Articles You do not currently have access to this article. Download all figures For Southern Plains Indian p eop le, music and dance have historically been vital comp onents in the creation, negotiation, and maintenance of their cultures. This essay examines the roots of the contemp orary p owwow and its connection to traditional forms of dance and belief.
Matthew Krystal is interested in "the representation of indigenous life and culture in four varied forms of public performance identified as 'dance'" -K'iche Maya traditional dance; Native American powwows; Latin American folkloric dances; and the Indian mascot Chief Illiniwek at the University of Ilhnois (xv). Attracted by what he sees as dancing's inherent ability to reveal how communities construct and negotiate ideas about identity, Krystal also believes that these expressive traditions transcend local and regional contexts. As such, they function as examples of something he calls "glocalities, places where people construct and contest community and culture, responding to various forces and influence from beyond the immediate region" (xvii). In his hands, these public, performative traditions become moments that clarify how performers and audiences alike use dance to examine the contours of identity.Not surprisingly, adaptability, a willingness to embrace artistic license, and a remarkably broad range of needs are at the heart of Krystal's analysis. With the exception of the problematic Chief Illiniwek, these dance traditions do not depict or reify a golden-age, static past. Rather, Native People see these dances as opportunities to deliberately shape how and with what consequences cultural and historical narratives are presented. Guatemalan folk dancers, for example, consciously use their performances to "combat negative stereotypes and influence the perception of potential allies... while also building political cooperation within the American-made category of Latino" (38). K'iche Maya traditional dancers reflect similarly expansive ideas when their performative narratives challenge colonialist assumptions about Maya identity, culture, and history. This approach, writes Krystal, situates such dances as "models for interethnic relations and also acts as a storehouse of particularly Maya iconography and mythology" (64).Krystal's discussions of these Latin American dance traditions demonstrate a clear commitment to collaborative ethnography and are buttressed by extensive fieldwork and participation in the day-to-day work of his consultants. Conversely, the chapters that address powwows and Chief Illiniwek show considerably less depth and nuance. Because Krystal relies on observation and generalizations about pov^fwows, for example, what emerges is a classic outsider's perspective that largely underestimates
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