"Ho-Chunk powwows are the oldest powwows in the Midwest and among the oldest in the nation, beginning in 1902 outside Black River Falls in west-central Wisconsin. Grant Arndt examines Wisconsin Ho-Chunk powwow traditions and the meanings of cultural performances and rituals in the wake of North American settler colonialism. As early as 1908 the Ho-Chunk people began to experiment with the commercial potential of the powwows by charging white spectators an admission fee. During the 1940s the Ho-Chunk people decided to de-commercialize their powwows and rededicate dancing culture to honor their soldiers and veterans. Powwows today exist within, on the one hand, a wider commercialization of and conflict between intertribal ""dance contests"" and, on the other, efforts to emphasize traditional powwow culture through a focus on community values such as veteran recognition, warrior songs, and gift exchange.
In Ho-Chunk Powwows and the Politics of Tradition Arndt shows that over the past two centuries the dynamism of powwows within Ho-Chunk life has changed greatly, as has the balance of tradition and modernity within community life. His book is a groundbreaking study of powwow culture that investigates how the Ho-Chunk people create cultural value through their public ceremonial performances, the significance that dance culture provides for the acquisition of power and recognition inside and outside their communities, and how the Ho-Chunk people generate concepts of the self and their society through dancing."
By:
Grant Arndt
Imprint: University of Nebraska Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 24mm
Weight: 671g
ISBN: 9780803233522
ISBN 10: 0803233523
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 01 June 2016
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
"List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Into the Arena 1. When Worlds Collide: Culture and Catastrophe in the Nineteenth Century 2. Gifts and Profits: On the Origins of the Powwow 3. ""Time Works Changes, Even to the People of the Red Races"": The Rise and Fall of the Commercial Powwow 4. Something More than Patriotism: War, Veterans, and the Return of the Powwow 5. Calling the People Together: Powwows in the Era of Nation-Rebuilding 6. Producing a Space for Culture: Powwows in the Early Twenty-First Century Conclusion: Experimenting with the Expectations of Tradition Notes References Index"
Grant Arndt is an associate professor of anthropology and American Indian studies at Iowa State University and coeditor of Native Chicago.
Reviews for Ho-Chunk Powwows and the Politics of Tradition
In this important new work, Grant Arndt reminds us that the powwow is more than dancing.It is a gathering with deep connections to widely shared values and practices that affirm the continuing vitality of Ho-Chunk identity and culture. Clyde Ellis, author of A Dancing People: Powwow Culture on the Southern Plains --Clyde Ellis (09/15/2015)
