Empowerment of North American Indian Girls: Ritual Expressions at Puberty

Carol A. Markstrom

ISBN 10: 0803232578 / ISBN 13: 9780803232570

Published by University of Nebraska Press, 2008

About this Item

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Seller Inventory # D9780803232570

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Empowerment of North American Indian Girls: Ritual Expressions at Puberty
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803232578
• ISBN 13: 9780803232570
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 999 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Empowerment of North American Indian Girls is an examination of coming-of-age-ceremonies for American Indian girls past and present, featuring an in-depth look at Native ideas about human development and puberty. Many North American Indian cultures regard the transition from childhood to adulthood as a pivotal and potentially vulnerable phase of life and have accordingly devised coming-of-age rituals to affirm traditional values and community support for its members. Such rituals are a positive and enabling social force in many modern Native communities whose younger generations are wrestling with substance abuse, mental health problems, suicide, and school dropout.

 

Developmental psychologist Carol A. Markstrom reviews indigenous, historical, and anthropological literatures and conveys the results of her fieldwork to provide descriptive accounts of North American Indian coming-of-age rituals. She gives special attention to the female puberty rituals in four communities: Apache, Navajo, Lakota, and Ojibwa. Of particular interest is the distinctive Apache Sunrise Dance, which is described and analyzed in detail. Also included are American Indian feminist interpretations of menstruation and menstrual taboos, the feminine in cosmology, and the significance of puberty customs and rites for the development of young women.

About the Author

Carol A. Markstrom is a professor in the Department of Technology, Learning, and Culture in the College of Human Resources and Education at West Virginia University. She is the coauthor of The Adolescent Experience, fourth edition, and Adolescent Life Experiences, third edition, and has authored numerous scholarly works on adolescents and American Indians.