Confronting cultural appropriation

[teasel]

So since we seem to have a decent idea of what cultural appropriation is (quagmire though it may be), I'm wondering if anyone has advice for how to deal with really egregious examples when we come across them in the herbal community. I often feel at a loss when I encounter it, and I just kind of hide. But I'd like to have another response. I'm not really a confrontational kind of person, and I'd like to be able to address the issue in a respectful way on every front. Any ideas?

[crabapple]

This is difficult, for sure.

It so much depends on the individual situation. It's so charged. People can feel really insulted, which doesn't always help.

To tell you the truth, I wish I had a better strategy. I find myself avoiding gatherings where I know it will come up.

Does anyone know of any published educational sort of literature on the subject (in print or online)? The web stuff I've found is very confrontational, and not necessarily the way I want to address it when I come across this sort of thing in the herb world. I'd love to have a website I could send someone to for simple information -- about what cultural appropriation is, and how to be careful about it. Something that acknowledges that many of the people who practice cultural appropriation don't mean any harm, they just haven't thought about it from the perspective of the appropriated.
_________________
Rebecca Hartman
Crabapple Herbs: http://crabappleherbs.com/
The Herbwife's Kitchen: http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/

[jim mcdonald]

[jim mcdonald]

[teasel]

[jim mcdonald]

i don't really talk 'bout it much with friends nowadays. I just don't feel like its my responsibility to address the issue; I'm very much not qualified to do so. In regards to native ceremonies I attend it'd be up to the lodge pourer - its their culture after all, I'm not knowledgeable enough to judge the actions of others. In regards to the practice of plant medicine, I just don't see any clear place to draw the line. In certain situations I may express what I feel comfortable doing or using or practicing myself, but I don't see that my opinions on the matter should be used to address what others are doing.

As an example, even though its not culture specific, I have issues with the terms shaman, and shamanic. A simple perusal of a new age bookshelf says why - there are literally books entitled, "so you want to be a shaman". It's become a buzzword, a commodity, a way used by many to get a few more people to come to see a practitioner or go to a class or event. I know people who refer to their herbcraft as being shamanic, and met people who refer to themselves as shamanic. People I've told this too have made fair cases that some of the work I do (pipe ceremonies for example) could be called shamanic, and I suppose it could. But to me, that's a title that other people use to refer to someone, and not one that, in at least many traditional cultures, one uses in reference to themselves. Rosemary Gladstar tells a story about a medicine man who once, asked about his skills, admitted that he thought he grew the best corn in the village.

But should my thoughts on this be applied to anyone else? That's not my inclination. I know kiva and darcey both use the term in reference to their work and I don't have any judgements about that usage at all. I really rather do like "flower shaman" as a phrase. Nor do I have issues with gender specific terms like wisewoman herbalist or herbwife, even though I just use the term herbalists (both of them are, I think, leagues better than "herbologist" - ick).

I guess I feel like the only culture I'd have any business policing would be mine, and since my american culture is such a hodgepodge of other cultural traditions, there's not a lot to take exception to. My ancestral culture, which I suppose could be referred to as "celtic" is so lost as to be silly to fuss over the right way things were done, since no one really knows.

I don't feel that anyone misusing a prayer pipe takes anythign away from the ceremonies I do, and don't feel that my use of a prayer pipe takes away from the ceremonies of anyone else either. I choose not to have a pipe bowl made from pipestone, and also tend to refer to my pipe as a prayer pipe rather than a chanupa. But the guy who pours the lodges I go to asked me, when i did a vision quest with him, whether I'd want a redstone pipe. I said no, not so much because I didn't want to appropraite anything, but because mine really doesn't leave me any need to replace it (it's the one on my kinnikinnick page... such a beauty, that one). And he calls my pipe a chanupa. So, where are the lines?

Many of us are given things by people of various traditions. I've been given a number of cultural gifts by natives of a few different tribes. In some cases, I've been asked to hold that gift in a certain way, in others, I was just given it because the presenter (I assume) had faith I'd know how to handle it well. No one who sees me apply these gifts knows the story of how I got them, and so can't assess whether or not I appropriated them. Same goes for me seeing other people.

of course, I do see some things I object to, and there are some exceptions when I'll speak about it. I may do so with finesse or rather bluntly, as the situation indicates. It's just too nebulous a topic to condense into a reply; especially without an example.

what would constitute an example to any of you, that you might feel would need addressing?
_________________
jim mcdonald
~herbalist~
www.herbcraft.org

[crabapple]

So much to think about here. And it's late at night, and I've been on the computer too long.

