Poor Lo

While based on local families expressing their blended Native and African legacies, the development of the Mardi Gras Indian cultural system was also shaped by the stereotyped notion of the “American Indian.” Throughout the nineteenth century, as the United States expanded westward across the continent, theatrical and musical productions increasingly incorporated stereotypes of Native Americans, sometimes appearing in Wild West shows. This fell within a larger pattern of minstrelsy, a form of entertainment based on ethnic caricatures especially popular at that time. This chapter examines how minstrelsy, including the Wild West shows, influenced local enactments of “Indianness” in New Orleans. Conventional historiography has often seen the Wild West shows as the point of origin for Mardi Gras Indian traditions. This historical axiom is dispelled, however, and the nineteenth century entertainment industry is instead revealed as a phenomenon which reinforced previously existing cultural practices.

Chick-a-ma-feeno

This chapter lays out several different narratives about the origins of Mardi Gras Indians. Some are based on oral histories shared among Mardi Gras Indians themselves, while others are based on various archives and newspaper accounts. The emergence of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition is set against the backdrop of the evolution of Mardi Gras as celebrated during the colonial period and beyond, after Louisiana had become part of the United States. The struggle for African American political power and social equality is another parallel thread for this narrative, especially as Mardi Gras Indian practices overlapped with other masking traditions and institutions in the Black community. The earliest known account of Mardi Gras Indians, identified as such, is analysed and the personal histories of the first known Mardi Gras Indians reveal connections to Black participation in the Civil War and continuing struggles during Reconstruction and through the early twentieth century.

Conclusion

The conclusion explores the philosophical implications of ancient traditions overlapping with the current Mardi Gras Indian cultural system. Through many generations of interaction, different groups of people have learned to create new forms of language and music together. The simple ability to engage in active listening is a doorway to personal and collective transformation. Our ability to balbaha toba (a Choctaw verbal phrase defined as “become one who speaks a foreign language”) and share new forms of music reveal the possibility of experiencing intersubjectivity. Stepping outside of frozen notions of history requires the ability to understand time as both cyclical and linear, as it is sometimes impossible to tell apart what is new and what is old within cultural practices. The Muskogean origins and changing meanings of “Jockomo” in different contexts are an embodiment of the mysterious transformations which can take place whenever people learn to live and sing together.