Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes By Nancy Ammerman

Ayana Mathis graduated from Iowa Writers' Workshop and received the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. What Ayana Mathis didn’t know is that her first novel, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, would shoot her immediately into success. Her book received remarkable awards such as a New York Times Bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year 2013 award, as well as having been recommended by Oprah Winfrey and included for Oprah's Book Club 2.0. As visiting faculty at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, Ayana would taught fiction writing in Spring 2013, and is currently writing and teaching at The Writer's Foundry MFA Program at St. Joseph's College, Brooklyn, New York. (Mathis).

widely-- a massacre” (Elder 2015, 18). It all began with a new religious belief that made the American

4) Who is the current Tribal Chairperson for the Muwekma, and why is this person considered controversial?

Strangers in the Land of Paradise by Lillian S. Williams explores the settlement of African Americans in Buffalo in the time of the Great Migration. In this book, Williams discusses the process in which migrants from the South made their own black communities in Buffalo while bringing their beliefs and traditions with them, and having those beliefs evolve over time in a new setting. Her work sheds light on the experiences of blacks in Buffalo during a time where many changes were occurring; the Civil War had just ended and the Industrial Revolution was underway. She also speaks on how Buffalo was unique in that it became the final point for those escaping the racism and violence in the South, since it was the last point before crossing into Canada. In her own words, “the book examines the growth and development of Buffalo, the movement of European immigrants and African American migrants into the city, and their ability to secure an economic foothold. It tests the extent to which family and friendship networks for blacks were a significant force in their migration and acculturation. It also describes the establishment of institutions that African Americans created to shape their modern, urban community" (p. xiv).

Hey Diana, I am writing this letter today with hopes to inform you about a religions course I am taking. I know you are a history guy so I thought it would be interesting to write about the religious history of America. The United States happens to be one of very few major nations in history to be founded and established on principles of separation of church and state. This book I am reading, “The Religious History of America”, by Edwin Gaustad and Leigh Schmidt, gives a great overview of the different strand of religious development in the United States. They are divided into four fundamental time periods: the Colonial times; the Revolutionary War to the Civil War; Post Civil War to

An example of this “revolutionary conceptualism” (Ferell, 2012) is observed in Figure 2, a piece of artwork called “The Elders of the Tribe”, by Elizabeth Durack (1953). Overall, the image depicts the elders of a Warlpiri kinship group sitting around a distinctive ground pattern, representing their ancestral origin in Central Australia (Durack, 2015). The wavy and distinctive insignia convey the elders being “swept away by the wind” (Durack, 2015), in addition to the concentric circles, connoting to various spiritual events that occurred at various campsites within the Warlpiri community. Moreover, Durack (2015) further explains that the artwork represented a “conversion from red and white ochre to acrylic medium”, supporting the artistic transition from traditional Aboriginal ground art to Western-inspired acrylic paintings.

Before reading Neusner’s introduction of his book I never realized how important religion is as a factor in America’s society. Neusner points out America started because of religion and that one cannot understand America without understanding the country’s diverse religious life (2). I feel this applies to my understanding of other people’s religious beliefs and experiences, because I will not fully be able to understand an individual until I understand all their beliefs including their religious beliefs. Furthermore, after I understand their beliefs is when I can truly understand who that person is. Also in in the introduction, Neusner writes “America Began Because of Religion: Religion played a fundamental role in America’s development by

Once again, my argument is to show how interconnected religion is to many ethnicities across the US.

In her book Crossing Borders Through Folklore, Alma Jean Bilingslea-Brown discusses how border crossing trope found in Black American women 's writing. Brown claims:

Do all narrative stories have turning points? Does your life itself have a turning point? In the article, “Conversion and Turning” points, the author writes, “In life writing, conversion is inevitably bound up with the way lives are given narrative shape” (Sheringham, Packet Page 45). Choosing to See: A Journey of Struggle and Hope is not about the conversion of the author, Mary Beth Chapman, but a definite turning point in her life, the death of her five-year-old daughter, Maria. The book chronicles the major life lessons that she has learned, like understanding the concept of grace and trusting God with parenthood, but ultimately, it is the after effects of Maria’s death that take center stage in this narrative. Throughout all Mary

“Religion is a ritualized system of beliefs and practices related to things defined as sacred by an organized community of believers.” (Basirico et.al. 379). Religion is an important element in the society because it influences the way individuals act and think. It has shaped the relationship and bonding among families as well as influenced the decision made in economics and politics. Religion in general has contributed to shape a society and a government structure which will influence the way the individuals under certain governmental structure behave. Sociologists are interested in religion mainly because religious belief is heavily rooted in individuals’ lives and it helps sociologists to interpret human’s actions, expression, and

Although some nations believed in the eventual possibility of Africans assimilating into their culture and society, such as France and their idea of Africans becoming “Black Frenchmen”, colonial Africa was largely a hotbed for discriminatory attitudes and actions against black Africans. The racist practices of European colonists and imperial European countries became part of everyday life for both Europeans in Africa and the native Africans themselves, so much so that these prejudicial positions were relayed through both African and European literature. In the short stories Crackling Day by Peter Abrahams and The Old Chief Mshlanga by Doris Lessing, the young characters are taught racism and prejudice through social interaction which

Religion and spirituality reach into the depths of the human psyche and strongly influence a nation’s way of life.

Both screening samples were given the same battery of questionnaires. These included a demographic sheet assessing age, sex, relationship status, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and five Likert ratings on religious beliefs and behavior. Likert ratings determine religious beliefs and behaviors by assessing the frequency of worship attendance, prayer, religious text reading (Bible, Koran), volunteerism, giving money, as well as the importance religion plays in guiding the decisions and behaviors, i.e. 1 = not at all important, to 5 = extremely important). The final rating determined the high and low religious groups. “Low religious” group participants identified that religion did not bear influence on their decisions and behaviors (1). “High religious” group participants indicated that religion was either very important (4) or extremely important (5) in guiding their decisions and behavior. All of the students gave

America as a whole has always been a largely religious nation since its birth in 1776 and since then Americans have generally retained this trend by “exhibiting high rates of religious belonging, behaving and believing” (Putnam, 2010, 7). This is the criteria that social scientists today take into consideration and analyze in order to determine one’s religiosity level, or how religious they are. Religiosity levels are plotted on a smooth gradient since there are the highly religious, the moderately religious, and the highly nonreligious with people evenly spaced in between. Depending on where on the scale an individual is ranked, social scientists can use this information to determine whether it is more or less probable for a person to uphold the qualities of good neighborliness. Similar to the varying levels of one’s religiosity, there are also many various religious traditions that all coexist within America, while simultaneously they are so different that there is a constant potential for conflicts and tension. The concept of good neighborliness can be broken down into the three major hallmarks of being a good neighbor starting with how generous the individual is, in both volunteer and philanthropic support. The involvement that a good neighbor displays stretches from the supportive side of community involvement to taking an active approach in the community through civic engagement. Lastly, how trusting an individual is of others and how trustworthy they appear to others