
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