Jesus, peyote, and the holy people: alcohol abuse and the ethos of power in Navajo healing.
J F Garrity
Medical Anthropology Quarterly December 1, 2000 DOI: 10.1525/maq.2000.14.4.521 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mescaline Shamanism |
| Keywords | Humans Alcoholism Mental healing Attitude to health Social identification Religion and psychology Anthropology, cultural Social change Christianity Indians, north american Southwestern united states Male Power, psychological |
| Key points | Argues that the Native American Church and Pentecostal Christianity, more than Traditional Navajo healing, address alcohol and substance abuse among contemporary Navajo people by offering new forms of power, social networks, and personal meaning that enable self-transformation, community revitalization, and future hope. Proposes that attending to an ethos of power in Navajo healing complements anthropological emphases on harmony and beauty. |
Abstract
Of the three religious healing traditions that coexist within the contemporary Navajo health care system, the Native American Church (NAC) and Pentecostal Christianity are more actively involved in the treatment of alcohol and substance abuse than is Traditional Navajo healing. This article examines these two more recent healing traditions as religious responses to the contemporary Navajo crisis of alcohol and substance abuse as well as to socioeconomic changes. These traditions offer new kinds of power, social networks, and personal meaning that facilitate a transformation of self, a revitalized sense of community, and a new vision of the possibilities of the future for Navajo people who suffer. Examining the ethos of power that underlies Navajo healing can complement the theoretical emphasis on harmony and beauty in anthropological research on Navajo culture and religion.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mescaline, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schizophrenia: A New Approach. II. Result of a Year's Research | 1954 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Thought insertion as a self-disturbance: An integration of predictive coding and phenomenological approaches | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Entactogens: How the Name for a Novel Class of Psychoactive Agents Originated | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Steric and Electronic Relationships among Some Hallucinogenic Compounds | 1970 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| EFFECT OF DRUGS One individual | 1952 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | n = 1 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 13
- Potential Therapeutic Effects of Psilocybin. Neurotherapeutics July 1, 2017
- Clinical applications of hallucinogens: A review. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology August 1, 2016
- Psychological and cognitive effects of long-term peyote use among Native Americans. Biological Psychiatry October 15, 2005
- An online survey of tobacco smoking cessation associated with naturalistic psychedelic use Journal of Psychopharmacology January 18, 2017
- Development of a Psychotherapeutic Model for Psilocybin-Assisted Treatment of Alcoholism Journal of Humanistic Psychology October 16, 2016
and 8 more in the library