8.12: Indigenous American Spiritualities- Land, Sovereignty, and Decolonization

For Indigenous peoples, spirituality is fundamentally inseparable from land, community, and identity. It is typically not a separate “religion” but a way of being in the world, a set of relationships with the natural and spiritual world. Political and social entities have often sought to control Indigenous populations by implementing policy and legislation that subverts their spirituality.

U.S. federal policy explicitly targeted Indigenous spiritual practices as an obstacle to assimilation. The 1883 “Court of Indian Offenses” banned ceremonies like the Sun Dance and the Potlatch. The boarding school system forcibly converted children to Christianity and punished them for speaking their languages or practicing their traditions. This was a deliberate project of cultural and spiritual genocide, inflicting a historical trauma that continues to resonate (Brave Heart and DeBruyn 1998).

Additionally, the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) in 1978 was a critical victory, finally extending First Amendment protections to the religious practices of Native Americans. This has enabled a powerful cultural and spiritual revitalization movement. Traditional practices are being reclaimed and renewed, often in dialogue with modern contexts (Garroutte 2003). This is not a return to a static past but a dynamic process of decolonizing spirituality.

Some of this decolonizing spirituality actually runs counter to Western models of religion. Many Indigenous people draw a distinction between “Western religion,” which they see as institutional and doctrinal, and “Indigenous spirituality,” which is holistic, place-based, and experiential. Core principles often include a cyclical view of time, a kinship-based relationship with all living things (animism), and the importance of oral tradition and ceremonial life for maintaining balance and harmony. The ongoing legal and political battles over sacred sites (such as the Black Hills or Oak Flat) are, at their core, conflicts over the ability to practice a spirituality that is intrinsically tied to specific geographies.