But I think that gentle education in the herb community about this issue is important. I'm not entirely sure how to go about it, but I think of the example of the workshop on cultural appropriation that was part of the Northeast Community Herbal Convergence back in October. It was a really respectful space and interesting conversation. And a lot of people thought about things that hadn't occurred to them before. That's the kind of thing that makes sense to me -- creating spaces in herbal communities where people can talk about it. They have to be very respectful spaces because it's such a charged topic, but the facilitators of the workshop at the herbal convergence proved that's possible.

I think there are other people on the forum who were at that workshop. I hope they can chime in here.
_________________
Rebecca Hartman
Crabapple Herbs: http://crabappleherbs.com/
The Herbwife's Kitchen: http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/

[teasel]

[crabapple]

Ach, just one more post before I sleep...

Humor can be a tool here (but you have to be careful with it of course).

The best use of humor to combat cultural appropriation that I've seen was something the Spokane author Sherman Alexie did when I saw him give a reading years ago in Philadelphia.

The room was full of what some people call "Indian huggers" -- white people who were dressed in Indian-esque costumes (feather necklaces, beads, sweatshirts with Indian heads on them, etc.). And Sherman Alexie was clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing. So he told a story. He said something like this: "You know, my mother called the other day and told me the most amazing thing. After my grandmother died, she was going through some of her papers and she found a family secret: my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother was English! And after my mother told me this, I couldn't help but notice how English I really am. It's my heritage, so I just had to visit England. My trip was absolutely amazing. The first time I sat down and had tea in England, my little finger lifted up from the side of the cup like it knew exactly what to do!" By this time, his meaning was clear and everyone in the room was laughing. There was still some tension, but he'd gotten his point across.
_________________
Rebecca Hartman
Crabapple Herbs: http://crabappleherbs.com/
The Herbwife's Kitchen: http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/

[jim mcdonald]

[mamajess]

[pacificschool]

Hi,
Adam Seller here. Here is a quote from Sherman Alexie from POV Borders http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/borders/talk/dialogue010_sa.html
Question: Mr. Alexie, I totally agree that we need fewer churches, but I have a comment pertaining to "white people," and your "sweatlodges." Until I had the privilege of being asked by a Lakota Medicine Man (I know this isn't your tribe) to participate in an Inipi Ceremony, my only knowledge of Indian culture was from books (a few Pow Wow's at Fort Hall). It was an inspiring experience and I am so glad that I took the opportunity. Not every white person is out to exploit Indian culture; some really do just want to understand it better. The Inipi Ceremony did that for me and when I have been asked, I have participated in other ceremonies. It has given me a respect for Indian culture that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. It is not my belief, but it gave me a chance to honor yours.

Sherman: Spiritual matters should be private. I've always found that non-Indians who participate in Indian ceremonies often find some way to make it public knowledge. I don't have to participate in another culture's ceremonies in order to respect that culture. Also, I think many Indian spiritual leaders ask white people to participate out of basic fears and insecurities. We Indian folks have been so battered and bruised by white culture, so hated and vilified, that we go crazy with need when individual white folks treat us with any sort of decency. We're an oppressed people who starve for respect. I suspect that Lakota Sioux elder is a good person who loves the attention he gets from white folks. We all want the love and attention of others.

More from Sherman Alexie can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/2323pl

I start with the understanding, fundamental to healthcare, that the basic integrity of an individual and a culture is of innate value, and that unnececary pain and suffering, and the destruction of that integrity, both on an individual and cultural level is a moral wrong. It hurts people. My basic bottom line is "do no harm."

These are the standards I apply to cultural misappropriation-which I and most Native People I know consider to be harmful to all parties involved. We consider cultural appropriation to be a continuing colonial practice of genocide. No matter the intentions of the perpetrator, no matter the "energy," genocide makes for poor healthcare.
Our individual actions are never separate from the cultural and historical world in which we live.
It is is important that we all stand up publicly against genocide in all of its manifestations-incluing the cultural missappropriation of colonized Peoples' religions. It is their cultural property, from an ethical viewpoint, and from almost all standards of international law.

