Our understanding of Native American medicine has been based on ascribing universal themes to that which is not universal.
What we know...or at least, what we think we know, comes from years of misunderstanding and the belief that native life can easily be classified. There is no universal method for native culture. While there exist common themes, to assign common terminology to Native American is unfair to the study of history. In my most recent article, I used the terms shaman and medicine man to describe the professional healers within native society. This is what makes objective history more of an art form.
