Ghost Dance

by James Mooney

Immediately following the massacre of Wounded Knee (December 29, 1890), the well-known anthropologist James Mooney, under the auspices of the Bureau of American Ethnology and the Smithsonian, investigated the incident. His interest was primarily in the Indian background to the uprising. Admitting that the Indians had been generally overpowered by the Whites, what led the Indians to think they stood a chance against White arms? His answer was the Ghost-Dance Religion. Investigating every Indian uprising from Pontiac to the 1980s, every Indian resistance to aggression, every incident of importance, Mooney discovered a cultural a messianic religion that permeated leaders and warriors from Tecumseh and his brother The Prophet on up to the Plains tribes that revived the Ghost-Dance in the 1880s and 90s. The message abandon the ways of the Whites; go back to Indian ways; an Indian messiah is coming; the Indian dead are to be resurrected — indeed, some have already returned; and the Whites are to be killed by the Spirits. Mooney made an exhaustive study of this cult, the rise of its latest version, diffusion to the Plains, and its relevance to the medicine man Sitting Bull and others. Citing many primary documents as well as anthropological data he gathered himself, Mooney gives an extremely detailed, thorough account of the cult; its songs and dances, ceremonies, and its social impact. This work has always been considered one of the great classics of American anthropology, a book that not only offers an account of a very interesting cultural phenomenon, but also throws light on many events in Indian-White relations that are otherwise dark. Its data have never been superseded and the book remains a work of primary importance in Native American studies.

Genres: History, Anthropology, Religion, Nonfiction, Native American

494 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1965

About the author

James Mooney (James^Mooney) was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee. He did major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as those on the Great Plains. His most notable works were his ethnographic studies of the Ghost Dance after Sitting Bull's death in 1890, a widespread 19th-century religious movement among various Native American culture groups, and the Cherokee: The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees (1891), and Myths of the Cherokee (1900), all published by the US Bureau of American Ethnology. Artifacts from Mooney are in the collections of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution and the Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural History. Papers and photographs from Mooney are in the collections of the National Anthropological Archives, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution

Reviews

[Jessie F · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a ethnography of the Ghost Dance religion in the American West. It is one of the very earliest pieces of ethnographic writing but never received the credit it deserved, largely because of the Irish heritage and lower-class economic background of its author. The Ghost-Dance Religion remains a powerful text today, easily the most fascinating, thorough and engaging ethnography I have ever read (and I majored in anthropology!). Although the book is non-fiction, if you are interested in religion, human nature, history, culture, community, globalization or change, you will find it an enjoyable and profoundly moving read.

[Edward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Multiple times I’ve put this book down to exclaim, “wow”.

The beauty found in Mooney’s ultimately academic prose is remarkable, he’s a man superbly educated in the classical sense, knowing his history, myth, strong knowledge of all the world’s religions and civilizations - it’s this kind of man we sent out west to gather actual facts and eye-witness accounts.

He’s an extremely sympathetic and understanding friend and witness to the Native American people of the west.

[Ernest Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed documentation of and important part of American history.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable first hand account of indigenous response to white colonization. Inspite of, or perhaps because Mooney was not an anthropologist, his ethnographic account focus on the contingencies between Sioux and white society and starkly portray's the power relations and techniques of domination to which the ghost dance responds.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember this as one of the most moving accounts I had ever read about a culture's desparate, and finally unsuccessful, attempt to cling to their identity through religion. It has always been my counter-example for people who claim government documents are "boring."

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

a little dated but good work.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Mooney single-handedly allowed my capstone to exist. Thanks dawg.