Beyond The Classroom: Indigenous American and Africa
After a few weeks of learning about the cultures, music, dancing, history and how their lives were then and now for both the people of Indigenous America and Africa, I still had a few questions. Which is crazy because I learned so much more than I thought I needed to.
The last thing I researched is based on the African culture, so now we’re across the ocean, was Sona Jobarteh, a multi instrumentalist and singer from Gambia. She is the first to become a professional on the kora from the Griot family. An instrument used in West Africa that kind of looks like a guitar except it has 21 strings. She also studied cello, piano, and composing. She is the Founding Director of The Gambia Academy. She sings in Mandinka. She sings about issues going on around the community and in Africa like: educational reform, gender and entrepreneurships.
One of the biggest things I wanted to know was the types of dances performed in a Powwow, especially when Powwow can last a whole weekend. As I was researching I found out that there can be different dances performed depending on what area or region the Powwow is, also what tribes are performing. Like in California you’ll see Bird Dancing but in Oklahoma you’ll see Gourd Dancing. Also depending on your gender is what type of dance you would perform. While researching I noticed that with most dances the costumes they would wear matched with their dance. There are around 10 different types of dances: straight, cloth, fancy shawl, buckskin, Native American fancy feather, grass, northern traditional, gourd, and jingle. Women perform in: buckskin, cloth, jingle, and fancy shawl. Men perform in grass, fancy feather, traditional, and straight.
The next thing I was curious about was what the people of the Andes wore. We learned and saw a lot about the Native Americans but not as much with the Andeans. In my research what I learned about is that just like the Native Americans the Andeans wore bright colors as well. The Quechua women wore a type of cape called a lliclla. It covers their back and shoulders. These are very colorful and used at special occasions or festivals. Another clothing item that the Quechua women wear are monteras, which is a traditional hat. It is decorated with a layer of beads, the beads represents the social status of the woman. There are other clothing like: men’s dress, hojotas, polleras, jobona, and chumpi. Most of these clothing the people would wear for certain occasions.
I had no idea that powwow dance styles were different in other regions of the country, but it does make sense! I think it's so cool how colors play such a role in all kinds of cultures, especially when it comes to traditional music and dances!
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting to hear about the Powwow dances! it's also interesting to see what state you're from the dance is different and overall was not expecting there to be that many dances! Also, what the Andes wore is so beautiful... I absolutely love the colors in their clothing items. The Andes are so talented with making all of their clothing pieces!
ReplyDelete- I love all the symbols in the Native American clothing like how the feathers and fabric on the male outfit can represent the wind moving in grass. I also liked how when the women danced, they made it look like a butterfly with the fabric that they had. I feel like those dances may seem simple, but are actually harder to do.
ReplyDeleteLauryn, I really enjoyed getting to read your blog on the Indigenous and African cultures. I loved how you talked about the different dances at the powwows that were based on the region and tribe that is conducting the powwow. Another thing I found interesting in your blog was the Andeans and the clothing they wore since we did not talk much an=bout what the Andeans wore during class.
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