Cree and Christian : encounters and transformations /

In studying "the religious commitments ... of Cree and Métis men and women" in northern Alberta, Westman (Univ. of Saskatchewan, Canada) noticed a growing Pentecostal presence in Cree communities while historic mission churches were disappearing. From 2005 to 2013, the author and his family lived in two small Cree villages, learning Cree and attending Pentecostal services in the homes of local Cree pastors. Here, he presents a history of Christian missionizing north of Lesser Slave Lake that is sensitive to local politics and an ethnography of contemporary Cree within the matrix of oil exploitation, government policies for schooling and services, and the continuing bush economy. Westman frames his ethnographic data with anthropological linguistic analysis, noting that local Cree Pentecostal house churches are supportive "speech communities." Pentecostalism serves as an arena for emotional relief, employing the Cree language to renounce and combat both new (liquor) and traditional (sorcery) demons. Thus, Pentecostal Christianity is merged into the Northern Cree way of life, though school, prison, and therapeutic provisions for official pan-Indian "Aboriginal Spirituality" may divert some Pentecostalists. Solid and insightful historical research, high-level anthropological-linguistic theoretical framing, and firsthand field data imbue this excellent contemporary anthropology with significant insights into religion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. --Alice B. Kehoe, emeritus, Marquette University