{"id":5978,"date":"2021-11-02T07:16:23","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T12:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=5978"},"modified":"2021-11-02T07:19:04","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T12:19:04","slug":"stomp-dance-and-researching-the-role-of-native-american-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2021\/11\/02\/stomp-dance-and-researching-the-role-of-native-american-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Stomp Dance and Researching the Role of Native American Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this week\u2019s blog post, I decided to analyze a musical instrument that I have never encountered before this class: <\/span>\u201cWomen\u2019s Stomp Dance rattles\u201d<\/span><\/a> from the National Museum of the American Indian– pictured below. In Dr. Kheshgi\u2019s World Music class, students explore a few Native Americans dances, some of which are located here in Minnesota. Of these dances, I remember the Jingle Dress Dance and the Hoop Dance, but not the Stomp Dance (something new!). Also, the title of these rattles are attributed to a Native American woman who might have used them. My initial research question centered around what a Stomp Dance sounded like and what the role of women was in a performance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

“Women’s Stomp Dance Rattles.” National Museum of the American Indian. c.1900. Retrieved from the Smithsonian Institution at this link: https:\/\/www.si.edu\/object\/womens-stomp-dance-rattles%3ANMAI_24506\u00a0<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

In my research, I found this article particularly useful in figuring out the purpose of these Women\u2019s Stomp Dance rattles:<\/span> \u201cThe Opposite of Powwow: Ignoring and Incorporating the Intertribal War Dance in the Oklahoma Stomp Dance Community.\u201d<\/span><\/a> According to this analysis, a stomp dance maintains some specific characteristics in order to be considered successful. The people involved in the process include a leader, an accompanying shell shaker, and followers who were primarily \u201cfriends and townspeople (or fellow tribesmen and women) who know [the leader] and [their] songs best.\u201d The purpose of having an ensemble of known members would reflect well on both the leader and the surrounding community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, Jason Baird Jackson describes women using shells or aluminum cans fastened \u201caround their calves beneath a loose-fitting cotton dress.\u201d The role of women in this dance is not to sing the accompanying music, \u201cbut instead provide accompaniment through skill manipulation of their shells or cans while dancing. The singing and general leading of this dance is for a man.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Below is a link to a Shawnee Stomp Dance<\/a>, which Jackson groups together with Seminole Native Americans under the larger regional grouping of \u201cWoodland Indians\u201d and would therefore be representative of the music these particular rattles would have participated in:<\/span><\/p>\n

Shawnee Stomp Dance<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a historical map from around the time of this instrument\u2019s collection to show the close proximity of these tribes:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rand Mcnally And Company. Map of the Indian and Oklahoma territories. [S.l, 1892] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov\/item\/98687110<\/a>\/>.<\/p><\/div>In my search for more information regarding the general role of Native American women in these stomp dances, this article presented a more intriguing question for me: \u00a0 <\/span>\u201c\u2018She\u2019s the Center of My Life, the One That Keeps My Heart Open\u2019: Roles and Expectations of Native American Women.\u201d<\/span><\/a> Scholars Jessica L. Liddell,\u00a0 Catherine E McKinley, Hannah Knipp, and Jenn Miller Scarnato describe the shift in the role of women in Native American society. Prior to colonization, \u201cgender roles were viewed as complementary rather than hierarchical.\u201d Many events and activities were considered \u201ccooperative tasks,\u201d providing fluidity in the roles of men and women in Native American society. Colonization imposed these patriarchal roles that persist today. Researching for this blog post makes me wonder how this shift in gender roles applies to the creation of Native American music or dances. Were Native American women always the accompanying part to stomp dance performances? Why do only men lead the dance?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, dear reader, I ask if you have any thoughts or insights regarding this question, and implore you to leave some of them below in the comments. If not, maybe a paper exists somewhere in this blog post.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

References<\/span><\/h3>\n

Britannica Academic, s.v. “Seminole,” accessed November 2, 2021, <\/span>https:\/\/academic-eb-com.ezproxy.stolaf.edu\/levels\/collegiate\/article\/Seminole\/66715<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackson, Jason Baird. \u201cThe Opposite of Powwow: Ignoring and Incorporating the Intertribal War Dance in the Oklahoma Stomp Dance Community.\u201d <\/span>Plains Anthropologist<\/span><\/i> 48, no. 187 (2003): 237\u201353. <\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/25669843<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Liddell, Jessica L, Catherine E McKinley, Hannah Knipp, and Jenn Miller Scarnato. \u201c\u2018She\u2019s the Center of My Life, the One That Keeps My Heart Open\u2019: Roles and Expectations of Native American Women.\u201d Affilia 36, no. 3 (2021): 357\u2013375. <\/span>https:\/\/journals-sagepub-com.ezproxy.stolaf.edu\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/0886109920954409<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Rand Mcnally And Company. <\/span>Map of the Indian and Oklahoma territories.<\/span><\/i> [S.l, 1892] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <<\/span>www.loc.gov\/item\/98687110\/<\/span><\/a>>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Vigil, Kiara M. Review of <\/span>Expanding Interpretations of Native American Women\u2019s History<\/span><\/i>, by Tadeusz Lewandowski, Joe Starita, Christine Lesiak, Princella RedCorn, Patrick Deval, and Jane-Marie Todd. <\/span>Great Plains Quarterly<\/span><\/i> 37, no. 2 (2017): 131\u201344. <\/span>http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/44683980<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For this week\u2019s blog post, I decided to analyze a musical instrument that I have never encountered before this class: \u201cWomen\u2019s Stomp Dance rattles\u201d from the National Museum of the American Indian– pictured below. In Dr. Kheshgi\u2019s World Music class, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3503,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-quote"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-1yq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3503"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5978"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5982,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5978\/revisions\/5982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}