Talk:International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers

On the use of "elder" in the lead

The use of "elder" must, I think, be taken as a self-description. I do not get the impression that they occupy some sort of official position within their various cultures. Mangoe (talk) 02:46, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

More sources

I found or others have mentioned in AfD(s). And there are a few in external links. I'll add to as others mention them:

• see this news.google.archive search which has several articles mentioning the group from high quality sources, though some are behind pay walls.
• Using the Google News archive search, I readily find articles about the members listed here. example example example
• a number of good ones at Highbeam.
• Grandmothers Council the World a recent book published exclusively about the topic by a third party author, Carol Schaefer. It's on Google Books. It is published by Shambhala Publications, distributed by Random House.
• USA Today
• Seattle Times

CarolMooreDC - talkie talkie🗽 22:03, 6 June 2013 (UTC)

The Schaefer book

This appears to be the only real source, but it's very problematic. It doesn't seem to be an independent or dispassionate work, as per the foreword:

It has been a great honor to work closely with the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers in crafting this book. [....] I have done my best to express what I have heard and learned from the Grandmothers, but my ability to act as a bridge or translator to a wider audience is, to a certain extent, hindered by the limits of my own understanding and experience. [....] Finally, though my name appears on the cover of this book, the words of wisdom expressed within it are not mine, and I do not lay claim to them.

Schaefer comes off, in this, as essentially an amanuensis, and her capsule biographies come across as borderline hagiographies. I cannot consider this book to be a reliable, secondary source. Mangoe (talk) 13:31, 7 June 2013 (UTC)

Ok this is english translation of book already mentioned here, so fixing ref. The author probably was being self-effacing, but there probably was some major editing going on. But the various other mentions outweigh it. Dang, guess I'll have to put some in. CarolMooreDC - talkie talkie🗽 02:17, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

There's no Spanish language book that I can see. Mangoe (talk) 12:22, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

La voz de las trece abuelas: Ancianas indígenas aconsejan al mundo spanish version is used as source.Just have to find same pages in English version. Too tired last night and getting too tired today! CarolMooreDC - talkie talkie🗽 18:09, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

On the copyright page of the Spanish edition: "Título original Inglés: Grandmothers counsel the world". It's just a Spanish translation of the English version, not a separate work. Mangoe (talk) 12:10, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

I don't think she is claiming there are multiple books, she admits its just a translation. I think she is just using the spanish version as a source because she has access to it. Gaijin42 (talk) 13:52, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

I'm going to have to agree with Mangoe here. I can't find any credible information that Shaefer is a qualified journalist or writer of note, or has any recognized expertise. There appears to be another author of the same name that publishes on adoption and birth mothers. Having skimmed through the Spanish translation, I have to conclude that her writing is more hagiography and promotion than investigative journalism. The puffery is obvious and cloying, and very far from independent. Mangoe's conclusion that she is a involved follower of the group is more likely than not spot on.

I'm familiar with Shambhala books, and have a few of their books myself. They produce interesting reading on Buddhism, but I would not consider them reliable sources. Far from academic or genuinely journalistic. All in all, I would have to consider this an unreliable source. Dominus Vobisdu (talk) 01:06, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

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