Wannabe Indians
Wannabe Indians – Although this term derives from Native Americans (see principally Green 1988) who have criticized nonNative writers for marketing their work as if it were actually by a Native authorââsimulations of tribal identities in the literature of dominance,â as Gerald Vizenor has put itâthe âwannabeâ label is sometimes applied to all neo-shamans, New Agers, Pagans, and others who can be seen by Native Americans as appropriating their spiritual traditions. Such well-known neo-shamanic writers as Carlos Castaneda, Lynn Andrews, and Sun Bear have been singled out for specific criticism as âwannabe Indiansâ by the American Indian Movement.
SOURCE:
Historical Dictionary of Shamanism by Graham Harvey and Robert J. Wallis 2007