Changes

A racist attitude is also the basis of the FSS goal to aid indigenous peoples to preserve their traditions, and the statement that FSS will give indigenous persons a possibility „to establish a renewed contact with their own traditions via the Harner Method“<ref name="Stuckrad" /> documents that FSS claims a power of definition what a real Indian is, how real Indians should act and behave, and that only successfully passed FSS courses will make them real Indians again, as opposed to learning the ways of their ethnic groups from their elders. However, the success of FSS may be doubted: ''“In a private communication, Paul Uccusic wrote in reply of a respective question (July 2000), FSS had repeatedly accepted enrolled Indians to participate in courses without payment (particularly in the Basic Seminar) and that this right was still in effect to this day. The idea was to teach these people only the techniques of shamanic journeys, so that they afterwards were able to find a contact to their buried roots on their own with the help of their power animals and spirit teachers. Uccusic commented very negatively on the „personal structure of many Indians“ and their „difficulties in adapting“, which made success of this measure doubtful, so Harner was thinking about changing this practice. [...] Uccusic's condescending ways towards Natives were also criticised by some participants of the shamanism congress „Wanderers between Worlds“ (in the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2000) ...“''<ref name="Stuckrad" />

A racist attitude is also the basis of the FSS goal to aid indigenous peoples to preserve their traditions, and the statement that FSS will give indigenous persons a possibility „to establish a renewed contact with their own traditions via the Harner Method“<ref name="Stuckrad" /> documents that FSS claims a power of definition what a real Indian is, how real Indians should act and behave, and that only successfully passed FSS courses will make them real Indians again, as opposed to learning the ways of their ethnic groups from their elders. However, the success of FSS may be doubted: ''“In a private communication, Paul Uccusic wrote in reply of a respective question (July 2000), FSS had repeatedly accepted enrolled Indians to participate in courses without payment (particularly in the Basic Seminar) and that this right was still in effect to this day. The idea was to teach these people only the techniques of shamanic journeys, so that they afterwards were able to find a contact to their buried roots on their own with the help of their power animals and spirit teachers. Uccusic commented very negatively on the „personal structure of many Indians“ and their „difficulties in adapting“, which made success of this measure doubtful, so Harner was thinking about changing this practice. [...] Uccusic's condescending ways towards Natives were also criticised by some participants of the shamanism congress „Wanderers between Worlds“ (in the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2000) ...“''<ref name="Stuckrad" />

Currently, the FSS website only offers reduced fees for indigenous participants which will amount to 50% of the original fee charged<ref name="article18page3" />, and apart from the letter quoted above, there are no further reports about FSS courses being available without payment for indigenous persons. On the other hand, there is an account by a person of Buryat ethnicity describing that a Buryat shamanic centre contacted FSS in 1997, with FSS simply sending them application forms for membership and a schedule of their courses in reply<ref>http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=236 accessed Nov 28, 2012</ref>. FSS also offers no proof for their claim that „... representatives of 54 tribes have taken advantage of this offer.“<ref name="article18page3" />

Currently, the FSS website only offers reduced fees for indigenous participants which will amount to 50% of the original fee charged<ref name="article18page3" />, and apart from the letter quoted above, there are no further reports about FSS courses being available without payment for indigenous persons. On the other hand, there is an account by a person of Buryat ethnicity describing that a Buryat shamanic centre contacted FSS in 1997, with FSS simply sending them application forms for membership and a schedule of their courses in reply<ref>http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=236 accessed Nov 28, 2012</ref>. FSS also offers no proof for their claim that „... representatives of 54 tribes have taken advantage of this offer.“<ref name="article18page3" />

It is also noteworthy that the FSS staff does not have any indigenous teachers from English speaking countries (except for the two persons of dubious distant ancestry mentioned above), and despite its preference for teachers with an academic education, persons with a course of studies in anthropology are an absolute minority. Furthermore, FSS claims to have assisted several ethnic groups in South and North America, and this list bears an apparent likeness to the list of ethnic groups with whom Harner worked while still employed at university institutes. One of these claims asserts FSS had assisted the Paiute in reconstructing the Ghost Dance.<ref>http://www.shamanism.org/articles/article18page4.html accessed Nov 29, 2012</ref> This seems highly unlikely, as the Ghost Dance religion in particular has seen academic research by anthropologists for more than one century, with publications dating back to 1896 (James Mooney), 1927 (Leslie Spier), and 1930 (A.H. Gayton).

