"Spirit Wars" is an exploration of the ways in which the destruction of spiritual practices and beliefs of native people in North America has led to conditions of collective suffering - a process sometimes referred to as cultural genocide. Ronald Niezen approaches this topic through wide-ranging case studies involving different colonial powers and state governments: the seventeenth-century Spanish occupation of the Southwest, the colonization of the Northeast by the French and British, nineteenth-century westward expansion and nationalism in the swelling United States and Canada, and twentieth-century struggles for native people's spiritual integrity and freedom. Each chapter deals with a specific dimension of the relationship between native people and non-native institutions, and together these topics yield a new understanding of the forces directed against the underpinnings of native cultures.
- ISBN10 0520219872
- ISBN13 9780520219878
- Publish Date 28 August 2000
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint University of California Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 274
- Language English