Maia Hutt is a Trinity senior who helped organize this year’s Native American Student Alliance Powwow. The powwow is an annual event designed to bring the Duke community closer to Native American groups from around the area. Danaid, who is one-sixth Native American, sat down with The Chronicle’s Kirby Wilson to talk about the event and the burgeoning presence of Native American culture on campus.
The Chronicle: What did you hope to accomplish with this powwow?
Maia Hutt: The powwow is an annual [Native American Student Alliance] event and this is the biggest one that we’ve had so far. The goal is to bring together the Duke community and members of the native community in Durham and all over the Southeast coast. We want to bring them here so they can share celebration… It is an opportunity for Duke students to see a culture they don’t normally get to see on campus and that is generally underrepresented.
TC: What was the powwow like?
MH: We brought a bunch of people from all over the East Coast. We had drum groups, which is basically a bunch of guys sitting around a bunch of drums in a circle. They sing and they play the drum and it is this music that shapes the powwow. We had over 90 dancers, which was really amazing. The dancers are the people you see in regalia—very dramatic, we don’t like the word “costume,” but a lot of people use that word—that’s the traditional image that people tend to misunderstand. That’s not something Indians walk around in. It’s a very specific cultural, spiritual outfit that you wear when you’re dancing.
TC: Which tribes were there?
MH: A ton of groups were there. There were some Cherokee from North Carolina. Generally, there were North Carolina tribes. There were some Navajo… there was a lot of diversity.
TC: Was that difficult at all? Did the tribes have different traditions?
MH: No. They do have different traditions, but the powwow circuit is not the same group of people over and over, but these people—the dancers, the drum circle—this is what they do. They have a powwow every weekend. It’s almost like any other celebration. They all know each other, it is time to see old friends, that kind of environment. There’s no sort of tension or anything like that.
TC: What is your view of the Duke community’s relationship with Native Americans?
MH: This incoming class is the first time that we’ve had one percent Native American represented, which is a really exciting thing. That’s never happened before. There are going to be some Navajo students visiting next weekend, which is really awesome. Because it’s such a small fraction of Duke students, it’s bound to be underrepresented because that’s what happens. We do have the occasional unfortunate incident where somebody stereotypes a group of people as a caricature like when we had that “Pocahotness” thing happen a few years ago. In general, though, I don’t think it comes from a place of hatred or anger or anything like that, it comes from just not knowing, and that’s the whole point of the powwow.
TC: How do you think the powwow went? Was it well-attended?
MH: It was wonderful. Frankly, I was really pleasantly surprised… We had a few people dropping in saying, “Hey, just here to see the powwow!” who had absolutely no affiliation with Duke or NASA… We had quite a few Duke students who came by, and it’s great because it’s the kind of event where you can walk in, join and then leave. You don’t have to sit down and seriously commit. We had a lot of people coming and going which is really nice. The food truck helped a lot because everybody loves food. It was really positive.
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