Four Generations For Generations: A Pow Wow Story to Transform Academic Evaluation Criteria

Within this article, I share a story of four generations of my family and community coming together through pow wow dancing. I present the storying and re-storing of Indigenous scholarly engagement through pow wow regalia making and dance to accomplish two things: 1) to center Indigenous knowledge, kinship and community work through scholarship; and 2) to generate merit and value in the good work in which Indigenous scholars engage. Our creative and cultural selves are often excluded in terms of what receives value and merit in collective agreements. The academy wants us to teach, publish, and engage in community service. My community service is often within Indigenous kinship and community service where I engage in creativity and expressive arts. Evaluations of our tenure attribute value, credit, and merit for work produced, service generated, and research conducted steeped in a eurowestern definition of scholarly work. We theorize about the significance and importance of our culture and traditions; however, our families and communities’ practices are regarded as external and outside of the eurowestern academic contexts. This article brings together the knowledge of preparing for and dancing in a pow wow as valued and good work of Indigenous scholars within the academy. It calls attention to a need to revise systems of value and merit in a manner that benefits Indigenous scholars’ whole knowledge systems.

Powwowing My Way

This article explores Johnson’s concepts of indigenizing and extending through the lens of European pow-wow. Drawing on his argument that “identifying practices of indigenousness…are imagined through global media and often expressed in their forms” it begins with an overview of historical European representations of American Indians: representations that were virtually global at the time, and have led to the ubiquitous image of the Indian (or possibly indian warrior using the hyperreal simulation argument put forward by Vizenor). Such representations dominate the European pow-wow scene, where individuals don Indian garb and dance at social events, many of which are open to the public. The article then focuses on the English pow-wow scene, contrasting it with parade Hobbyism. Here individuals dress up as indians for public commemorations on Bonfire Night (November 5th annually). Both groups can be understood as conforming to Johnson’s extending narrative: the “circulation of religious knowledge and symbols into wider availability… [allowing] what was once a local truth [to be] presented as a more broadly applicable, even a universal one.” However, the far more complex matter of indigenizing requires discussion of contentious issues of appropriation.

The Fault in Our Stars by J. Green - 1st review

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. New York: Penguin, 2012. PrintThis book is about two cancer stuck teens who later fall in love. Hazel Grace and Augustus travel on a plane toward Amsterdam to see a famous writer. I would recommend this book to people who love romance books and people who have a heart. I think that 13 year olds and up should read this considering there is a little bit of swears. Some people shall find this very heart breaking.Recommended Reviewer: BarbraMy name is Barbra. I like to read graphic novels. I am a dancer and I like to dance Pow Wow. I also like to shop. I don’t care for rude people. What’s unique about me is that I am weird.