Weaving Ourselves into the Land:Charles Godfrey Leland, the "Indian," and the Study of Native American Religions1

Thomas C. Parkhill

Albany: SUNY Press, 1997.

the shorter abstract:

An inquiry into the way the stereotype of the "Indian," used in both disparaging and approving fashion, has influenced the study of Native American religions in the last two hundred years. The inquiry proceeds by way of an in depth study of the story of the Micmac and Abenaki culture hero Kluskap as presented by folklorist, Charles Godfrey Leland in 1884.

the longer abstract

It is now over half a millenium since the first sustained contact between the peoples of Europe and those of the first nations of what has become North America, yet Native Americans and especially their religious traditions still fascinate those of us who are not Native. In Weaving Ourselves into the Land, I argue that this fascination draws much more on notions of a stereotype of the "Indian" than on the lives and history of actual Native Americans. Further, I show that this stereotype, whether used approvingly or disparagingly, has informed the work of authors writing about Native American religions for audiences with both general or professional interests. Lastly the author contends that this fascination for the "Indian" and "Indian spirituality" derives from a not-Native religious need for Place, a need for belonging in the landscape in which one lives.

"The academic study of Native American religions," I write, "is a study haunted by a history of conquest and colonialism, whose present is marked by passionate intensity." Thus Weaving Ourselves into the Land is likely to be contentious. Given the ongoing fascination in not-Native cultures with Native American religions, my analysis should prove useful to readers with interests in folklore, mythology, Native Studies, anthropology, and the study of Native American religions, particularly the religious traditions of the first nations of Northeastern North America. The wider implications of his inquiry touch the areas of popular culture, the politics of scholarship, and the history of ideas in North America.

As the subtitle of Weaving Ourselves into the Land suggests, the figure of Charles Godfrey Leland plays an important role in my investigation of this topic. Over ten years ago I became intrigued with the rendition of the story in Leland's 1884 collection of "legends" about the Micmac, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot culture hero, Kluskap. In the story Kluskap struggles from even before birth with his brother, Malsumsis, or "Wolf the Younger" as Leland has it. Eventually the brothers fight with weapons of Power, and in the end Kluskap kills Malsumsis. My inquiry into the history of this story is the touchstone for my reflections on the larger study of Native American religions. I argue that most scholars of these religions, including himself, continue to be--like Leland over a hundred years ago--bewitched by the stereotype of the "Indian."

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