Ute Land Religion in the American West, 1879–2009 by Brandi Denison examines the complex interplay between land, culture, and religion in the lives of the Ute people and the broader American West. The book traces Ute history from the late 19th century, when they inhabited the largest reservation in North America—twelve million acres in western Colorado—through over a century of land dispossession, cultural adaptation, and religious negotiation.
Denison explores how the physical land (“dirt”) transformed into an abstract concept (“land”) within the context of American religious and cultural ideals. She analyzes how Euro-American notions—rooted in Enlightenment individualism, Victorian ideas about the female body, and emerging pluralistic religious frameworks—shaped perceptions of land and spirituality. This framework often excluded minorities, even as Indigenous practices informed the idealized conception of American religion.
The book highlights collaboration between Utes and Anglo-American allies, who systematized religious practices by combining Ute ceremonial traditions, anthropological observations, and Euro-American environmental ideals. Through these processes, religious beliefs and rituals were used to interpret, protect, and assign meaning to land, influencing both Native and non-Native perceptions of sacred space.
Denison’s study demonstrates how Ute experiences reveal the tensions between tangible land, cultural survival, and abstract religious ideals, offering a critical perspective on the formation of normative American religion and the ongoing impact of land dispossession on Indigenous communities. It is a significant contribution to Native American studies, religious history, and environmental humanities.