Ghost Dance Movements: Some Thoughts on Definition Based on Cherokee History

• Published in: Ethnohistory Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 25 - 44
• Main Author: McLoughlin, William G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Durham, NC Duke University Press 01.01.1990; Indiana University; Duke University Press, NC & IL
• Subjects: America; Baptists; Cherokee; Cherokees; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Culture; Dance; Dance movement; Ethnology; History; History and sciences of religions; Keresiouan languages; Native American dance; Native Americans; North Amerindians; Political development; Religion, magic, witchcraft; Religions in America, Arctic and Oceania; Religions, beliefs, worships; Religious dances; Religious movements; Rites & ceremonies; Traditional dance; Traditionalism; White people; Century 19th; North America; United States of America; Socio-cultural change; Cherokee; Religion; Ritual dance; Rite; Amerindians; Social conflict; Social relations; Acculturation; Socio-cultural conflict; Socio-political change; Dance; Cultural renewal; Revival movement; Cultural movement; Syncretism; Colonization; Religious movement
• ISSN: 0014-1801; 1527-5477
• DOI: 10.2307/481935

Theoretical efforts to define "true" and "false" ghost dance movements have become confused because they tend to link them to revitalization or state building. Among the Cherokee, a series of sporadic religious revivals from 1811 to 1867 suggests the complexity of religious syncretism among traditionalists. Ghost dances and state building may coincide or take place separately. Not all ghost dances are millenarian. General theorizing should be guarded and specific contextual analysis preferred.