23 Sept 2026
🎙️🇬🇧 The BMS Podcast #21 with Ronald Ellis 🇺🇸 & Jason Haxton 🇺🇸 | A.T. Still, Indigenous Influences & the Context of Colonization
📝 Episode Summary
In his 2026 article “Was Andrew Taylor Still a Shaman?”, Ronald Ellis examines the possible influence of Shawnee culture and Indigenous perspectives on Andrew Taylor Still and the early development of osteopathy. We wanted to explore this question further by bringing Ronald Ellis into conversation with Jason Haxton, Director of the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, in order to examine what is actually supported by the historical record, what can reasonably be interpreted, and what remains uncertain. Their discussion explores Still’s relationship with the Shawnee, his spirituality, the surviving historical documents, and the different cultural and intellectual influences that may have contributed to his thinking. It also places this history within the often forgotten context of European colonization, in which hierarchies between peoples and cultures were accompanied by hierarchies between systems of knowledge.
This raises a broader issue that remains relevant today: Western epistemic privilege, historically shaped by colonial structures, continues to influence which forms of knowledge are considered legitimate, credible, or worthy of scientific attention. This becomes particularly important when discussing holistic, relational, and spiritually informed conceptions of health that are foundational to many Indigenous traditions but do not always fit easily within dominant biomedical frameworks.
The aim of this conversation is not to establish that Still was a shaman, nor to equate osteopathy with Indigenous healing traditions. Rather, it is to examine the historical evidence critically, acknowledge the limits of what can be known, and reflect on how medical anthropology and Indigenous perspectives can broaden our understanding of health, illness, healing, and osteopathic history.
⏱️ Chapters
00:07 Introduction
00:40 Meet the guests: Ronald Ellis & Jason Haxton
01:27 Was Andrew Taylor Still a Shaman?
03:01 Ronald Ellis and the writings of A.T. Still
06:13 Shawnee influences on osteopathy
08:20 Jason Haxton and the Museum of Osteopathic Medicine
10:00 Still, spirituality and Shawnee culture
13:43 Why osteopathic history still matters
16:00 Spirit, health and osteopathy
18:10 Why ask whether Still was a shaman?
20:02 Colonialism and Indigenous knowledge
22:00 Still’s life among the Shawnee
27:06 Lost documents and Still’s spirituality
32:11 Historical evidence: spirituality, Shawnee culture and manual practices
35:00 Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Indigenous roots and autoethnography
40:30 Other influences on Still
44:00 Spirituality, belief and healing
49:20 Was Still a shaman? Why the question still matters
52:00 Is osteopathy becoming just manual therapy?
54:00 Osteopathy, spirituality and the Indigenous medicine wheel
56:00 Osteopathy beyond techniques
59:06 Closing remarks
📖 Article discussed in this episode : Ellis, R. J. (2026). “Was Andrew Taylor Still a Shaman?” Etuaptmumk: The Journal of Two-Eyed Seeing, 7(3).https://doi.org/10.59401/ej.v7i3.60
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