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Reviews
| Powwow. Edited by Clyde Ellis, Luke Eric Lassiter, and Gary H. Dunham. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. xv + 309 pp. Notes, bibliography, and index. $45.00 (cloth); 19.95 (paper).
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This collection consists of an introductory essay and three larger sections grouped by theme. The articles in Part 1 introduce the powwow through history and trace its development into an important symbol of community identity for tribal nations. Those in Part 2 discuss performative aspects of powwows. In Part 3, the authors address "outsider" powwow culture, including gay and lesbian "Two-Spirit" powwows, southeastern events geographically beyond the areas traditionally considered powwow country (the Great Plains and the Great Lakes), and German powwows. Overall, the quality of the contributions is strong, with only one essay needing additional explanatory material to elucidate its argument. |
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The editors argue that powwow, owing to its "widely shared and copied practices" (p. ix), has become a new, generalized Indian culture but then present a collection of essays that mostly localize contemporary powwows in terms either of geographic region or participant groupings. Considering that an ethnography of such practices at a large regional (Denver March, Gathering of Nations) or casino powwow would have strengthened their argument, it is surprising that they have not included such a contribution. Moreover, the constant questioning regarding usage of the terms "pan-Indian" and "intertribal" is problematic: since each word has a different meaning, simply substituting one for the other confuses rather than clarifies the issue of whether or not "pan-Indianism" is a legitimate term to describe elements of powwow culture, or the culture as a whole. |
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The individual essays will appeal to readers depending on specific interests. My personal favorites were Patricia Albers's and the late Bea Medicine's "Some Reflections on Nearly Forty Years on the Northern Plains Powwow Circuit" and Renae Watchman's revealing account of German powwow dancers, which explores the potential risks and complications that such appropriations pose for Native people. Other notable contributions were written by Samuel R. Cook, John L. Johns, Karenne Wood, and Chris Goertzen, who provide compelling essays that focus on recently introduced powwow cultures among southeastern tribes and their implications with respect to southern race relations, the processes of state recognition, and the borrowing of Plains dance styles. The only awkward essay was "Dancing with Indians and Wolves: New Agers Tripping through Powwows," by Lisa Aldred. Stitching together anecdotes and contributions on web-based chat rooms, Aldred sets up "New Agers" as a kind of straw men without really defining them as a class or discussing their belief systems in any detail. In doing so, she misses underlying roots of the clash between New Age tenets of self-fulfillment through personal satisfaction that conflict with both traditional tribal values of community and the devout Christianity of so many Indians. There is a deeper story here, and it is one that needs serious scholarly investigation, not superficial polemics. |
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Considering that the chapter by the editor, Clyde Ellis, is titled "The Sound of the Drum Will Revive Them," the lack of discussion about singing, song making, and dance in this volume is troubling. The only essay delving in any meaningful way into song aesthetics is R. D. Theisz's "Putting Things in Order: The Discourse of Tradition." With large portions of the discussion drawn from his book, Standing in the Light—coauthored with the late Severt Young Bear—the author includes sections of interviews with Young Bear that give a practitioner's insights into song creation and performance. Some discussion of song practice is also included in Robin Riddington, Dennis Hastings, and Tommy Attachie's "The Songs of our Elders," but much of this chapter is devoted to comparison with the Dane-zaa singing tradition, which is unconnected with powwows. With song and dance being so central to the powwow experience and practice, the omission of discussion of these performative elements is problematic and should be remedied in the promised second volume.
Tara Browner
University of California, Los Angeles
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