S.J. Crawford O'Brien - COMING FULL CIRCLE: SPIRITUALITY AND WELLNESS AMONG NATIVE COMMUNITIES IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST - Paperback

Suzanne J. Crawford O'Brien, Professor of Religion at Pacific Lutheran University "Coming Full Circle is an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationships between spirituality and health in several contemporary Coast Salish and Chinook communities in western Washington from 1805 to 2005. Suzanne Crawford O’Brien examines how these communities define what it means to be healthy, and how recent tribal community–based health programs have applied this understanding to their missions and activities. She also explores how contemporary definitions, goals, and activities relating to health and healing are informed by Coast Salish history and also by indigenous spiritual views of the body, which are based on an understanding of the relationship between self, ecology, and community.  Coming Full Circle draws on a historical framework in reflecting on contemporary tribal health-care efforts and the ways in which they engage indigenous healing traditions alongside twenty-first-century biomedi