Author Topic: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow  (Read 32546 times)

Offline Mommasays

  • Posts: 5
  • Reflektbak2
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2016, 05:37:45 am »
* I meant to say Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Not sure if I can edit my original.
ARGL

Offline Mommasays

  • Posts: 5
  • Reflektbak2
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #16 on: January 24, 2016, 06:04:36 am »
Tis Mal Crow was a registered member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He was well known and well respected in native communities and throughout the world. He was resilient and driven. Spent many years on the pow-wow circuit. His list of friends is long (many include famous/public figures from Naive American community, whom are also well known and respected). His list of accomplishments is too long to list. He was trained in traditional medicinal and healing practices by respected elders. He kept and respected these traditions. In keeping with these traditions, he had restrictions on whom he could Doctor, and never took payment for doctoring someone. He made money from contemporary means like classes, lectures, consulting with small and major manufacturers and companies about responsible and renewable sourcing and formulation of herbal supplements. He was also a gifted artist and created and sold many works of art, including his beadwork. He was the first enrolled member of a Native American nation to have published a book on the practical and responsible use of herbal remedies. So, yes an author as well. He had no control over the way that any seller chose to market his works in their store, however he would have read them the riot act if he found anything offensive. But he is no longer with us. I am saddened and troubled by the accusatory manner of the acquisition into his genuine identity. I agree with Peter in his post when he references a "witch hunt". If Tis Mal was still alive, he would have surely been all over this anonymous person like a poodle on a pant leg, just to say the least. He would have asked me to do the clerical work of typing a response just like I am, because his use of a computer went about as far as u can spit a mouthful of fish-hooks!
My uncle was many things, but a fraud he was not. Tis Mal legally changed his name in order to honor his teachers, and to distance himself from his childhood abusers. This was a very personal matter. I'm not sure as to the testimony of the person who had question about something that Tis Mal had allegedly "said" at some point or place, but some things can get lost in translation. Please fix this erroneous accusation. Thank you for your attention to this!
ARGL

Offline educatedindian

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 4740
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #17 on: January 25, 2016, 04:10:31 pm »
Ms. Johanson, we don't delete threads. But we do sometimes move them to Archives and mark them No Longer a Matter of Concern. As you can see, earlier in the thread I asked if we should do that with your father, since he passed away.

The problem is there are still many sites out there using stereotypes to sell his books. Some of the information in the books may also be inaccurate and harm people. Can you tell us who has control over his book titles? The royalties and rights must be going to someone. It most likely will be your family.

Can you find out? Can you help get descriptions of your father and the titles rewritten? Could you end the publishing of titles with inaccurate information which could harm others?

Offline educatedindian

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 4740
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #18 on: February 01, 2016, 12:44:36 am »
Ms. Johanson sent another message. I won't repost it here because its contents could embarrass her. I'll just say that I think she's acting out of concern for her late father. I did say that I would only answer here and not in private.

The late Mr. Johanson was indeed registered with the CNO. He was of distant ancestry. That's important only for the fact that he did not know he was Native most of his life. He wasn't culturally Cherokee.

He did seem to make a genuine but far from successful effort to know the culture. That's why he made so many obvious mistakes, ones that few Natives would make, like confusing Cherokee with Muscogee, and recommending herbs that could be dangerous or make illnesses worse.

Once again Ms. Johanson, I think the best way to resolve this is for us to find out who has rights over his books, and either have them pulled, or have medical disclaimers attached to them so no one else is harmed. The descriptions also need to be rewritten r deleted to remove the stereotypes and falsehoods. Then we'd be happy to move the thread to Archives.

