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PAN-INDIANISM

Sociologyindex, Sociology Books 2012

The term 'Pan-Indianism' has been applied to social movements among both Asian Indians and North American First Nations peoples. 

In both contexts Pan-Indianism refers to a social movement and a political philosophy that asserts a peoples' common identity and unity across political or state boundaries and tribal divisions.

Howard defined the concept of ‘pan-Indianism’ as follows:
By pan-Indianism is meant the process by which sociocultural entities such as the Seneca, Delaware, Creek, Yuchi, Ponca, and Comanche are losing their tribal distinctiveness and in its place are developing a nontribal “Indian“ culture. Some of the elements in this culture are modifications of old tribal customs. Others seem to be innovations peculiar to pan-Indianism. (Howard 1955:214)

Pan-Indianism is, in my opinion, one of the final stages of progressive acculturation, just prior to complete assimilation. It may best be explained as a final attempt to preserve aboriginal culture patterns through intertribal unity. How long this pan-Indian culture will continue is dependent on a number of largely unpredictable factors, such as economic conditions, population shifts, and future miscegenation. (Howard 1955:220)

Robert Thomas (1965) summarizes the essential ‘new’ ideas with regard to the concept ‘pan-Indianism’ as follows:

One can legitimately define Pan-Indianism as the expression of a new identity and the institutions and symbols which are both an expression of that new identity and a fostering of it. It is the attempt to create a new ethnic group, the American Indian; it is also a vital social movement which is forever changing and growing (Thomas 1965:75)

Pan-Indian institutions such as Indian centers in cities, Pow Wow committees and so forth are institutions through which Indians can have some productive relationship to the general society. (Thomas 1965:81)

Pan-Indianism is the creation of a new identity, a new ethnic group, if you will, a new “nationality“ in America. (Thomas 1965:82)

I guess to a lot of people powwow means celebration, bringing people together, enjoying the festivities that are there. Today the powwow system has changed. It´s more competitive. ...Now, there is another situation there too, where the Crees on the northern plains treat the powwow almost as a spiritual atmosphere. - Wade Baker, a Hidatsa Grass Dancer and singer.

My working definition of the term ‘powwow’ is a social gathering of people who are celebrating various aspects of Indian culture, be they religious, social, or, in many cases, both. (Lita Mathews)

Pan-Indianism and Indigenous Organizations in Ecuador
Prepared for delivery at Indigenous Peoples: An International Symposium, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, April 8-9, 1997.
Abstract: As in the rest of Latin America, Ecuadorians have viewed the aboriginal inhabitants of their country as simply "Indians." The presence of ten distinct ethnic groups which remain in Ecuador and the fact that the sense of place has been local rather than regional or national, however, challenges this label. Nevertheless, recent organizational actions in Ecuador have relied on a sense of group identity that transcended narrow tribal categories. There has been, however, little study of the historical development of this pan-Indian consciousness. In the context of the United States, Hertzberg and Cornell have looked at how a supra-tribal 'Indian" identity emerged in the United States out of such factors as the boarding school movement, urbanization, changes in federal government policy, imposition of the English language, and inter-tribal marriages. Pan-Indian organizations, such as the early twentieth-century Society of American Indians, emerged out of urban, elite Indian professionals who had largely become separated from their tribal roots. Arguably, similar factors are also at work in Ecuador. Often pan-Indian organizations in Ecuador are directed by people who went to Quito to study or otherwise had extensive contact with the dominant Spanish culture. Understanding these roots of inter-tribal contacts and a pan-ethnic identity is important because it indicates whether Indian nationalism is a function of contact with western notions of state formation, or whether it grows out of Indigenous forms of social organization. Furthermore, it is important to ask whether these movements are led by organic intellectuals who truly represent Indigenous concerns or whether over the years urban-based Indigenous leaders have become divorced from local Indigenous realities. To what extent to elite leaders remain representative of group issues, and are smaller Indigenous groups being marginalized in an ethnic discourse which is dominated by the numerically superior Quichua population? - yachana.org/research/confs/lincoln97.html

Early Pan-Indianism: Tecumseh's Tour of the Indian Country, 1811-1812. 
Authors: Sugden, John 
Abstract: Tecumseh's tour of 1811-1812 was a remarkable effort involving 3,000 miles and contacts with 8-12 of the present American Indian tribes. Tecumseh's success owed much to standing grievances of the Indians and the disposition of the British, but depended also upon timely occurrences such as Harrison's engagement on the Tippecanoe. - eric.ed.gov

