Religion and Culture in Native America

Suzanne Crawford O’Brien is professor of religion and culture at Pacific Lutheran University. She is the author of Native American Religions Traditions, Coming Full Circle: Spirituality and Wellness Among Native Communities in the Pacific Northwest, and Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways for Renewal, as well as co-editor of American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia. Inés Talamantez was professor of Religious Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara and founder of their doctoral program in Native American Religious Studies. During her years at UCSB she mentored dozens of graduate students, profoundly shaping this field of study. Her own research centered on her Mescalero Apache community, with particular emphasis on girls’ coming of age ceremonies. Her publications include: ＂In the Space Between the Earth and the Sky,＂ in Native Religions and Cultures of North America: Anthropology of the Sacred; ＂The Presence of Isanaklesh. The Apache Female Deity and the Path of Pollen,＂ updated and reprinted in Unspoken Worlds: Women’s Religious Lives; and Teaching Religion and Healing, co-edited with Linda Barnes. She has a forthcoming book on Isanaklesh Gotal, the coming of age ceremony for Mescalero Apache girls.