Nadine Thader

The Importance of Storytelling for the Survival of Native American Religion Nadine Thader

Master's Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,0, University of Hildesheim (Institut für englische Sprache und Literatur), language: English, comment: Die Verfasserin bearbeitet das Thema der Religionen bei nordamerikanischen Ureinwohnern, den 'Native Americans'. Ihr besonderes Augenmerk gilt dabei, wie im Titel angekündigt, der wichtigen Rolle der mündlichen Überlieferung der Religionen durch das Erzählen von Geschichten. Die Verfasserin betont richtigerweise, dass bei einer großen Landmasse und einer Vielzahl an Stämmen nicht von einer einzigen oder einheitlichen Religion oder Philosophie gesprochen werden kann, hat jedoch festgestellt, dass die verschiedenen Religionsmuster gewisse Gemeinsamkeiten aufweisen. , abstract: In my Master's Thesis I will refer to my Bachelor's Thesis, which was about 'Native American Women'. I analyzed how Native American women lived in their communities and especially how their role was and is in contrast to what Europeans and European Americans think it was. I found that the role of women in Native America was in many ways different from the role of European women at the same time. After I became engrossed in the topic of Native American culture and Native American women in particular I became curious about what Native Americans believed, what their philosophy was and how they organized their spiritual life. This is why I decided to research this and focus on Native American beliefs, ideology and philosophy of life in my Master's Thesis. In my thesis I will not concentrate on one or several special tribes. Instead I will try to give a comprehensive survey of Native American religion in general. While doing so, I will always look for and give adequate examples that illustrate what I want to convey. I will divide this thesis into three parts. The first part will be devoted to the history of Native American religion. In my opinion it is not possible to look at another cultu