Item Detail
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12076
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0
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0
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English
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'Let the Wind Take Care of Me' : The Life History of Lorin Smith, a Kashaya Pomo Spiritual Leader
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Cincinnati, Ohio
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Union Institute
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Ph.D. diss.
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"This dissertation presents the life history of Lorin Smith, a spiritual leader, or yomta, of the Kashaya Pomo Indians of Northern California. Mr. Smith, born in 1935, lives on the Kashaya Rancheria at Stewarts Point in Sonoma County. Although he is a relatively young man, his life story thus far illustrates important aspects of cultural continuity among his people. He was born on the rancheria; his family traveled as farm-workers; later, he joined the Marines, and then lived in town where he felt like a lost soul until his initiation into the weya, or spiritual practices, of his tribe. Lorin Smith shares the spiritual leadership of the Kashaya group with his sister. Following the guidance they received through dreams from their maternal aunt, spiritual leader Annie Jarvis (1883-1943), the Smiths emerged as leaders after controversy concerning conversion to Mormonism among the tribal members split the tribe into factions. It became the Smiths' role to renew the culture after the death of the previous spiritual leader, Essie Parrish. A pivotal experience in Mr. Smith's career as a yomta, a career to which he came in his mid-30s, is his encounter with the bishop of the Mormon church who set up a meeting with him in order to inform him that he could not be a tribal leader because he was not a leader in the church. This experience influenced Mr. Smith to fall away from the church and to apply himself wholeheartedly to his culture's spiritual practices which he advocates with missionary fervor to Kashaya's younger generation hand-in-hand with his Mormon sisters and other relatives. This dissertation is presented in three parts: a chronological description of my participant observation experiences; the life history itself, composed of 16 stories edited from the transcripts of interviews; and cultural context, including an overview of Kashaya doctoring practices." [Author's abstract]