Moreover, some nations have struggled in the courts to protect their sacred places and observances, and the notion of a Pan-Indian culture with newly-minted beliefs and in which anyone can participate, harms cases based upon ancient culturally-specific traditions. The problem with taking bits and pieces of Native American religion, reinventing, and popularizing them for a largely white audience, however, is that it offends many Native people, who see it as sacreligious in the context of their own traditional worldview and sacred teachings. Societies "appropriate" elements of foreign cultures ongoingly, with no harm done. While revered by New Age believers for his insights and wisdom, many Native elders and activists criticized Sun Bear’s work as inauthentic and profiteering. Today some half-dozen books on "Native American astrology" based loosely on his model, are in print. He founded a new group of mostly Euro-Americans, called the Bear Tribe, which popularized Native American culture. Vincent LaDuke (1929-1992, aka Sun Bear) from the White Earth Anishinaabeg reservation in Minnesota attempted to bring a sort of pan-Indian cultural astronomy experience to white people interested in the New Age movement. 1 The Problem of Cultural Appropriation.
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