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"Mother Earth"



Recently, there has been much scholarly controversy regarding the authenticity of the "Mother Earth" concept.

For instance:
[See MOTHER EARTH: AN AMERICAN STORY (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987) by Sam Gill.]
[See THE WAY OF THE EARTH: NATIVE AMERICA AND THE ENVIRONMENT (New York: William Morrow, 1994) by John Bierhorst.]

Despite recent scholarly claims that the concept of "Mother Earth" is not orignally or fully indigenous to Native America;
the overwhelming testimony of Native American scholars witnesses to the contrary.
For example,
in the introduction to DEFENDING MOTHER EARTH: NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1996), editor Jace Weaver of the Cherokee nation argues against Sam Gill and John Bierhorst.

Weaver says:
"Recently some scholars have disputed the antiquity and authenticity of this concept, central to many Indians peoples and to this volume, of Mother Earth. Sam Gill, in Mother Earth: An American Story, argues that the concept is largely invented, the product of scholars and other observers and of Native interaction with Europeans." (DME, p. 9)

Weaver acknowledges that Gill and Bierhorst's are partly correct,
that "the idea of Mother Earth has been interpreted and reinterpreted" and
that "pan-Indian discourse has both spread the concept and broadened its meaning"; however,
Weaver concludes that "Scholars such as Gill and Bierhorst ... ignore evidence that the fundamental notion is both ancient and widespread" (DME, p. 10).
Weaver argues that among Native Americans the concept of Earth as Mother is "both ancient and widespread," and he notes that "Deloria has traced references as far back as 1776" (DME, p. 10).


[See DEFENDING MOTHER EARTH: NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES ON ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1996), edited by Jace Weaver, foreword by Russell Means.]
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[See "Comfortable Fictions and the Struggle for Turf: An Essay Review of James Clifton, THE INVENTED INDIAN: CULTURAL FICTIONS AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES by Vine Deloria, Jr. in AMERICAN INDIAN QUARTERLY, 16:3, pp.397-410 (as cited by Jace Weaver, p. 24).]
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[Also by Jace Weaver: THEN TO THE ROCK LET ME FLY: LUTHER BOHANON AND JUDICAL ACTIVISM (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993).]
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Isanaklesh

"Isanaklesh" is another example of a traditional Native American conception of Earth as Mother.


Ines Talamantez of the Mescalero Apache Nation says:

"The Mescalero Apache preserve an extensive mythology about Isanaklesh. She is a living reality, as well as the creative Earth Mother. She is the earth; her name literally means "Woman (isana) of Earth or Clay (klesh)." (PI, p. 248)


[See "The Presence of Isanaklesh: A Native American Goddess and the Path of Pollen" by Ines Talamantez in UNSPOKEN WORLDS: WOMEN'S RELIGIOUS LIVES (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing, 1989), edited by Nancy Auer Falk and Rita M. Gross.]
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[Also, see MOTHER EARTH SPIRITUALITY: NATIVE AMERICAN PATHS TO HEALING OURSELVES AND OUR WORLD (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990) by Ed McGaa/Eagle Man (Lakota-Sioux).]

[And, in "Constitutional Law and American Indian Religious Freedom: A Tale of Two Worlds" in AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL (volume 1: number 1, Winter 1994) John D. Loftin cites Wilcomb E. Washburn's RED MAN'S LAND - WHITE MAN'S LAW (New York: Scribner, 1971) as witness to the fact "that land for Native Americans is a "sacred and inalienable mother," while for the whites it is a "commodity"" (Loftin's p.46 quoting from Washburn's p.143).]

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There are many other instances where Native Americans claim, as indigenous and traditional, a conception of the Earth/land as a living-breathing-spiritual entity to whom thanksgiving and reverance is due.



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most recent update: 6 July 1997
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NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT: copyright 1997 Theodore Walker, Jr. This copyright covers all content and formatting (browser-visible and HTML text) in this and attached documents created by Theodore Walker, Jr. c@Theodore Walker, Jr.
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