Wednesday, 4/23/97 Pow-wow features traditional song, dance
Competitive celebration allows spectators to learn about tribal
communities
The 12th Annual UCLA Pow-wow on May 3 and 4 will be one of
UCLA’s largest student-sponsored events this year. Hundreds of
dancers and participants, 40 to 50 vendors and a few thousand
spectators attend each year. Chances are that most of you have
never attended a pow-wow, so please consider this a brief
introduction and invitation to our American Indian celebration.
Pow-wows draw a variety of participants who attend for many
reasons. Some communities host pow-wows that are localized and more
ceremonial in nature. However, the UCLA Pow-wow is inter-tribal and
competitive. The dancers compete to win prize money. They come from
many regions and from both urban and rural communities,
representing dozens of tribes. For the spectator, it is an unique
experience to witness and appreciate different American Indian
cultures celebrating and competing. For many urban Indians, it is
an environment in which they can maintain (or gain) a sense of
tribal identity. Before coming to UCLA, I had never attended a
pow-wow; my tribe is located beyond the northern reaches of the
pow-wow. But, as a student, I have been one of the few organizers
of the ’94, ’95 and ’96 UCLA Pow-wows. As an organizer and not a
participant, I am not a complete expert on the subject. Rather, I
am merely an involved native student encouraging you to experience
a small piece of American Indian culture, first hand on your own
campus. The number of American Indian students at UCLA can be
counted on your fingers. Given the large number of participants at
this event, it is clear that it is more than a student event. It is
an interstate community gathering. Many of the vendors and dancers
come from out-of-state (fortunately, they are only staying for the
weekend and do not have to pay out-of-state tuition). During the
spring and summer, there are pow-wows across the country and
throughout California virtually every weekend. Many of the dancers
travel from pow-wow to pow-wow to compete for prize money in dance
contests. This is often referred to as the pow-wow circuit. Many of
these pow-wows are annual events that have been going on for years,
so most of the participants know each other well. Although many of
the songs and dances are old and originated from the plains Indian
tribes, most of these gatherings are inter-tribal; that is, the
participants can be from different tribes. The contemporary pow-wow
has found its way to both of the coasts. In this sense, pow-wows
are pan-Indian events. The single-line definition of ‘pan-Indian’
is just as elusive as a simple definition of the pow-wow. One
concept of pan-Indian arises from the shared concerns and issues
among the 500 federally recognized tribes, such as repatriation and
sovereign government relations. Pan-Indian organizations have been
formed to better serve these shared needs. In this sense,
pan-Indian has a political definition. But there is also a
developing idea of a pan-Indian culture which is not as firmly
rooted in traditional cultural practices. Many pow-wow Indians work
from 9 to 5 in the city and do not live in their native
communities. Historical circumstances and governmental policies of
relocation, assimilation and termination have forcefully disrupted
many Indian lives. For these people, the pow-wow can help them
maintain a sense of pride and remind them of who they are. There
are other Indians who solely base their knowledge and ties to
native identity in these pan-Indian gatherings. The stereotype of
the loving, peaceful and harmonious Indian has attracted attention
from lost and curious outsiders for centuries. Pow-wows and the
new-agers who follow them may not be so much helping to preserve a
culture as they are creating a new one. This phenomena of creating
an identity is not new to most people in this country. The cultures
of most ethnic groups in the United States are somewhat different
from what they are at home and wherever they came from. Many others
have lost their heritage in the shuffle. To identify people in the
United States, you can usually add ‘American’ as a suffix or prefix
to the name of the place where they or their grandparents came
from. If that does not work, the default label is just ‘American’.
And of course, most all of us are American. But what does that
mean? This is the question that I pose to Indians or Native
Americans out there who are not tied to their communities. What
does it mean? If you are lucky, you might catch a blonde-haired and
blue-eyed Indian stomping down the grass on the intramural soccer
field on May 3 and 4. Arts and crafts vendors at the pow-wow will
have a wide range of things for sale. The pow-wow committee (made
up of student organizers) does its best to ensure that the vendors
are native and the items they are selling are authentic. There are
countless people trying to make a buck off of Native American
icons, artifacts, spirituality and symbols. We are still in a time
when most people’s knowledge of Indians is based on teachings or
movies by non-Indians. The Hollywood Pocahontas is often Asian,
there is probably not an Indian on a baseball diamond in Cleveland,
and Columbus is probably still ‘discovering’ America in grammar
school classrooms. At the pow-wow you will find arts, crafts,
jewelry and food made, used and sold by American Indians.
Non-Indians have (mis)represented Indians for hundreds of years.
Fortunately, we have a few American Indian faculty members teaching
courses on American Indian history, including a history of the
pow-wow. You may also catch a glimpse of one or two of these UCLA
professors dancing to the beat of the drum at the pow-wow.
Ultimately, this is a UCLA community event that is free to the
public. Come early, bring a beach chair and a few dollars for fry
bread. Remember not to walk into the center dance circle that
should be marked with white chalk. This is a sacred area
specifically chosen and blessed by local Indian spiritual leaders
for the celebration. The pow-wow is a spiritual event that does
include sacred songs and dances that have been sung here since
before most of your ancestors migrated to North America. There are
also restrictions on cameras and video cameras. So leave the video
camera at home and ask permission before shooting Polaroids. By
attending, you will be showing your respect to the original people
of this land who are, in fact, still here and still dancing. Daily
Bruin File Photo Drummers at the Annual UCLA Pow-wow last May. The
pow-wow is an inter-tribal competition which brings participants
from all over the nation. This year’s event will be held May 3-4.
Nelson is a first-year American Indian studies graduate student.
Daily Bruin Stories: UCLA Pow-Wow promotes Native American culture
Native-American Pow-Wow to teach, entertain