Writers on this forum have addressed their concern to be nonconfrontational. I disagree. When I see the culture-the very life of my hosts on this continent, of my friends, and extended family being continually abused after 500 years of continual genocide I am compelled to speak up and act. Nor am I compelled to bend to the social mores of niceness in the face of brutal, yet supposedly well intentioned cultural violence that I have seen hurt those I love.
I have taken a very active and public stance on this issue,and have done so since I began working as an herbalist 23 years ago (and am heartened by others engaging this topic publicly-thanks Rebecca's)
Over the next few weeks I will post some of my experiences working with this topic as a student, practitioner, teacher, and organizer in free clinics, in Earth First, at the Northwest Herb Faire, and at the Breitenbush Herb Symposium, in my classroom-where discussions of cultural appropriation are part of the curriculum, in mainstream herbal community and around the Americal Herbalist Guild, as well as working with culturally traditional herbalists of color.

In my classroom I am sometimes faced with the task of supporting Native students, while at the same time educating cultural appropriaters about the ongoing damage their practices inflict on others. I chose to prioritize the safety of those Native students by strongly advocating against cultural abuse, rather than prioritizing the coddling of priveledged people's tender attachments to harmful behaviours. "first, do no harm"

A very snarky and intentionally humorous piece I wrote, which has recieved strong support from Native, African American, and Latino practitioners can be found at http://www.pshm.org/students.shtml#spirituality
More on my school's policies around cultural appropriation can be found at www.pshm.org/teachers.shtml. Further analysis relative to herbalists, public responsibilty, and datura abuse can be found at www.pshm.org/datura_poisoning.shtml.

I would like to end with a two quotes from Native American authors. One quote from a famous book. The authors are very wellknown and well respected in Native American public health circles. If you are more familiar with the works of Castenada, Buehner, Sunbear, Wallace Black Elk, Brook Medicine Ego, and Rolling Thunder, than these authors who are at the forefront of community organizing to support Native communities in recovery from colonial devastation- you might ask yourself why.

The second quote is from Winona LaDuke-Annishinabe environmental activist, journalist, former vicepresidential candidate for the Green Party, and daughter of Vincent Laduke- a native political activist, concientious objecter in the Korean War, who later in life wrote new age books under the name Sunbear.

From Native American Post Colonial Psychology by Eduardo and Bonnie Duran isbn 0791423549:
"Presently there is a lot healing happening in Native American community: who is beginning to lurk around the periphery and want some of the healing from the Native Americans? The perpetrators {ie cultural appropriators}, tired of living with a mythology that is no longer applicable, appear thirsty for these indigenous forms of healing and are willing to pay money for them. little do they know that the only price that will purhase healing for them is historical honesty."

From a KALX radio interview with Winona LaDuke:
"I have a lot less tolerance for New Age. I believe in Earth based spiritual practice. But what I have a problem with is appropriation of that. And I have far less tolerance. You can not push me You know, a lot of times people ask you to come to do something, like lecture on Native American Spirituality. You know I sorely disappoint them.. I'm a practitioner but I'm not, you know, I don't I don’t teach people how to pray. I say: that’s what you've got to work out with the Creator. And I'm not going to be your broker. You know-You got to do that yourself. And you've got to be honest. And if you miss the teaching-you know its not for me to say- but I guess that there's an audience here that might appreciate that the teaching is reciprocity. You give back what you take. And there are far too many people who are interested in Native American spiritual practice who are not actually interested in Native people. Issues of sacred site preservation or language preservation. And they have missed the teaching entirely. If you have learned something and gotten such a great gift from somebody, then you need to look at the circumstances upon which that gift was bestowed- And figure out how to really conscientiously work as a part of a community- to be in partnership with Native communities."

[Bear_Medicine]

I've puzzled over a reply to this thread, and I want to post an essay here by partner Jesse Wolf Hardin, it's very timely and applicable though not everyone will agree with it. At our center, teaching seekers to become indigenous, we deal with this issue on a daily basis and this is the way we address it.

Reindigenation:
Matters of Respect & Belonging

By Jesse Wolf Hardin

IN-DIG-E-NOUS: adj. 1) Occurring or living naturally in an area; native.
2) Intrinsic, innate.

