In 1883, the U.S. Department of the Interior created a Code of Indian Offenses — it made Native dancing and ceremonies illegal and gave Indian Agents authority to punish anyone who violated the code. This was part of a systematic effort to erase individual tribal cultures and to force all indigenous people to assimilate. The documentary Why We Dance takes viewers into the heart of Indigenous communities around North America in Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Hawaii and Mexico. It's a film about heritage, connection, joy and cultural resilience.
We talk with the film's director and Meskwaki member Oogie Push and producer and director of photography Ryan Stopera. The film is screening at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 11 at the Humanities and Social Studies Center at Grinnell College, and Push will speak at 4:30 p.m. More information on upcoming screenings can be found here.
Then, Iowa historian and former teacher Michael Zahs is famously a collector. The award-winning documentary Saving Brinton tells the story of his discovery of an enormous collection of early films, but that's just one of the collections that Zahs has put together over the years. His collection of original works by iconic Iowa artist Grant Wood is the focus of a pop-up museum at the Washington Public Library on Saturday, November 7. It's called Grant Wood: Beyond American Gothic, and Zahs will be giving two presentations at 4 p.m. and 7 pm. Admission is $30, with proceeds going to the Washington Public Library Foundation and Main Street Washington's Local Grant Fund.
Guests:
- Oogie Push, director, Why We Dance
- Ryan Stopera, producer and director of photography, Why We Dance
- Michael Zahs, historian and educator
