From hunting magic to shamanism: interpretations of native American rock art and the contemporary crisis in masculinity.(Essay) From: Women's Studies in Communication | Date: March 22, 2007| Author: | COPYRIGHT 2007 Organization for Research on Women and Communication. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

This essay examines two prominent models for the interpretation of Native American rock art, highlighting projections of Euro-American gender ideologies and tensions over masculinity onto (pre)historic cultures. Specifically, the figure of the Native American shaman models masculine power as symbolic and spiritual, not physical, yet linked to a virile heterosexuality. By identifying discursive homologies, this centering of a primitive, spiritual masculinity is understood as a response to the Euro-American "crisis of masculinity." Keywords: gender, homology, masculinity, Native ...