Julianne Jennings: Change comes to urban Indian powwow scene

Contemporary American Indian pow wows have been undergoing a considerable amount of cultural change. Among the various aspects examined are pow wows’ social networks — pow wows as an expression of identity, ideas of community, social integration, and the transgression of customary boundaries formally assigned to share meanings about appropriate gendered behaviors, specifically, gender crossing, and the public acknowledgement of gay individuals during urban pow wows.

Wakinyan Duuta (Tsuu T'ina) explains, “The concept of pow wow is not traditional by any means. It was introduced in the Buffalo Bill show days. It just got adopted and adapted to fill in a void that allowed a form of cultural co-existence. These displays continued as a way of showing bits of who we are. I believe that tribes adapted this so they can practice ceremonial beliefs under the guise of dance exhibitions. Whoever sees pow wows’ as traditional is not that informed or perhaps they have made it evolve enough to put something sacred into it?”

The social context of urban pow wows is significantly different from traditional pow wows with which they originally sprang. Urban pow wow participants now engage with multiple realities that expose them to rich new lifestyles, innovative role models, and expanded views about Native America.

Dutta adds, “I don't know what pow wows in the east are like, but out west the pow wows have been ever so slowly changing to what is popular. Neon colors, French braids, hip hop fancy dancers, changes to dance styles, even in the so called traditional styles. Bigger seems to be better. The more feathers and bigger the more it seems accepted and favorable to judges. I suppose it has to be dynamic and not static if some form of Native/indigenous/Aboriginal/First Nations discourse is to continue.”