Surveys past and present religious beliefs and practices of the Oglala Sioux, relating them to Oglala social and cultural identity and the preservation of that identity

Based on interviews and life histories collected over more than twenty-five years of study on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, Marla N. Powers conveys what it means to be an Oglala woman. Despite the myth of the Euramerican that sees Oglala women as inferior to men, and the Lakota myth that seems them as superior, in reality, Powers argues, the roles of male and female emerge as complementary. In fact, she claims, Oglala women have been better able to adapt to the dominant white culture and provide much of the stability and continuity of modern tribal life. This rich ethnographic portrait considers the complete context of Oglala life—religion, economics, medicine, politics, old age—and is enhanced by numerous modern and historical photographs. "It is a happy event when a fine scholarly work is rendered accessible to the general reader, especially so when none of the complexity of the subject matter is sacrificed. Oglala Women is a long overdue revisionary ethnography of Native American culture."—Penny Skillman, San Francisco Chronicle Review "Marla N. Powers's fine study introduced me to Oglala women 'portrayed from the perspectives of Indians,' to women who did not pity themselves and want no pity from others. . . . A brave, thorough, and stimulating book."—Melody Graulich, Women's Review of Books "Powers's new book is an intricate weaving . . . and her synthesis brings all of these pieces into a well-integrated and insightful whole, one which sheds new light on the importance of women and how they have adapted to the circumstances of the last century."—Elizabeth S. Grobsmith, Nebraska History

Individuals of all persuasions have become deeply interested in contemporary Sioux religious practices. These essays by tribal religious leaders, scholars, and other members of the Sioux communities in North and South Dakota deal with the more important questions about Sioux ritual and belief in relation to history, tradition, and the mainstream of American life. Contents: (1) "Lakota Belief and Ritual in the Nineteenth Century," by Raymond J. DeMallie; (2) "Lakota Genesis: The Oral Tradition," by Elaine A. Jahner; (3) "The Sacred Pipe in Modern Life," by Arval Looking Horse; (4) "The Lakota Sun Dance: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives," by Arthur Amiotte; (5) "The Establishment of Christianity Among the Sioux," by Vine V. Deloria, Sr.; (6) "Catholic Mission and the Sioux: A Crisis in the Early Paradigm," by Harvey Markowitz; (7) "Contemporary Catholic Mission Work Among the Sioux," by Robert Hilbert, S.}.; (8) "Christian Life Fellowship Church," by Mercy Poor Man; (9) "Indian Women and the Renaissance of Traditional Religion," by Beatrice Medicine; (10) "The Contemporary Yuwipi," by Thomas H. Lewis, M.D.; (11) "The Native American Church of Jesus Christ," by Emerson Spider, Sr.; (12) "Traditional Lakota Religion in Modern Life," by Robert Stead, with an Introduction by Kenneth Oliver; Suggestions for Further Reading; Bibliography.

A profoundly spiritual book, Yuwipi describes a present-day Oglala Sioux healing ritual that is performed for a wide range of personal crises. The vivid narrative centers on the experience of a hypothetical father and son in need of spiritual and physical assistance. The author combines the Yuwipi ceremony with two ancient Sioux rituals often performed in conjunction with it, the vision quest and the sweat lodge. Wayne Runs Again, suffering from alcoholism and worried about his father?s health, seeks out a shaman who, while bound in darkness, calls on supernatural beings to free him and to communicate. While the young man undergoes purification in a sweat lodge and waits on a hill for a vision, the community prays for him and his father. The ceremony serves not only to cure the sick but also to reaffirm the continuity of Oglala society.

"Originally published in 1967, this remarkable pictographic history consists of more than four hundred drawings and script notations by Amos Bad Heart Bull, an Oglala Lakota man from the Pine Ridge Reservation, made between 1890 and the time of his death in 1913. The text, resulting from nearly a decade of research by Helen H. Blish and originally presented as a three-volume report to the Carnegie Institution, provides ethnological and historical background and interpretation of the content. This 50th anniversary edition provides a fresh perspective on Bad Heart Bull's drawings through digital scans of the original photographic plates created when Blish was doing her research. Lost for nearly half a century--and unavailable when the 1967 edition was being assembled--the recently discovered plates are now housed at the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives. Readers of the volume will encounter new introductions by Emily Levine and Candace S. Greene, crisp images and notations, and additional material that previously appeared only in a limited number of copies of the original edition." -- Publisher's website.

Portrays the Sioux spiritual leader as a victim of Western subjugation.

All My Relatives demonstrates the significance of a new animist framework for understanding North American indigenous culture and history and how an expanded notion of personhood serves to connect otherwise disparate and inaccessible elements of Lakota ethnography.