Tradition, Performance, and Religion in Native America

"This erudite study is a cultural bridge of sophisticated analysis in demonstrating how modern Indians invent new traditions to connect their identities to the past for spiritual balance. Surprisingly this is not new, for Indians have acculturated to live according to natures cycles and the circle of life, and Dennis Kelley brilliantly shows how this was done in the twentieth century and now." - Donald L. Fixico (Shawnee, Sac and Fox, Muscogee Creek and Seminole), Distinguished Foundation Professor of History, Arizona State University, USA "By drawing on his personal experience with Chumash canoe culture revitalization and his many visits to urban Native American centers and powwows Kelley convincingly demonstrates the value of a practice approach to the study of religious identity." - Michelene Pesantubbee, University of Iowa, USA "Kelley (a specialist in religious identity) examines manifestations of religion among contemporary American Indians. Employing a functionalist model"religiousness" is whatever promotes "social action, group belonging, system maintenance"the author scans phenomena such as powwows, protests, rites of passage, alcohol recovery sessions, and funerals to evaluate processes often depicted in studies of Native American persistence and change... Summing Up: Recommended." - C. T. Vecsey, Colgate University, USA, in CHOICE "This erudite study is a cultural bridge of sophisticated analysis in demonstrating how modern Indians invent new traditions to connect their identities to the past for spiritual balance. Surprisingly this is not new, for Indians have acculturated to live according to natures cycles and the circle of life, and Dennis Kelley brilliantly shows how this was done in the twentieth century and now." Donald L. Fixico (Shawnee, Sac and Fox, Muscogee Creek and Seminole), Distinguished Foundation Professor of History, Arizona State University, USA "By drawing on his personal experience with Chumash canoe culture revitalization and his many visits to urban Native American centers and powwows Kelley convincingly demonstrates the value of a practice approach to the study of religious identity." Michelene Pesantubbee, University of Iowa, USA

Dennis Kelley was awarded his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in September of 2007. His work primarily interrogates concepts of religious identity, especially as it affects and is affected by ritual practice and sacred narratives. This work is explored through the lens of American Indian religious history, with an emphasis on contemporary Native communities. He lives in Columbia, Missouri, with his wife Kate and their two children, Bear and Nola.

Chapter One: Revitalization, Renewal, and Reprise: On The Modern Expression of American Indian Spiritual Culture. Religion and Spirituality as Functional Categories. Renewal, Revitalization, Reprise. Understanding Indigeneity. Chapter Two: Tradition, Modernity, and Spirituality: The Intertribal Powwow, Traditional Arts, and Language Revival as Arenas for Identity Negotiation. The Urban Landscape. Pan-Indianism in Review. The Intertribal Powwow. Performing Identity and Being Indian. Chapter Three: Political Activism as Ceremony: Experiencing the Sacred Through Protest. American Indians and Identity Politics in the 1960s and 70s. A Performance Theory Approach to Native Political Actions. Chapter Four: Traditional Identity and Communal Health: Religion and Well-Being in Indian Country. Indians and Alcohol. American Indian Alcoholics Anonymous and the Red Road to Sobriety. Conclusion. Chapter Five: Jesus as the Ultimate Sun Dancer: On Being Native and Christian. Christians and Missionaries: What IS Conversion? Indigenizing Jesus. Practiced Values, The Value of Practice. Conclusion. Chapter Six: Into a Possible Future: An Epilogue. Indians, Modernity, and Cultural Competence. The World is a Canoe. References.