"We see in the present best efforts of groups of non-Indians an honest desire to become indigenous in the sense of living properly with the land." "...Sacred places in North America may yet see a series of transformations in which new peoples using new languages rely on them for spiritual sustenance."
-Vine Deloria. Jr. (Sioux historian)

Not so long ago the tribes of the Americas marked five centuries of opposition to the European incursion. Five hundred years of resistance, preceded by over three millenniums of struggle by land-based tribes against the encroaching civilized paradigm in Asia, Europe, and Africa. We may remember this passage of time and our reoccurring loyalty to the Earth as part of a vast store of wordless information, a language of touch and smell, love and fright, sound and sight. I remember it in bright pictures, in green fields tinged with red. I remember it in innocent laughter rent by screams, in the aroma of sexual bliss overcome by the smell of open wounds, oiled gears, and retching mountains of refuse. I remember and mark not five hundred, but over three thousand years of conscientious resistance to the encroaching colonialist paradigm.
The strength to resist destruction or assimilation, to resist the denigration and transformation of the physical landscape, comes from the depth of one's relationship to it. Strength is one of the gifts we're given in return for our devotion and loyalty, for acting like responsible natives. Power comes from belonging not owning, and it is their unimpeachable connectedness that gives all indigenous people the strength to face seemingly insurmountable odds. Such connection requires a slowing down and staying put for a change, requires loving attentiveness and a great listening as well as ritualized prayer, a ritualized reaching out. To commemorate, to celebrate, to pray, and just to make it real, contemporary land-based and spiritual communities have begun to fashion rituals relevant to the current times, the planet's dire straits, the mixed-lineage of the clans, and their terrestrial site: their place. They may be fourth and fifth generation inhabitants of Turtle Island, as the North American continent has been called, and yet they are unlikely to have elders to turn to for instruction, or rites to call their own. In camps next to threatened forests, in gardens and on mountain walks, during rites of passage for their children and attending the births and the deaths of their loved ones, they piece together fragments of prayers, symbols and ideas. They draw from the universal to tap the power of the sacred circle, of sweat lodges and burning smudge. They gather bagpipes, drums, rattles, sometimes even a saxophone-- and open themselves to giving voice to Spirit, to Gaia, to God.
It turns out to be a fine line between the creation and adulteration of tradition, between honoring Indian spiritual traditions and what some AmerIndian activists have labeled "cultural genocide." After a history of their homelands being appropriated and sold, the extraction of their Native American rituals and symbols is experienced as the final affront, the ultimate theft. The one thing usually left to a defeated and dispossessed peoples was their unique cosmology, the songs and rituals through which any culture knows and defines itself. The new Indian traditionalists grew up with their artifacts sold to museums, their implements bastardized as rubber tomahawks and pueblo ashtrays, their people stereotyped thanks to non-Indians playing their part in a deluge of western movies. Many have struggled to eschew the materialist ways of the invader culture, and applied themselves to learning the old ways of their various tribes. Now they find other Native Americans sharing, and sometimes charging for lessons in their spiritual ways. They find EuroAmericans marketing "Lakota" Inipi ceremonies (sweats), and making money writing "Indian" books.
It's important, however, when protecting the exclusivity and privacy of one's cultural processes, not to invalidate someone else's personal connection. Many questions remain unanswered. What of non-Indians who have grown up on the reservation, and call a particular tribal world-view their own? What should a non-Indian do if invited by a Native American to join in a ceremony? What of the spread of the plains' Sun Dance to the pueblos of the Southwest? The line is further blurred when one considers the ritual use of sweat lodges, drums and vision quests which are common to the primal peoples of most every race, regardless of place of origin. Native Americans can't reasonably make any proprietary claim to that which can't be owned: the spirit of place, right here in North America, the seeking of relationship with all its resident beings. Nor are those of Celtic descent the only peoples capable or worthy of accessing the energies of Ireland. Indeed, it is not only possible but crucial to that country's spiritual and environmental realities that any AmerIndian, Asian, Australian Aborigine or multi-racial New Yorker visiting or settling there learn to connect to its Spirit and honor its timeless character.
My own response to the to feelings and concerns of Indian traditionalists has been to encourage we use only what our home place provides, and act out no ritual that didn't naturally arise from the contemporary context of our personal group, our focused solitude, the land we are a part of, and the cauldron of our personal experience. I make it a point to avoid participating in Zuni ritual or teaching the ways of the sacred pipe as shown me by my Plains Indian friends. Whether or not I agree that I would be dishonoring the Indian people by sincere participation in one of their hereditary rites, I will still step aside at such times. What is important here is to get on with one's spiritual and physical reconnection to the living land, while avoiding even the appearance of disrespect or impropriety.