Offline Mommasays

  • Posts: 5
  • Reflektbak2
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #19 on: February 03, 2016, 09:59:33 pm »
We respect your message of stopping new age fraud.
With respect to anyone passing judgement about Tis Mal, or his work, they are just that. Judgments. Opinions from people whom are not familiar with him or his work. Perhaps when one sets-upon spectacle from afar, things can become easy to judge and yet hard to identify. 
He was a registered member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He was not a "New-Ager", or a fraud. He was traditional in his practice of doctoring, and never accepted money for it. He made money by holding classes, lectures, consulting with herbal companies, and selling his works of art. Some of which are in State, and National museums. He was/is well known and respected for his work and activism.
With regard to Tis Mal’s herbal remedies; he saw people treating herbal medicine as a novelty or fad, and this concerned him. For the safety of people, and of wild plants. He saw an urgent need to promote the message of safe, accurate, and respectful conservation-centered practices. These are the most important components of his work in educating people about herbal medicine. He did not like seeing people going and using them all Willie-Nillie. To forego this, is to disregard the entire premise of his work as to the use of herbs as medicine. Anyone that does not know this, would cause one think that person is not entirely familiar, if at all familiar, with this area of his work. Tis Mal was very clear and passionate in his message about this. People can be foolish sometimes in their attempts to alleviate discomfort or heal themselves of illness, in any regard. Anyone doing so by using herbal remedy, would be subject to their own will and perhaps ignorance, and entirely aberrant to his message or recommendations.
Are we to assume that the publication of herbal remedies is acceptable to some folks, so long as they are not authored by a Native person?
…Maybe somehow we are miss-interpreting that.
As I stated previously, he took serious issue with hokey and/or false representation, and took action if he became aware of any such foolishness. But he is no longer with us, and no-one can control everyone, or everything that someone, somewhere may ever do. As much as we dis-approve, it is not within our scope of control.
The bigger and more important institutions such as the museum’s, where some of his works are, would be of greater concern. To our knowledge, they have always presented tasteful and accurate representations.
As for inquisition about royalties from Tis Mal’s work. I am not sure that is anyone’s concern.
If the suggestion is that someone should have time or energy to dedicate toward seeking-out any, and every store or website that may market his works, so as to assure that it is NEVER done in any manner of "New-Age-ey" style or otherwise, I am inclined to think that would prove to be an exhausting feat, to say the least.
His work speaks for itself. I have said my peace. Thank you for your concern.
With respects,
-Angelica
ARGL

Offline educatedindian

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 4740
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #20 on: February 04, 2016, 12:01:36 am »

....As I stated previously, he took serious issue with hokey and/or false representation, and took action if he became aware of any such foolishness. But he is no longer with us, and no-one can control everyone, or everything that someone, somewhere may ever do. As much as we dis-approve, it is not within our scope of control.
The bigger and more important institutions such as the museum’s, where some of his works are, would be of greater concern. To our knowledge, they have always presented tasteful and accurate representations.
As for inquisition about royalties from Tis Mal’s work. I am not sure that is anyone’s concern.
If the suggestion is that someone should have time or energy to dedicate toward seeking-out any, and every store or website that may market his works, so as to assure that it is NEVER done in any manner of "New-Age-ey" style or otherwise, I am inclined to think that would prove to be an exhausting feat, to say the least.
His work speaks for itself. I have said my peace. Thank you for your concern.
With respects,
-Angelica

I think you keep on missing the obvious points. You, or another family member, almost certainly have the legal rights to his books. It matters little about royalties, no idea why you thought that.

You have the chance to end misrepresentation of your father that is very stereotypical. You or another family member can have that removed. You can also have disclaimers added that would prevent others from being harmed, since your father's efforts to learn herbal medicine were not completely accurate.

Instead you have these bouts of misplaced anger. That includes one very childish post of personal attacks that was removed, where you then metaphorically stomped out of the room and refused to do anything more.

Again, Ms. Johanson, we can't change the problems with your late father's work. Only you or other family can, and it's strange to see that you refuse to even think about doing so.

Offline Diana

  • Posts: 435
  • I Love YaBB 2!
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #21 on: February 04, 2016, 12:05:02 am »
I just saw the response from "educatedindian", posted on 2/1/16. I am trying to keep it respectful here but, apparently, that is not a mutual regard. He says in his message that he has an email for which he could use to "embarrass" me. That is not truthful. I posted to the forum, the same exact message that I had emailed to him. What the actual heck?
...Not wasting any more time on this. It is shamefully inaccurate and inappropriate, at best.
-Angelica


@ Angelica, Educatedindian did not say "He says in his message that he has an email for which he could use to "embarrass" me." He said this and I quote
Quote
Ms. Johanson sent another message. I won't repost it here because its contents could embarrass her. I'll just say that I think she's acting out of concern for her late father. I did say that I would only answer here and not in private.

Please go back and re-read what Educatedindian said. He was not disputing the fact that your father was "enrolled" in the CNO. He and this forum just disagree with the contents of your father's books, the falsehoods, stereotypical depictions and what could be dangerous herbs and practices.


Lim lemtsh,

Diana
« Last Edit: February 05, 2016, 02:43:02 am by educatedindian »

Offline Olive Oil

  • Posts: 1
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #22 on: September 02, 2017, 11:07:14 pm »
@educatedindian said Tis Mal didn't know he was Native most of his life. Does this mean he didn't know he was Native when he began his studies with a traditional Tribal Chief at the age of 8? I am just asking.

From this thread I found the link to Tis Mal Crow's audio lectures an bought them. I am just starting to listen to it. Tis Mal Crow said one of his primary teachers passed away 10 years ago. This was recorded in 1997. So in 1987 this teacher died at the age of 116 years. Tis Mal Crow said this teacher was a traditional Tribal Chief one of the last few in a hereditary blood line. His teacher only had a bit of grey hair in his temples at age 116. Tis Mal began study with his teacher at the age of 8 years old.  I don't know if this is helpful in filling out the picture of who Tis Mal Crow is. Perhaps the description of his teacher can help  you find out who that might have been.


