DISAPPOINTING INDIGENEITY: POWWOW AND PARTICIPATION AMONG THE PLAINS APACHE

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research in southwest Oklahoma between 2006 and 2009, this paper examines Plains Apache identity through the narrative of disappointment that is often associated with native nonparticipation in cultural activities, particularly powwow. While recent research on the Southern Plains focuses largely on powwow and powwow participants, this research explores the perpectives of Apache people who are rarely active in powwow. Rather than a rejection of native or Apache identity, the results suggest that nonparticipation is a reflection of a complex interplay between the participation requirements of material capital, cultural capital, and contemporary kinship obligations.