"It is essential that people reconnect with Earth-based religions, but many times people are trying to practice Lakota vision questing or other practices out of context. You can't practice Lakota without being in the context of a Lakota community."
-Winona LaDuke

LaDuke admonishes her mostly Caucasian audiences to search out Earth-honoring practices within their own cultures and religious framework, she means for one to look to the Kabbhalic roots of prepatriarchal Judaism, the Gnostic traditions of early Christianity and the example of St. Francis, and by implication the religiosity and rites of the Druids of Western Europe, the Yoruba of Africa, and the Jains of India. I agree with her this far, but the problem is that not everyone claims a single country of origin, a single (or any) existing religious practice. They couldn't "go back where they came from," even if they wanted, when so many migrants from so many different countries may have crossed sweat and semen to create the persons they are.
Should one of mixed lineage return to their Pict roots, search through the sprawling cities of Great Britain for the vibrations of their history, or take off to find the birthplaces of ancestors on their mother's Russian side, where the oldest surviving tradition is patriarchal Orthodoxy? Or might they belong in France, the place of origin for at least one branch of the spreading family tree? Or is the only real geographical return one to Mother Africa, the playground of "Lucy," according to genealogists the original home of the common ancestor of every human on Earth? Nor can one carve up their body, send a foot to walk two separate shores, an arm to be raised to the Gods of the Pyreenes, guts to the Caucasus, one's head staked to the destiny of the Emerald Isles...forever looking west. And even if, our heart must surely remain in the place we love most, the place of allegiance, the place where we finally take on the responsibilities of home.
Being Indigenous doesn't necessarily require one be a member of an established culture, religion and community history previously associated with that piece of land, although it certainly helps strengthen and codify the relationship. More crucial, perhaps, is that the person (or other lifeform) be open to the directives of the ecosystem, ready and able to symbiotically interact, morphically and spiritually with every element of that ecosystem. A wolf, even bred of stock that never saw the Gila Wilderness, would quickly qualify as indigenous if released into its undeveloped interior. It would integrate, assimilate, and resonate with the vibrations of the bioregion in all its constituent forms...or else it would perish. That's how it works, and there can be no exemptions.
At the same time, the primal perception of remaining land-based and tribal peoples becomes increasingly important as our modern society reels out of control, out of balance both ecologically and spiritually. In their land-specific stories we can help recover our lost the awareness of place, the feeling of being home. The knowledge of how to live in balance, sustainably, already exists-- in the ways of the ancient ones of every continent. The information is being lost along with the unraveling of tribal customs, with time tested skills and gifted insights disappearing as fast as their lands are being seized for development. The young often feel they have no choice but to embrace foreign values and lifestyles, seeking a livelihood in the major urban centers of the colonizers. As our existences and enterprises become increasingly commercial and controlled, our pleasures ever more vicarious, our sense of both culture and place perverted or absent, as both our schedules and our thoughts race ever faster, we can still turn to they who have lived here, and loved here the longest. Turn to the Indian elders, placed peasants, Hispanic dirt farmers with their knowledge of weather and wild foods, nomads still following the reindeer and the seasons, the Kayapo and their jungle pharmacy. Not to emulate or simulate, but in a respectful search for the evidence of truths we might then apply in our own lives, families and societies.
The primal mind isn't just for the seekers of a few tribes, a state of mind accessible to the tranced-out Ladakh, the Kogi or the Shuar. It is a region or capacity of the human brain, accessible by the most predisposed of us. It surfaces during love making, while crossing the slick head of a waterfall, in the presence of enraptured children, whenever circumstance and surprise have delivered us most fully into our sentient bodies. At these times the the Earth reveals itself as unquestioningly sacred, imbued with the numinous. Even the most mundane expressions of inanimate Nature appear alive, and one can sense movement in patterns of fiber and the grain of mineral and wood. We find ourselves in the timeless now, the eternal bodily and psychic engagement with the present, a part of an interconnected universe that unfolds and contracts in cycles. Even if only for the shortest period of time, we jettison words for reality, symbol for touch, and know the world through our primal minds. We feel more alive, complete, tested and worthy. And we are. Worthy to be. Worthy to be here now.
We become more and more indigenous to the degree that we reside in our primal minds, in place, in the moment. To become: coming to be, leaning how to really be, coming into one's self. In re-becoming native, we re-create a contemporary culture, community, vocabulary, spiritual practice, and finally a history true to our mixed-blood ancestry and the urgent and trying times at hand. Along with our grounding comes an almost forgotten humility. We can look to the the first "two legged" peoples to inhabit this continent for guidance, but we must each establish our credibility directly with the land, own our deepening connection. We must stand up for the fact that we too belong, while respecting the ways of those peoples who showed respect to these places so long before us.
In time we may come to recognize being native as a condition of relationship. Of sensitivity, engagement, reciprocity and allegiance. To survive, those facing the tests of the next century will have had to learn to be placed. And they're likely to be of ever more mixed blood. They will be the descendants of Shona and Aborigine, Mongol and Semite, Hispanic and Cree, and they will have learned respect. They will be the proud inheritors of the affections of Aphrodite, the temperance of Chuang-Tzu, the resolve of Odin and Ogun, the determination of the Berserkers and the spirit of Crazy Horse. No matter where they're situate, they'll have survived because they came to know and manifest themselves, completely and unapologetically, as indigenous.
And this alone will have brought them great peace.
_________________
~*~ Kiva Rose
Anima Lifeways & Herbal School http://animacenter.org
Anima Healing Arts Health & Herbal Clinic:
http://animahealingarts.org
Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference: http://traditionsinwesternherbalism.org

