Howard] THE PONCA TRIBE 165 



In Oklahoma Pan-Indianism the elements selected for perpetua- 

 tion, namely the powwow, with its associated dances and activities, 

 the Ghost dance Hand game, and the Peyote religion, are all symbols 

 not of the old but of the new Indian way of life. Although all of these 

 elements existed before Pan-Indianism, they have recently been 

 developing as fixed and ever-enriched complexes, and have been 

 getting more and more widely adopted as overt expression of "Indian- 

 among-Indians" self-perception. 



Pan-Indianism is thus seen as a revitalizing movement that provides 

 Oklahoma Indians with a fund of common knowledge and experience 

 that sets them off from other ethnic groups, maintains the dignity 

 of the group through intertribal solidarity, and at the same time per- 

 mits accommodative adjustment to the dominant American culture. 



Although Pan-Indianism is, at present, largely limited to the social 

 (powwow and Ghost dance hand game) and religious (Peyote religion) 

 spheres, the potential economic and pohtical advantages of larger 

 size may be realized in future years by Indians in Oklahoma. Indeed, 

 the common support and mutual encouragement for the Peyote 

 religion in the face of opposition, without which the church groups 

 of the various individual tribes would have been outlawed long ago, 

 have shown what can be achieved through intertribal cooperation. 

 Discussion of common problems, such as land-claims cases, termination, 

 etc. in seminars such as are held in connection with the Gallup Cere- 

 monial in New Mexico, or as were held at the American Indian Chicago 

 Conference, loom ahead. At the present time participation in such 

 conferences is limited to only a few of the more articulate and accul- 

 turated Indians, but will undoubtedly become increasingly important 

 in future years. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Andreas, A. T. 



1882. History of the State of Nebraska. Chicago. 

 Anonymous. 



1907. Kansa. In "Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico." Bur. 



Amer. Ethnol. BuU. 30, pt. 1, pp. 653-656. 

 1952. South Dakota physical types. Univ. S. Dak., W. H. Over Mus., 

 Museum News, vol. 13, No. 5, p. 1. 

 Atkinson, Henry. 



1922. Letter from General Atkinson to Colonel Hamilton. Nebraska 

 Hist., vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 9-11. 

 Boas, Franz. 



1906. Notes on the Ponka grammar. Intern. Cong. Amer,, vol. 15, No. 

 2, pp. 317-337. Quebec. 

 Boas, Franz, and Swanton, John R. 



1911. Siouan (Dakota) . . . with remarks on the Ponca and Winnebago. 

 In "Handbook of American Indian Languages." Bur. Amer. 

 Ethnol. Bull. 40, pt. 1, pp. 875-965. 

 BouRKE, John G. 



1892. On the border with Crook. London. (New York, 1891.) 



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