Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Spring 1987
Abstract
During the 1960s and 1970s both American Indians and non-Indians showed intense interest in and awareness of the Indian world, and many traditional activities became more popular. This boom atmosphere has waned in the late 1980s, and Indian youths and young adults have therefore changed the focus of their search for identity formulation. In this article, I have been concerned with an aspect of Lakota traditionalism that is being granted more and more significance in the Lakota scheme of things-traditional song and dance. I have based the article on my readings in ethnomusicological literature, my informal observations over many years on the "powwow trail" as a regular member of the Porcupine Singers (a well-known traditional singing group), and on a comprehensive questionnaire that I designed and sent to knowledgeable or influential singers and dancers. Many of the quotations in the text below were derived from responses to the questionnaire.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Quarterly 7:2 (Spring 1987), pp. 116-124. Copyright 1987 Center for Great Plains Study, University of Nebraska.