Customer Reviews

Going Native or Going Naive?: White Shamanism and the Neo-Noble Savage

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Going Native Or Going Naive? White Shamanism And The Neo-Noble Savage by Dagmar Wernitznig is a scholarly and seminal study of the "new age proliferation" of those born outside Native American tribes and culture who take it upon themselves to adopt the title and role of "Shaman." Wernitznig provides his readers with an evenhanded exploration of tangled issues of identity; devaluation of religious believes when those outside of the religion claim its titles; the purposes pursued by non-natives who consider themselves shamans; New Age eclecticism and environmentalism; women who adopt the role of shaman, and so much more. Strongly recommended for New Age Studies, Religion/Spirituality Studies, and Native American Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists, Going Native Or Going Naive? is a meticulous and thoughtful dissection of motives, beliefs, and impact.

This one is the best one out there! The author has put together a very important study on the phenomenon of white shamans, the latest neo-colonial model for the replacement of the proverbial noble savage with his bleached out clone from the suburbs. Now that Castaneda has been thoroughly debunked and people are starting to wake up to how much time a money they have wasted trying to find the Garden of Eden on the shelves of the New Age spiritual supermarket, maybe they can "find their roots" by taking a proverbial "look inside themselves" and see how they got let down the rosey path by hucksters with feather decorated drums and beaded chokers.

By the way, there are no Toltecs. They disappeared from history some 700 years ago.