David J Smith Anthropology 327 November 14, 2022

Witchcraft Magic and Religion

Article Review 2

Article Review #2:

“Ritual Healing and the Politics of Identity in Contemporary Navajo Society” By Thomas J. Csordas

This article review will cover Thomas J Csordas’s article: Ritual Healing and the Politics of Identity in

Contemporary Navajo Society. It was published in Volume 26 of American Ethnologist in February of

1999. I will discuss Csordas’s thesis, main argument, the structure of his argument and the evidence

provided to support his argument. I will then explain the essential parts of Csordas's argument

presented in the article including methods, theories, and data used by the author. Additionally, I will

evaluate the article to see if Csordas has answered any questions posed or if he found more questions to

answer. And lastly, I will discuss if this article fits into my research paper regarding Nature and Religion:

Peyote and Navajo Healing Rituals.

Csordas introduces you into the article with a very large three-part thesis including; ritual healing,

identity politics and Navajo society. He sums it up perfectly stating, “I elaborate the relation between

ritual healing and identity politics in contemporary Navajo society by presenting a conceptual

framework that can potentially be applied across a wider range of societies.” (Csordas, 1999 pg3)

Over the next seven pages of the article Csordas talks about the Navajo history from the 1860’s and

their forced march and relocation to a reservation in the southwest, to the 1990’s discussing the hanta

virus and a drought that depleted Navajo livestock similar to the government forced cattle reduction in

the 1930’s. Along with discussing historical suffrages of the Navajo, Csordas discusses population

patterns, changes in religious outlook, and identity politics. Following that section Csordas introduces

the three branches of religious worship that the Navajo practice. Those including traditional worship,

the Native American Church (NAC) and the Christian Church. The traditionalists follow the beliefs and

the way of the ancestors, where the Native American Church, being introduced in the 1930 by the

plain's peoples, incorporate guided tours down the peyote road with a mix of traditional ancestor

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worship, and lastly the Christian church offering prayer and worship services as well as retreats and

revivals. The Christian churches can vary in denomination from Pentecostal, Mormon and Catholic. Most

churches are headed by a native Pastor and are independent from a mother church.

Csordas’s main question is how does identity politics play a role within the religious context of Navajo

culture. He then discusses various identity politics within the three different social levels. The broadest

level being that in relation to white American society, ritualistic healing is Navajo identity.

Intermediately, healing and identity are interrelated specifically among interactions within a group.

Specifically, healing within one's religious circle creates an environment of trust and acceptance that

facilitates successful healing. And lastly, the individual level, where healing shapes personal and group

identity regarding dignity and self-worth. Using this threefold analytic outline, he relates religion and

politics, tradition and modernity, individual and collective, and microsocial and macrosocial. (Csordas, 4)

Csordas's article is structured to develop his argument in sections. First by building an argument

regarding Navajo identity politics and why they have developed into what they are today. He does this

by discussing various struggles within Navajo history from the Long Walk of the 1860’s to the virus

outbreak and drought of the 1990’s. Within this section Csordas draws attention to the difficulties of

Navajo identity politics due to outside influences like media and commerce. Forcing a stress for change

within the tribe thus causing friction between members, sometimes even families. Which in turn created

voids in which traditional Navajo worship could not fill, leading to Csordas’s next point of introducing

outside religious views. Previously mentioned the traditional form of worship, a medicine man leads

rituals performing chants, reading crystals, or star gazing. Within the Native American Church (NAC)

Road Men perform healing rituals conducted on the peyote road where patients either singularly or

within a group face their fears and commune with the ancestors for guidance in life. And lastly the

Christian church, led by a native Pastor conducting healing through prayer and worship services. Each of

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the three types of Navajo religion is discussed in length including interviews from a follower of each

specified religious group. Each of the people interviewed, regardless of group, stated that their religious

experience helped them understand themselves better, cultivated better relationships with family and

loved ones and made them closer to their culture. Members of the NAC have even stated wanting to

investigate their ancestry and native roots to gain a better understanding of self after walking down the

peyote road.

