Native American vision quests

An in depth look at vision quests among Native American Culture, - a thorough examination of what vision quests consisted of, how they were revered, their effects on the people who experienced them and most importantly - the reason why vision quests were so integral to Native American culture and daily life (Plains / Lakota Natives specifically).  

Primary Sources

1. Brotherston, Gordon. Image of the New World. London: Thames and Hudson, 1979.

2. Deloria, Vine. The world we use to live in, remembering the powers of the medicine man, ed. Vine Deloria. Golden Colo.: Fulcrum Pub., 2006. xxiv. Accessed May 4, 2015, eBooks on UT library catalog.

This source discusses the powers conferred on the medicine men, continuing communications, interspecies relations, the land and the cosmos, and sacred stones and places.

3. Walker, James R. Lakota Society. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, c 1982.

This book presents a complimentary perspective on the structure and organization of traditional Lakota society.

4. Yellowtail, Thomas, Joseph Medicine Crow, and Michael Oren Fitzgerald. 2007. Native Spirit : The Sun Dance Way. Bloomington, Ind: World Wisdom, 2007. eBook Collection EBSCOhost (accessed May 5, 2015).

A firsthand account of several Native American traditions, ceremonies and rituals and their significance.

Secondary sources

5. Irwin, Lee. 1994. Dreams, Theory, and Culture: The Plains Vision Quest Paradigm. American Indian Quarterly 18, no. 2: 229-245. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed May 4, 2015.

This article discusses the study of dreams, especially as they are conceived in Native American groups such as the Plains Indians, and talks about how their dreams, or visions, cannot be successfully explained if Euro American concepts are used to describe them. Emphasized here is how the Plains themselves see no distinction between the waking and dreaming worlds.

6. Jacob, W. James, Cheng, Sheng Yao, Porter, Maureen K., ed., Indigenous Education Language, Culture and Identity. Dordrecht: Springer, 2015. Accessed May 4, 2015, eBooks on UT library catalog.

This book provides up-to-date scholarly research on global trends on three issues of paramount importance with indigenous education, language, culture, and identity.

7. McCormick, Rod. 1997. An integration of healing wisdom: The Vision Quest ceremony from an attachment theory perspective. Guidance & Counseling 12, no. 2: 18. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost. Accessed May 4, 2015.

Presents an argument for the integration of healing wisdom into counselling theory and practice. Theory of attachment relations; Description of traditional child rearing process of North American aborigines; Information on the Vision Quest ceremony; Implications for counseling.

Danielle Corbin