[crabapple]

Thank you, Adam, for coming out of the woodwork. ;-)

(I had to change your link to Sherman Alexie's essay to a tinyurl because the long googlebooks url was breaking the forum's display in firefox.)

I highly recommend that essay (and most other things by Sherman Alexie), by the way. It's called "White Men Can't Drum", published in In Short: A Collection of Brief Creative Nonfiction. You can read it on google books. Here's the link again: http://tinyurl.com/2323pl . It's terribly funny, and relevant to this discussion.

The other Sherman Alexie quote that Adam posted has a key point in it, I think: public vs. private. This gets back to the question I posted in the "What is Herbwifery" forum about the importance of herbalists having service as our first priority rather than identity. I think we run into cultural appropriation in the herbal community not so much in the basic practice of providing people with the herbs they need, but in herbalists' attempts to forge public identities for themselves.

[jim mcdonald]

The quagmire of this issue is not the general stance, but the application of it. It's in pointing the finger, and where to draw the line.

I think its interesting that the first entry in the sherman alexie POV interview has him saying, "I only know that I live a happier, more adventurous life, by crossing borders."

Cultures are borders, I think.

This whole thread is problematic, because it isn't in reference to any specific instance. It's not as though we're tackling, "Is it abusive to the lakota to smoke crack out of a chanupa?" Should a chinese guy who has read black elk speaks and had a dream about Fool's Crow start offering lakota vision quests? In which case I think we'd get a resounding uniformity of opinion. What I've seen practised in regards to this issue is a lot of assumption and judgement: "Oh, that guys wearing a bone hairpipe choker... indian wannabe." Or as in a recent post on another herb list, saying of sage, in reference to smudging:

> Only those who are well-grounded in Native American traditional values
> should attempt to use this herb in a sacred way. It is used for a variety
> of medicinal purposes and its' ceremonial use has powerful spiritual meaning
> establishing a direct communication link between the person giving and the
> spiritual world receiving. The significance, sacredness, and precise usage
> are very complex. The effectiveness of the healing qualities depends on
> highly specialized techniques that are handed down from generation to
> generation.

This isn't stated in regards to a specific way that sage is used by such and such tribe, its a blanket statement that seems to assert that only native american (a rather vast and diverse group that includes both continents) peoples know how to use sage in a sacred way.

I'll go back to my use of tobacco and a prayer pipe (which I call kinnikinnick... is that OK?). Because I have adapted the smoking of Tobacco and herbs as an act of prayer and healing, I'm "that guy" who is often being referred to as appropriating. In my heart of hearts, I know that I carry my pipe well. I'd stake my life and soul on the goodness of it.

Should I stop? On whose perspective? Does it matter if its just a conscientious white person educated in the ongoing harm of cultural appropriation? Would it matter more if it were the carrier of the Sacred Pipe given to the lakota by white buffalo calf woman? Would it matter if a client that suddenly radically shifted towards health after a pipe ceremony told me not to stop? Whose opinion has more weight?

If ever, in my heart, I felt that I was doing harm with the use of the pipe I carry, I'd throw it in the fire without hesitation. But if I don;t feel that, and someone says I should, whose heart do I listen to?

These are where the specifics of this issue lie. This is where it is real. I don't claim my conclusions - at least, those I have come to at this time - should be anyone elses. I have no interest in convincnig anyone of anything (but, perhaps, to think). I don't believe I'm right about the issue for anyone but me, as I feel it in each instance it arises.

What I have seen of this issue is that ~we all draw the lines in different places~, and in doing so, create a maze of seperations. I feel we have created more than enough mazes to keep us busy for awhile, without making more.
_________________
jim mcdonald
~herbalist~
www.herbcraft.org