It is also noteworthy that the FSS staff does not have any indigenous teachers from English speaking countries (except for the two persons of dubious distant ancestry mentioned above), and despite its preference for teachers with an academic education, persons with a course of studies in anthropology are an absolute minority. Furthermore, FSS claims to have assisted several ethnic groups in South and North America, and this list bears an apparent likeness to the list of ethnic groups with whom Harner worked while still employed at university institutes. One of these claims asserts FSS had assisted the Paiute in reconstructing the Ghost Dance.<ref>http://www.shamanism.org/articles/article18page4.html accessed Nov 29, 2012</ref> This seems highly unlikely, as the Ghost Dance religion in particular has seen academic research by anthropologists for more than one century, with publications dating back to 1896 (James Mooney), 1927 (Leslie Spier), and 1930 (A.H. Gayton).

[[File:Sharner2.jpg|thumb|Sandra Harner]]

[[File:Sharner2.jpg|thumb|Sandra Harner]]

Although Harner's publications since he left academia are largely not recognized by anthropologists, a 2009 meeting of the American Association of Anthropologists ran a series of lectures and discussions titled „Papers in Honor of Michael Harner Part I and II" which were being organized by Jeffrey David Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich, an anthropologist, also invited several persons connected to FSS to give lectures, one of them Sandra Harner, Michael Harner's wife, Vice President of FSS and also a member of its Board of Trustees<ref>http://www.shamanicstudies.com/fssinfo/index.html accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref>, as well as Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Frank Lipp, and Edith Turner who are all listed as FSS Field Associates on the FSS site.<ref>http://www.shamanism.org/fssinfo/fieldassociates.html accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref> According to the information provided in Sandra Harner's biography at the FSS site, she has no formal education in anthropology, but is a clinical psychologist.<ref>http://www.shamanism.org/fssinfo/sharnerbio.html accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref> FSS used this incident to claim Harner had been "honored by the American Anthropological Association" on its website.<ref>http://shamanism.org/news/2010/01/13/michael-harner-recognized-by-the-american-anthropological-association/ accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref> The events earned Ehrenreich an admission to the FSS Board of Trustees which was announced in the FSS E-Newsletter Volume 6, Issue 3 of September 2012, after prior publications in the FSS ''Shamanism Annual'' in December 2010.<ref>http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs045/1101293452407/archive/1111013772171.html  accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref>

Although Harner's publications since he left academia are largely not recognized by anthropologists, a 2009 meeting of the American Association of Anthropologists ran a series of lectures and discussions titled „Papers in Honor of Michael Harner Part I and II" which were being organized by Jeffrey David Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich, an anthropologist, also invited several persons connected to FSS to give lectures, one of them Sandra Harner, Michael Harner's wife, Vice President of FSS and also a member of its Board of Trustees<ref>http://www.shamanicstudies.com/fssinfo/index.html accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref>, as well as Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Frank Lipp, and Edith Turner who are all listed as FSS Field Associates on the FSS site.<ref>http://www.shamanism.org/fssinfo/fieldassociates.html accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref> According to the information provided in Sandra Harner's biography at the FSS site, she has no formal education in anthropology, but is a clinical psychologist.<ref>http://www.shamanism.org/fssinfo/sharnerbio.html accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref> FSS used this incident to claim Harner had been "honored by the American Anthropological Association" on its website.<ref>http://shamanism.org/news/2010/01/13/michael-harner-recognized-by-the-american-anthropological-association/ accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref> The events earned Ehrenreich an admission to the FSS Board of Trustees which was announced in the FSS E-Newsletter Volume 6, Issue 3 of September 2012, after prior publications in the FSS ''Shamanism Annual'' in December 2010.<ref>http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs045/1101293452407/archive/1111013772171.html  accessed Feb 3, 2013</ref>