The ‘Contest Powwow’ - a cultural expression of ‘Pan-Indianism’? - Dr. Rainer Hatoum - userpage.fu-berlin.de/~relwiss/ VW-Stiftung/Rainer%20english.html
Abstract: As will be demonstrated, the terms ‘powwow’ and ‘pan-Indianism’ and their meanings are an disadvantageous starting point to answer the central question stated in heading. Therefore, no specific answer is sought in this paper.
On one hand, we have the term ‘powwow.’ Because of the historical evolution of this term, and its plethora of everyday connotations, the term is in and of itself nondescript. Thus, I have limited my interests to the more concrete notion of ‘contest powwow’ to be used as a prototype concept of ‘powwow’ in this article. As will be argued, this is a notion also shared predominantly by Native Americans themselves today.
On the other hand, two extreme positions exemplify different theoretical traditions of thought in respect to the concept of ‘pan-Indianism.’ The concept went through a parallel theoretical reorientation as it was taking place in the general American anthropology at that time. With a changing interest from acculturation and assimilation processes towards topics related to and centered around the term ‘ethnic identity’, not only the general meaning of the concept ‘pan-Indianism’ changed. Both theoretical traditions left, even beyond the academic context, basic assumptions concerning the general relations between the two phenomena ‘contest powwow’ and ‘pan-Indianism.’ At both of their cores is the thought that the phenomenon ‘powwow’ represents a cultural expression of ‘pan-Indianism.’
In dealing with the first set of assumptions, which is basically centering around the general understanding of cultural exchange, I will try to get away from the burdened discussion concerning the terms acculturation and assimilation. Instead, I will try to push questions concerning the people involved, the purpose of adoption (actually adaptation), general opportunities, attractivity and thus, bringing cultural compatibility to the forefront, as factors for cultural exchange.
Starting point of the second group of assumptions centering around the term ‘ethnic identity’ was the implication that the phenomenon ‘powwow’ is an expression of a new identity as Native Americans. This notion is caught in the characterization of the ‘powwow’ as a ‘vehicle of pan-Indianism.’ In accordance with the examples cited, I will argue that the phenomenon ‘powwow’ is not so much an expression of a new ‘ethnic identity’, even though it is definitely producing a new quality of an existing identity as Native Americans. Rather, I will stress the point that ‘powwows’ as a field of action and interaction as well as a stage offer the opportunity to meet new needs in a state of drastically changing social conditions. Furthermore, the cited examples will show that one cannot reduce the event ‘powwow’ to the factors ‘ethnic identity’ and ‘meeting new needs.’ Factors immanent to the event itself, as the aspect of contest, show an obvious motivating and activating impact. - 
Short Extract: The question whether one can consider the ‘powwow’ as a cultural expression of ‘pan-Indianism’ or not, relates therefore to a discourse in anthropology based on theoretical grounds, which goes beyond specific examples. The discussion on the concepts and phenomena ‘pan-Indianism’ and ‘powwow’ demonstrate, therefore, results of anthropological work on a regional basis. In this context it is interesting to note that the specific theoretical foundations of the concept ‘pan-Indianism’ were laid mainly in the course of a period of about twenty years. The 60s and early 70s witnessed in this respect the most intensive period of theoretical discussion on this concept. This is even more interesting in so far as there was a major theoretical new orientation within the American anthropology at the same period of time.

The Acculturation of American Indians 
Evon Z. Vogt, Harvard University 
The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 311, No. 1, 137-146 (1957) DOI: 10.1177/000271625731100115 © 1957 American Academy of Political & Social Science
Despite all the pressures for changing the ways of American Indians into those of the white man, there are still basically Indian systems of social structure and culture persisting with variable vigor within conservative nuclei of Indian population. The author outlines a conceptual framework for the analysis of American Indian acculturation in different areas of the United States, provides a brief synoptic review of the degree of acculturation in such areas, and discusses the limiting factors to full acculturation by comparing the situation of the United States with that of Mexico, and considers the development of "Pan- Indianism" as an emerging stage in the acculturation process. - ann.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/311/1/137

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Pan-Indian organizations

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