Monday, July 21, 2008
Blog #3
I went to the Sefair Indian Days Pow Wow this weekend and learned firsthand the clash between culture acceptance and stereotypes. I have learned a lot about our local Native Americans and had a good idea of what to expect when I came into Discovery Park. I also have a very close friend whose stepfather was a Native American from New-Mexico. The smell of smoked salmon and the sound of music were very strong and could be smelt and heard from a very far distance. But I was easily distracted when I started to see young children dressed up in store bought headdresses, red painted faces, plastic axes handing around brown belts and running around stopping the ground making the stereotypical noise by yelling and slapping their mouths “awowowow!” I was shocked to see such behavior because this stereotypical image was created from old American cowboy films in which Indians were seen as “red savages” and not as interesting and very diverse/traditional culture. I kept looking at the children’s parents thinking why they would let their kids act like this in front of a culture who has struggled for hundreds of years in keeping their lands, traditions, and dealing with being a threatened minority group. More shocking was that as the Native Americans were mingling with the visitors and the crowds instead of criticing the child and the parents about the improper display of stereotyping, they would show them a dance move, teach them a word/sound that they would be using during the actual Pow Wow dance and direct them to a booth where they could get real traditional markings painted on their faces. Neither the parents nor the Native Americans were threatened by this action. Instead of thrashing out at someone because they were being prejudice or stereotypical, the Native Americans hosting the event decided to take this as an opportunity to correct the negative image of “Indians” and express it by showing their traditions, food, living style, and celebrating life in which we all do in our own ways. (341)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Your experience at the Pow Wow seemed very interesting. I think you made a great connection between what you were witnessing and wondering if it was an act of disrespect. I think that Native Americans use situations, such as the Pow wow, to teach other generations and cultures about who they are and what they are here for. I don’t think they would take offense to children dressing up and making stereotypical noises in front of them. It shows that the children are interested in their culture and it is an opportunity for them to teach the children real dances and native sounds.
WC 103
It is interesting that differnt groups of people handle these situations very differntly. A couple of the stories in Hall's book talk about people reacting to situations in which are offensive to them when the offender was not intiionally tryin to hurt the person. Since reading this book I have become extreneley aware about what is going on around me and that is why I was shocked at these gestures thinking the Native Americans were going to be mad. I am now more confused on how to act around differnt cultures because I do not know what is acepitable and what is not. This is human nature!
I think the fact that these kids were able to have fun and then their parents where able to instruct the child in the way in which the dance was really done. I do think it is sad though that the stereotype that we have put upon this culture is shining through the next generation. I love though that the parents began to instruct. I think it is sad when a culture is influenced by another and then their own culture is effect. In Guam, America has effect the language so much that it has become a dying language. I wish that the older people in Guam would have done the same that those people at the event did. They let the kids do what they had seen and then showed them what their culture really was about.
(138)
Post a Comment