MEN OF POWER AS COUNSELLORS IN THE CULTURE OF INDIANS OF THE GREAT PLAINS OF NORTH AMERICA

Abstract

In this article the author analyses the phenomenon of medicine-men in the culture of the Great Plains of North American Indians. These people are usually called inaccurately shamans or even sorcerers. The author shows the variable role that they act in their societies, considering their knowledge, experience, as well as their abilities and skills. He calls them Men of Power. They are not only healers and equivalents of priests, but also a kind of native counsellors who take various actions for the good of their community. Therefore, the author compares them to professional counsellors known in the western culture countries, presenting them to the readers at an interdisciplinary level. This descriptive paper is based on deeply examined subject literature, writings of both ethnological and counsellogical type, listed in the references. According to the author’s idea it is a preparation for his own planned ground research on one of the contemporary native American ethnic groups.