Offline educatedindian

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 4740
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #23 on: September 03, 2017, 09:55:04 pm »
His name for most of his life was Johanson. We don't use pretenders' names for themselves, even when they get legal name changes, because it gives them a legitimacy they don't deserve. Even those who knew and defend him on this thread have very mixed pictures of him, "loose cannon," "troubled," etc.

He had at least five different claims of his alleged ancestries until he was finally able to pin down that he had distant Cherokee blood. He was not culturally Cherokee, as seen by ludicrous mistakes no NDN, or even most people who've read about NDNs, would make. There's no more reason to believe his dubious claims about his alleged teacher than anything else. Eight year olds are not trained to be medicine people in any tribe. If there is any truth at all to that, it was likely general heritage teachings as a boy. Alleged 116 year olds with almost no grey hair? About as believable as anything else he said.

But again, he did some good in his life with conservation, and wasn't moved by greed or power as most of the frauds we deal with did. I still hope someone from his family with rights to his books can pull them so we can move him to No Longer a Concern.

Offline Sparks

  • Posts: 1412
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #24 on: September 04, 2017, 01:09:05 am »
To get a complete picture of posts by Mommasays, I quote this from a thread she started:

Hi, I'm Angelica. I joined to post about my uncle whom ended up on the frauds section due to someone having question about him. I posted a reply but made an error that I was gonna fix before I hit submit, but too late. Don't know how to edit post.  Anyway his name was Tis Mal Crow. He was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He was well known and respected. His traditional beliefs did not allow him to "sell" tradition, and his family and friends are all saddened and hurt to find his name mixed up in anything like this. I google his name, and this comes up. It appears that some of the moderators & administrators have addressed the question with respect, but they are not sure. There is quite a lot of good info out there in Google-land, but I would like to inform a bit about Tis Mal. He was trained for many years in traditional medicine by respected elders. He was known, loved, and respected by many in the community, and throughout the world. His travels were many. He was on pow wow circuit, had many friends, some of them also famous and activists in Native community. His list of accomplishments are numerous. He was an artist, author (the first enrolled member of a NDN nation to author a book on Native herbal medicine use), and an activist.  I would offer to provide proof of his identity (i.e. Tribal enrollment card, references), but I don't feel that we should need to stoop to that. He showed that to people who needed to see it for his works including those with the state and smithsonian museum, among many others. It was his life's-work in the contemporary/modern world, as an artist and educator, to teach average people whom are (increasingly) interested in herbal medicine, about proper use and sustainable practices. We have seen careless poaching and clearing of these sacred plants increase in the years  since his passing, thanks in large part to TV shows.  Tis Mal was keenly aware of this situation before it became a popular topic of interest as it is now with many self described "herb hunters" or " herbalists". He would very likely have found an outlet to make his presence on TV with these major networks by now. He would wish to educate about conserving, and respecting thir use from a Native viewpoint, in response to this modern phenom of herb-hunting. Many people were perceptive to this message. He had a way of making people care. His presence as well as his concern, was undeniable. And he always seemed to find his way into public eye...
He did so in order to bring awareness of how important it is to respect the proper use, handling, and conservation of the plants of which many are sacred medicine to us. As with any public figure, especially being a Native American, the new Agers will be attracted to them. But he had no more control over them than anyone does. He did not sell-out for anyone or encourage or perpetuate false conceptions of traditional practices, and was not in the practice of sharing sacred knowledge of traditions with outsiders, or putting on a false show of them. In fact, he would have read the riot act to anyone falsely representing him or his work. Unfortunately, he would not have control over how someone may try to market his book, art or CD's in their stores. And apparently how someone may gossip about him, who did not ever know him. Thank you for you attention to this!
~Angelica

Offline Sparks

  • Posts: 1412
Re: Arne Lynn Johanson AKA Tis Mal Crow
« Reply #25 on: September 04, 2017, 01:52:46 am »
I accompanied him to Sweden.

Tis Mal Crow also's made some appearances in Europe. I have an article from when he appeared in Sweden, translated for me by Annika.

I am somewhat interested in Mr. Johanson (a very common Swedish surname) and his relations to Sweden and Sámi people. A short 2001 article (translated title: Tis Mal Crow: - Artist and Medicine Man from the southeastern USA) — maybe this is the article educatedindian referred to in 2005?):

Tis Mal Crow: - konstnär och medicinman från sydöstra USA / Carl Johan Gurt

Then in Issue #21, Spring 2000, of BÁIKI: The International Sámi Journal (not available to me) there is this article, which goes to show that Mr. Johanson seems to have made some impression on descendants of Sámi people in North America and also on some Sámi in Sweden:

"Tis Mal Crow in Swedish Sápmi," a Native American botanist visits Sweden with Sami crafter Anna-Stain Svakko