Culture Vulture

[Rebecca Meyer]

Note: I originally sent this e-mail to Elizabeth privately. She suggested
that the entire ADS group might be interested in it, so I am posting it here
also. I would like to add that the topic of "culture vultures" comes up
quite often on alt.native (a Usenet newsgroup). Nu-age phonies love to
appropriate elements of American Indian spirituality into their various
scams. A quick keyword search of Deja.com's archives will reveal a number of
discussions on this topic.

Original message:
I have heard "culture vulture" used by Indians as a derisive term to
describe non-Indians who attempt to pass themselves off as self-professed
"shamans", "healers", "pipe carriers", and so on. There even used to be a
"Culture Vultures" website that listed various offenders (too numerous to
mention here).

Rebecca Meyer
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA

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At 08:08  2000/03/27 -0800, you wrote:
>Dear All--
>
>       A friend of mine is starting a group he calls
>the "culture vultures." The purpose of the group is to
>unify a corporate culture that is diverse, because the
>company has emerged from an amalgamation of different
>Internet companies.
>
>       He is curious about the origin of the term and
>about its exact meaning. Judging from the word
>"vulture," I'd guess that a culture vulture is a
>person who scavenges the best ideas he can find from
>different places and uses them to establish a
>professional community.
>
>       Any guidance you can offer would be most
>appreciated. Please reply to this Yahoo address. I
>usually email from another one. Thanks.
>
>                                 Elizabeth Gibbens
>
>__________________________________________________
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>