ABOUT THIS BOOK

Focusing on the enactment of identity in dance, Indigenous Dance and Dancing Indian is a cross-cultural, cross-ethnic, and cross-national comparison of indigenous dance practices.

Considering four genres of dance in which indigenous people are represented--K'iche Maya traditional dance, powwow, folkloric dance, and dancing sports mascots--the book addresses both the ideational and behavioral dimensions of identity. Each dance is examined as a unique cultural expression in individual chapters, and then all are compared in the conclusion, where striking parallels and important divergences are revealed. Ultimately, Krystal describes how dancers and audiences work to construct and consume satisfying and meaningful identities through dance by either challenging social inequality or reinforcing the present social order.

Detailed ethnographic work, thorough case studies, and an insightful narrative voice make Indigenous Dance and Dancing Indian a substantial addition to scholarly literature on dance in the Americas. It will be of interest to scholars of Native American studies, social sciences, and performing arts.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Matthew Krystal is a professor of anthropology at North Central College in Naperville, Illinios.

REVIEWS

"Interesting and entertaining book...that should appeal to students and general readers. Anthropologists of dance, of indigenous peoples, and of ethnicity/identity/authenticity and global process should find the book informative and amusing."
—Anthropology Review Database

"Ethnic identity is composed and contested through such practices; but why is dance the idiom through which such important cultural work is so often undertaken? Anthropologist Krystal broaches this central question with sensitivity and nuanced analysis, and his accessible prose will make this a valuable book for undergraduate collections across several humanistic disciplines."
—Choice

"This is a thoughtful, helpful, somewhat unusually focused book that looks at K'iche Maya Traditional Dance in Guatemala, Native American Powwow, Folkloric dance in the Chicago area and at the University of Illinois's 'Chief Illiniwek'...The strength in the project lies not so much in its research...Rather, it lies in Krystal's clear and helpful summary-analyses of the shared issues raised by these different performance situations, each involving Indigenous dance and identity in some way. I have ear-marked several sections of the book to share with students, including his analysis of recent thinking on 'authenticity,' 'folklore,' and 'tradition,' and discussions of the problems and controversies of 'representation.'"
—Great Plains Quarterly

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Figures

Preface

Part One: Introduction

1. Dance, Culture, and Identity

2. Representational Dance and the Problem of Authenticity

Part Two: K’iche’ Maya Traditional Dance

3. Conquest, Colonialism, and Continuity

4. The Dance of the Conquest and Contested National Identity

Part Three: Native American Powwow

5. Origin, Change, and Continuity in Powwow

6. Characteristics, Functions, and Meanings in Contemporary Powwow

7. Powwow, Self-Representation, and Multiplicity of Identity

Part Four: Folkloric Dance

8. Folkloric Dance, Modernity, and Appropriation

9. Appropriation, Round 2: Immigrant Folkloric Dance

10. Back to the Field: Indigenous Folkloric Dance

Part Five: Chiefs, Kings, Mascots, and Martyrs

11. Dancing Indian in Sports: Origins and Development

12. Chief Illiniwek Enacted in Ritual and Myth

13. Chief Illiniwek Contested

Part Six: Conclusion

14. Dance in Comparison

15. Confusions and Conclusions

Works Cited

Index

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