The Native American contest powwow : cultural tethering theory /

Through case studies of the Gathering of Nations and the Northern Plains Contest Powwow, Aicinena (retired, kinesiology, Univ. of Texas, Permian Basin) and Ziyanak (sociology, Univ. of Texas, Permian Basin) investigate the emergence of the contest powwow in the second half of the 20th century. Contest powwows promote pan-Indian and intertribal values of extended kinship, hospitality, humor, dance and drumming, and reverence for elders and military veterans. The study finds that these commercialized spectacles are secular events produced for mass audiences featuring fancy dancing competitions that award large cash prizes to winners. Non-Indians and Natives from many different tribes purchase tickets to view and participate in these cultural tourism events, which resemble college basketball games. Traditional powwows persist to commemorate particular tribal communities, constituting what Émile Durkheim termed a "total social fact": annual reunions promoting traditional spirituality, lifeways, and communities' economic well-being. Contest powwows, however, champion individualistic values of winning over harmonious communal relations and cannot undo the erosion of the "cultural tethers" that promote Native solidarity: living in a tribal community, speaking a traditional language, and being enmeshed in a local culture and social organization. This useful study investigates a neglected dimension of pan-Indian identity in the US. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and lower-division undergraduates. --Julius H. Rubin, emeritus, University of Saint Joseph