Plastic Shaman

About this event

@ Annette McGivney will share the story behind her new book, Plastic Shaman: The True Story of a Deadly Self-Help Retreat and America’s Misguided Quest for Wellness. In this talk, Annette McGivney will describe her eight years of reporting that went into Plastic Shaman, including a deep dive into the Yavapai County Sheriff’s criminal investigation into the self-help guru and sweat lodge leader James Arthur Ray. She will also share what she learned from relationships she developed with Native Americans, especially Yavapai-Apache tribal members, who protested against commercial exploitation of their spiritual rituals by Ray and other self-help gurus. More broadly, McGivney hopes to engage the audience in a discussion about how to balance Sedona’s tourism-based economy with a calling to do a better job respecting Indigenous homelands, cultures, and the uncomfortable truths about the region’s settler colonial history. McGivney examines the Sedona area sweat lodge operated by James Arthur Ray, who called himself a guru but whose sweat lodge led to the deaths of three participants and the hospitalization of 18 others. She uses that event to examine the wellness industry as a whole. McGivney will have books for sale at the event. Add to calendar Google Calendar iCalendar Outlook 365 Outlook Live