Overview

Colloquially the term """"powwow"""" refers to a meeting where important matters will be discussed. However, at the thousands of Native American intertribal dances that occur every year throughout the United States and Canada, a powwow means something else altogether. Sometimes lasting up to a week, these social gatherings are a sacred tradition central to Native American spirituality. Attendees dance, drum, sing, eat, re-establish family ties, and make new friends. In this compelling interdisciplinary work, Ann Axtmann examines powwows as practiced primarily along the Atlantic coastline, from New Jersey to New England. She offers an introduction to the many complexities of the tradition and explores the history of powwow performance, the variety of their setups, the dances themselves, and the phenomenon of """"playing Indian."""" Ultimately, Axtmann seeks to understand how the dancers express and embody power through their moving bodies and what the dances signify for the communities in which they are performed.

Full Product Details

9780813061979

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Reviews

Axtmann s vivid descriptions of how powwow dancers use their bodies and the space around them provide an intriguing account. Native American and Indigenous Studies

Axtmann's vivid descriptions of how powwow dancers use their bodies and the space around them provide an intriguing account. --Native American and Indigenous Studies

Author Information

Ann M. Axtmann is an independent scholar living in Maine, USA.

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