ABSTRACT

It is impossible to write a chapter on Aboriginal spirituality, for there is no pan-Aboriginal spirituality. Many First Nations authors, who recognise commonalities among the perspectives of various Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and Native American communities in the United States, have written of Aboriginal spirituality in the context of wellness and healing (e.g. McCabe 2008; Mawhiney and Nabigon 2011; Verniest 2006), being careful to articulate the diversity of spiritual understandings and practices across Aboriginal communities. Any discussion of Aboriginal spirituality that neglects to mention the distinctive expression of spirituality across Indigenous communities (e.g. Abbott 1989; Christ 1990; Ruether 2001), however well intended, is problematic. In the same way that Christie (in press) argues that it is necessary to know the particulars of a First Nation community to begin to understand its economic needs and how such a community might best negotiate an agreement with an industrial proponent, it is necessary to be well acquainted with the specificities of a First Nation in order to understand the spirituality of its people. Representations of pan-Aboriginal spirituality, even in their broadest, most generous articulation, run the risk of reinscribing the stereotype of the ‘spiritual Indian’. This stereotype, of course, is an illusory, essentialised construct, which constrains possibilities for Indigenous expression, lived experiences and Indigenous-non-Indigenous understandings by engendering a discursive terrain that is too tightly scripted (Appiah 1994: 163). This chapter seeks to debunk and deconstruct the ‘spiritual Indian’, while also problematising the notion of pan-Aboriginality more generally, with the purpose of making the case for specificities, the need to attend to particularities and context not only when discussing but also when, in a helping role, engaging with Indigenous peoples and their communities.