Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
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Jr. and Robert H. Lavenda explore variants of the Plains Siouan concept of
wakan, emphasizing similiarities in the cosmology of the unknowable and
in its personal manifestations among Teton Dakota, Omaha, and Winnebago.
The sources are again thin, but the comparative treatment of shamans as
transmitters and acquirers of power is useful. Hope Isaacs attempts to relate
the ethnohistorically derived Iroquois personal power concept of orenda to
her ethnoscientific field data (based on four informants) on Tonawanda Seneca
classification of spiritual manifestations of power. By methodological sleight
of hand she relates a reconstructed cosmology of power to contemporary
problems of low participation by the Tonawanda Seneca in Western health
care systems; the result is intriguing but not altogether convincing. Finally,
Raymond Fogelson explores the concept of ulanigvgv in a characterization of
Cherokee power concepts as implicit, pragmatic methods of coping with the
dangers of human authority. Fogelson's treatment of Cherokee distrust of
leadership of prophetic and militant movements and his structuralist inter-
pretation of the Red-White dichotomy as a young men-old men age grade
opposition mediated by women in the political sphere provides welcome
analytical depth.
Four chapters, in contrast, approach the issue of political powerlessness
in native American history and contemporary affairs. Triloki Nath Pandey
summarizes the effects of Spanish colonialism and the Indian Reorganization
Act of 1934 on the theocratic bases of Zuni political organization. Her ex-
amination of traditions of personal power submergence and of the recent
history of factionalism created by the meddling actions of outside interest
groups reflects recent comparative interest in the dilemmas confronting other
traditional societies. In a more policy-oriented vein, Stephen Conn explores
informal courts or forums among Navajos, Alaskan Eskimos and Indians, and
Brazilian favelas. He contributes sensitive observations of the problems of
creating legitimate local-level dispute-handling mechanisms-with a succinct
message on the failure of modern legal systems. Albert L. Wahrhaftig and
Jane Lukens-Wahrhaftig's excellent chapter on continuing confidence in native
power among the Oklahoma Cherokee, despite the historical "reality" of the
failure of that power, is for this reviewer a high point of the volume. The
comparative implications of their approach could provide a stimulating basis
for a more problem-oriented collection. As official historian for the North
American Indian Ecumenical Movement, Sam Stanley provides further light
on continuing articulations of Indian power in the face of pragmatic pow-
erlessness. This is rich material with deep implications for comparative study
of oppressed populations throughout the world.
The volume closes with a thoughtful chapter by Robert E Spencer on
shamanistic power in northwestern North America; a welcome demystification
by Robert B. Lane of the Melanesian mana concept in light of the guardian
spirit complex in northwestern North America; and the syntheses by Colson
and Adams. Colson's reflections tellingly suggest that authors emphasis on
ethnoscientific as opposed to exchange theory or political analyses of power
may reflect variations in the depth of knowledge of a society's actual operation.
Adams approaches the chapters from an already formulated evolutionary
theory of political power. His contribution demonstrates an integrated, global
view, but he has to struggle to fit the individualized chapters to a model
constructed from a problem-oriented approach to power.
Readers will find in this volume only a superficial collective sense of the
meaning of power. Some chapters, however, contain the seeds of an integrative,
grounded perspective; these certainly deserve the reader's time and contem-
plation.
Hamilton College Grant D. Jones