The Medicine Wheel Revisited: Reflections on Indigenization in Counseling and Education

Copyright

2021

Published By

SAGE Publications

This article suggests indigenization in the North American context is often based on a reified view of culture that discounts naturalistic and scientific approaches and that this dynamic inhibits progressive cultural change at institutional and community levels. A secular approach to indigenization is proposed. The medicine wheel, traditional to North American Great Plains cultures, is applied to counseling to illustrate how concepts found in aboriginal cultures could inform modern practice with wider applications to curriculum development. Related tensions involving interpretations of aboriginal spiritualities and modernity are also discussed.