Cultural Ethnogoraphy of the Ojibway Native Americans
Cultural Ethnogoraphy of the Ojibway Native Americans
I sat in awe when a Native American, dressed in traditional regalia, walked forward and began speaking to us about his life and culture. Never in my nineteen years of life had I actually seen a Native American aside from television. Prior to that point I never had any first hand experiences with their culture, so therefore all of my opinions and thoughts were based on stereotypes I had come to absorb over the years. Therefore, he looked how I had imagined he would, but I had no clue what to expect from the person underneath the garb. Gabe Desrosiers, an Ojibway Indian, was able to convey his culture’s message through the song and dance of his people. Through his powwow examples that he was willing to share with us, I was able to add human feelings and emotions to a stereotype that began and ended with physical appearance.
Gabe Desrosiers is an Ojibway Indian who continues to spread the song and dance of the Ojibway tradition throughout the North American continent. He hails from the Lake of the Woods area in Ontario, Canada where he is the lead singer and the composer for the Ojibway drum group known as The Northern Wind Singers. Gabe and The Northern Wind Singers have traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada on the powwow circuit. In many ways Native American traditions continue to survive through the powwow.
Gabe began his presentation by describing his cultural background. Immediately he stressed the importance of women, and how they are respected greatly. Women are an important foundation in Native American life by being the bearers of life and therefore coincide with “mother earth.” Gabe mentioned that women pass the drum from creator to the tribes. This being inherently important since the drum is considered to be the heartbeat of the tribe itself. That idea provided the basis for Gabe to relate his own beginning involvement with his tribe. At the age of six he started learning about traditional dances and music. Women are given a lot of respect, more than can be seen in many cultures around the world. I was rather surprised at this because I had never previously pictured Native American women as being seen as such large contributors to their culture. ...