Lastly Csordas discusses healing and politics. Within this lengthy conclusion Csordas states that ritual

healing is a form of cultural power and is relevant beyond a specific problem, illness, or disorder.

(Csordas, 17) In this section he compares various world cultures and their religious and identity politics

to the Navajo’s concluding that either ritual healing is an expression of frustration or ritual healing is a

form of political resistance. Finally, Csordas concludes with “...Just as power belongs to both the

religious and political spheres, the concepts of self and identity belong to the psychological analysis of

individuals and to the social analysis of collective process. (Csordas, 19) I understand this to mean that

religion is about community, at least as defined by Durkheim, and religion binds people together, a type

of social cohesion, which then promotes consistency within a society and offers meaning and purpose to

those who are struggling and in need.

This article was dense and full of information gathered from various sources and melded together in an

intelligent and articulate way to discuss the power and politics of the religious rituals of the Navajo. This

article also related that social identity is a massive part of religious and cultural identity. I think that

Thomas J Csordas answered part of the questions he was asking, such as how the Navajo identify

themselves and what societal, religious, cultural, and individual factors influence that viewpoint. But he

argues that further psychoanalytic and social analysis should take place to fully answer and understand

ritual healing and how it relates to creating identity and other cultural processes.

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Article Review 2

In relation to my final research paper, Nature and Religion: Peyote and Navajo Healing rituals. I would

be out of line not to include this article as part of my research towards my final project. The amount of

detail and information Csordas includes within this 18-page article is astounding. But I will argue that

Garrity offered a better insight into the religious ritual clearer than Csordas. And that even though this

paper will be sited for the final research it will be used for more background and historical data including

the virus and drought hardships expanding on the diversification of religious movements within Navajo

society. Even though by the 1990’s the Christian Church and the NAC were well established. The

importance being focused on the need of these two branches of religion because traditional practices

are falling out of vogue due to lack of personal history and cultural education within the newer

generations of Navajo people.

In conclusion, this was a tough article to read. Mr. Csordas is extremely precise in his articulation and

formation of his arguments and evidence given to support specific claims. The amount of history and

information that will be found within my chosen articles, regarding healing rituals especially those

including peyote, will be similar in source and information. The difference here between Garrity and

Csordas is the inclusion of the drought and hanta virus from the 1990’s. These additional hardships help

pave the path to better understanding of the struggle of the Navajo peoples in more modern times. Also

considering that it was in the 1990’s where legislation was introduced, passed, contested, and then

upheld by the United States Supreme Court stating that Peyote could not be used as a ritualistic tool

during religious worship and practices. I look forward to my other articles and I am proposing for article

review 3 that I cover Roland M Wagners Pattern and Process in Ritual Syncretism: The Case of Peyotism

among the Navajo. I will leave the citation at the bottom of the page, please let me know what you think

or suggest.

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Citation

Csordas, Thomas J. 1999, “Ritual Healing and the Politics of Identity in Contemporary Navajo Society.”
American Ethnologist, vol. 26, no. 1, Feb. pp. 3–23.
https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1999.26.1.3.

Wagner, Roland M. 1975 “Pattern and Process in Ritual Syncretism: The Case of Peyotism among the
Navajo.” Journal of Anthropological Research 31, no. 2: 162–81.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3629961

The University of Chicago Press Journal: JSTOR

Abstract: A previously undescribed form of syncretic peyote ritual is summarized, which appears to
represent a general paradigm for blending Peyotism and traditional Navajo religion. The thesis is
advanced that the past and future process of ritual syncretism on the Navajo reservation is best
comprehended by the structural character of the two religions. The rituals are blended in such a way
that the basic units of Navajo ceremonialism remain intact. This reflects the general "incorporative"
model that has been followed in Navajo acculturation for three centuries or more.