Research Catalog

Title

Black Elk : colonialism and Lakota Catholicism / Damian Costello.

Author

Costello, Damian.

Publication

Maryknoll, N.Y. : Orbis Books, 2005.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

vii, 193 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

This fascinating study of Black Elk, the Oglala Lakota subject of the bestselling Black Elk Speaks, challenges the assumptions of many scholars-both those who claim that Black Elk was a Lakota holy man first and foremost and those who maintain that he abandoned his Lakota tradition after converting to Catholicism. Arguing from a post-colonial perspective, author Damien Costello deconstructs modern Western assumptions and shows that Black Elk was an active agent, and that his conversion was in continuity with the dynamics of Lakota culture and provided new power to challenge the dominance of colonialism. As a consequence, Black Elk the Lakota holy man and Black Elk the Lakota catechist remembered by his community were not contradictory but one consistent agent fighting for the survival of his people in a colonial world infringing on the Lakota, their lands, and their traditions. -- ‡c From back cover.

Series Statement

Faith and cultures series

Uniform Title

Faith and cultures series.

Alternative Title

Colonialism and Lakota Catholicism

Subject

• Black Elk, 1863-1950
• Oglala Indians > Biography
• Oglala Indians > Religion
• Indian Catholics > Biography

Genre/Form

Biographies

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-187) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The story of Black Elk -- Missionaries, colonialism, and the internal dynamic -- Re-describing the Lakota world -- Black Elk and the incarnation of the Lakota Christ -- The creation of the essentialist Black Elk -- Colonialism and the Lakota Catholic Black Elk.

ISBN

1570755809 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^2004023733

OCLC

• 56834516
• SCSB-11081615

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library