Sedona News – Maurice Crandall, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies at the Arizona State University will speak about “Playing Indian in Yavapai-Apache Sacred Spaces,” at the Sedona Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, August 4 at the Synagogue at 100 Meadowlark Drive, on Route 179, in Sedona, next to the Fire Station. There is no cost and everyone is welcome.
The Yavapai-Apache people have lived in the Sedona and Verde Valley area since time immemorial, and their history, culture, and identity are inextricably tied to this land. With good intentions, but without deep understanding, many non-Indigenous residents and visitors have adopted some generic elements of Indigenous spirituality and ceremonialism, which offend some Yavapai-Apache people. In his talk, Dr. Crandall will propose ways that spirituality evoked by the beauty of the land can be deployed in a respectful, ethical manner.
Prof. Crandall is a citizen of the Yavapai-Apache Nation of Camp Verde, grew up hearing stories from his elders and relatives, which encouraged his interest in history, graduated from Mingus Union High School in Cottonwood, and went on to become a historian of the Indigenous peoples of Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora.
For more information see: https://sedonauu.org/wordpress/summer-programs/