By Tara Houska
The Boy Scouts are a prime ongoing example of this phenomenon, but perhaps reevaluation will lead to change. In mid-December, the “Koshare Dancers,” a so-called interpretive dance group from Boy Scout Troop 232, located in La Junta, Colorado, cancelled their Winter Dances at the request of the Hopi Nation Cultural Preservation Office. Whether this is permanent remains to be seen.
Since the 1930s, the Koshare Dancers of Boy Scout Troup 232 have been performing their version of Hopi, Lakota, Kiowa, Ojibwe, Blackfoot, Diné and Comanche religious ceremonies. Originally begun by James “Buck” Burshears as the “Boy Scout Indian Club,” mimicking Native American cultures became a core theme of Troup 232.
New members are called “Papooses,” and work toward the rank of “Koshare Brave,” which requires that troops learn five Koshare dances and create their version of traditional regalia. “Clan Chief” follows, upon reaching the rank of Eagle Scout.
They look like goddamn idiots.
Goofballs.
The lack of self awareness is staggering. The emperor wears racist clothing.
But I'm pretty sure the two "Koshare clowns" in stripes don't go with the other dancers. And all the dancers are divorced from their spiritual and symbolic meanings.
For instance, the koshares don't dance to entertain people. Rather, their purpose is this:
Pueblo clowns
Anthropologists, most notably Adolf Bandelier in his 1890 book, The Delight Makers, and Elsie Clews Parsons in her Pueblo Indian Religion, have extensively studied the meaning of the Pueblo Clowns and clown society in general. Bandelier notes that the Tsuku were somewhat feared by the Hopi as the source of public criticism and censure of non-Hopi like behavior. Their function can help defuse community tensions by providing their own humorous interpretation of the tribe's popular culture, by re-enforcing taboo, and by communicating traditions.
For more on the subject, see Hopis Protest Koshare Dancers and Boy Scout "Indian Dance Teams."
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/03/03/white-swan-perkins-koshare-dancers-continue-appropriate-native-cultures-163632
ReplyDeleteWhite Swan-Perkins: Koshare Dancers and Their Wildly Offensive Cultural Appropriation
The leaders of the local Boy Scouts troop seem to have an unusual idea of what constitutes help and straight moral fiber. Since 1933, the troop has seen fit to appropriate the customs and ceremonies of the local Pueblo Native American nations. Under the guidance of a J.F. "Buck" Burshears, and allegedly inspired by the cohesion shown in a holiday-themed boys choral performance, the group decided that the preservation of Native American traditions fell upon their shoulders. With no apparent permission, guidance, overview or critique from the original owners of these traditions, the troop of boys began dressing, singing and dancing in the Pueblo tradition.
You people are friggin idiots.
ReplyDeleteThis group has done more for native american culture then any if you could ever care to do.
Second rate, unedited, online trash journalism at its best
No one's heard of the Koshare Dancers outside La Junta, Colorado. Tens of thousands of Native organizations have done more for Natives than them.
ReplyDeleteApparently you're unaware of Natives' negative reaction to these Indian wannabes. Read and learn:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koshare_Indian_Museum_and_Dancers#Native_American_responses
In chapter four of his book Playing Indian, Native American historian Philip J. Deloria refers to the Koshare Indian Museum and Dancers as an example of "object hobbyists" who adopt the material culture of indigenous peoples of the past ("the vanishing Indian") while failing to engage with contemporary native peoples. Some Native Americans have stated that all such impersonations and performances are a form of cultural appropriation which place dance and costumes in an inappropriate context devoid of their true meaning, sometimes mixing elements from different tribes.
In 2015, the Winter Night dances were canceled after a request was received from Cultural Preservation Office (CPO) of the Hopi Nation asking that the troop discontinue their interpretation of the dances of the Hopi and Pueblo Native Americans. When Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, the director of the CPO learned in 2016 about the program and saw video online of some of the performances, he was disturbed. The performers, he said, were "mimicking our dances, but they were insensitive, as far as I'm concerned." The Koshare have resumed their performance schedule without having further communications with Native Americans.