Lectures highlight powwow culture during USCL’s Native American Studies Week
March 6, 2019
From discussing the role of dancing and drumming in powwow to understanding the importance of powwow etiquette, lectures offered during USC Lancaster’s 14th Annual Native American Studies Week focus on Native American powwow culture.
Events begin at noon Friday, March 15 at the Native American Studies Center with a Lunch and Learn presentation, “Powwow: The Spark of Haliwa-Saponi Cultural Revitalization,” by Dr. Marvin Richardson. Richardson is a citizen of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe, which was recognized as a tribe by the North Carolina legislature in 1965. The Haliwa-Saponi host one of the longest running powwows on the East Coast and the longest running powwow in the state of North Carolina.
Richardson will discuss a brief history of powwows and more about his drum group Stoney Creek, which celebrated 25 years together last November. Richardson also plans to discuss the role of the tribe’s language in song (Tutelo-Saponi, a Siouan language) and powwow singing’s role in language revitalization.
“We were singing other people’s songs from different drum groups and different tribes and we just wanted to be able to sing and make our own songs,” said Richardson. “I started doing research about the language and found out some had been written down, so I went about the method of collecting the language and learning it and using it.”
On Tuesday, March 19 at 1 p.m. in USCL’s Bradley Building, Ronnie Beck and Kris Carpenter of the Catawba Indian Nation, along with the Center’s Director of Native American Studies and moderator Dr. Stephen Criswell, will discuss powwow culture and etiquette in the panel discussion, “Powwows, Music, and Dance.”
Beck is a dancer who first began practicing the traditional songs and dances of the Catawba Nation as a teenager, including the Catawba Bear, Canoe, Eagle, and men’s hunters’ dances. Beck was also a teenager when he began powwow dancing, first dancing the Northern Traditional style.
“As time went on, many different people and dancers came into my life that influenced me to start a style of dancing called Grass,” said Beck. “In my early 20s, I met a young man named Jaythan Garrett from the Navajo Nation who was a prominent Hoop Dancer. As we became good friends, he wanted to learn how to Grass Dance and I was intrigued in Hoop Dancing, so we agreed to teach each other. Since that time, I have had the privilege to dance against some of the best Hoop Dancers in the nation, including World Champions Robby Rose, Lowrey Begay, Tony Duncan, and Daniel Tramper.”
Discussing drums to dancing, the lectures underscore the importance of this preservation of Native culture.
“It’s not a show, it’s a sharing,” said Richardson. “A lot of time, we’ll go places and it will feel like we’re putting on a show for people. It’s all about letting people know we’re still here and still thriving; not only maintaining our culture, but also living in a modern world. We’re modern people, we have and do just about anything you can imagine what modern, contemporary people do but we have an extra thing- our dances, our songs, our ceremonies, and our language.”
“Powwow: The Spark of Haliwa-Saponi Cultural Revitalization,” “Powwow, Music, and Dance” and other events offered during Native American Studies Week are sponsored in part by OceanaGold/Haile Operation. Events are free and open to the public. For more information, call (803) 313-7172.
