Dissertation
Peyote & the Native American Church: An Ethnobotanical Study at the Intersection of Religion, Medicine, Market Exchange, and Law
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/116932
Abstract
Peyote, a psychoactive cactus native to parts of Texas and Mexico, has been used in human rituals in North America for several thousand years. During the Spanish Conquest the first law prohibiting peyote’s ceremonial use was introduced. Conflicts between colonial powers and indigenous peoples over the use of peyote have continued into the present; with peyote access and possession strictly regulated in the United States. While exemptions have been established for the religious use of peyote by Native Americans, U.S. laws on peyote remain clouded by misunderstanding and stark divides in notions of sacrament, religious practice, addiction, medicine, and general differences in worldview. Peyotism, the religious use of peyote, emerged among the Plains tribes during the mid to late-1800s and spread rapidly on the reservations where peyote came to be revered as a holy medicine, a symbol of resistance, and also helped to rebuild communities broken by ethnocide. Peyote continues to play an important role within various tribes as a religious sacrament, a medicinal treatment for addiction, spiritual maladies, and historical trauma, and as a source of indigenous confidence and pride. The legal status of peyote is a precarious one, one that is exacerbated by diminishing supplies of the cactus in the United States and by the appropriation and exploitation of Native American religious practices by non-Natives seeking legal protection to both use and profit from peyote. The relationship between people and peyote is complex and multifaceted, and this study attempts to examine the major cultural threads at the heart of this relationship, particularly the sacramental and medical use of peyote by Native Americans, its market exchange, and the various legal controls imposed on peyote, and tie them together in a comprehensive and pertinent manner.
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Details
- Title
- Peyote & the Native American Church: An Ethnobotanical Study at the Intersection of Religion, Medicine, Market Exchange, and Law
- Creators
- Kevin Feeney
- Contributors
- Marsha B Quinlan (Advisor)Steven A Weber (Committee Member)Nancy P McKee (Committee Member)Shannon Tushingham (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 152
- Identifiers
- 99900581724801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation