Emcees of southern Plains Indian powwows are distinctive verbal artists and agents in the continuing negotiation of Indian identity. Their formal announcements and jovial patter construct an overtly "Indian" space and time while fostering discourse on ethnicity, a discourse that carries over into other settings through traditional transmission of the emcee’s jokes and observations. Examples are drawn from 15 years of fieldwork at Comanche, Kiowa, Pawnee, and Alabama-Coushatta events.
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Daniel J. Gelo (1999) studied this question.
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