{"id":68642,"date":"2016-03-21T14:03:05","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T19:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=68642"},"modified":"2016-03-21T14:05:27","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T19:05:27","slug":"super-sunday-an-introduction-to-the-mardi-gras-indian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2016\/03\/21\/super-sunday-an-introduction-to-the-mardi-gras-indian\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Sunday: An Introduction to the Mardi Gras Indian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday was Super Sunday here in New Orleans, the one\u00a0day each year that\u00a0the Mardi Gras Indian tribes come together to be seen by the wider community. The tradition dates back to at least the mid-1800s, belonging to the African American population of New Orleans. Today there are over two dozen Mardi Gras Indian tribes.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a snippet from my\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lisawadephd\/\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0(click to watch with sound):<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 658px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-version=\"6\">\n<div style=\"padding: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"background: #F8F8F8; line-height: 0; margin-top: 40px; padding: 50.0% 0; text-align: center; width: 100%;\"><\/div>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\"><a style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BDLz9rOla6I\/\" target=\"_blank\">A video posted by Lisa Wade (@lisawadephd)<\/a> on <time style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;\" datetime=\"2016-03-20T18:16:08+00:00\">Mar 20, 2016 at 11:16am PDT<\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\" async=\"\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Indian tribes mask together\u00a0groups, often family and pseudo-kin.\u00a0It used to be an all-male activity, but now women are heavily involved (as &#8220;big queens&#8221; to the male &#8220;chiefs&#8221;), and children make regular appearances. Their tough faces are part of the performance, as one of the most well-known mottos of the Indians is &#8220;Won&#8217;t bow, don&#8217;t know how.&#8221; These are some of my photos:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/6.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-68646\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-68646\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/6.png\" alt=\"6\" width=\"806\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/6.png 806w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/6-500x311.png 500w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/6-768x477.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 806px) 100vw, 806px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/5-3.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-68645\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-68645\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/5-3.png\" alt=\"5\" width=\"842\" height=\"633\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/5-3.png 842w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/5-3-500x376.png 500w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/5-3-768x577.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 842px) 100vw, 842px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Originally the intent was to honor the local Native Americans who took in and rescued escaped slaves in the mid-1700s, though they probably took some inspiration from the &#8220;Wild West&#8221;-style\u00a0entertainment that was\u00a0popular at the time. Until the &#8217;60s, tribes sometimes engaged in violent conflict, but today they encounter each other in order to perform ritualized\u00a0non-violent conflict resolution, fighting only over who is &#8220;prettiest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>With the exception of Super Sunday, when the Indians go out, it&#8217;s not a show. It&#8217;s a tradition by and for their own communities and one has to be &#8220;in the know&#8221; to know where to see them. They&#8217;ve been largely left out of tourist attraction-type activities for this reason, and because they&#8217;re almost entirely African American and New Orleans has only recently embraced it&#8217;s multicultural history and present as part of its appeal.<\/p>\n<p>Still, their elusiveness makes them tourist-resistant\u00a0and even Super Sunday doesn&#8217;t attract many tourists\u00a0because the event is rescheduled at any hint of rain (because, feathers).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/4-3.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-68644\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-68644\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/4-3.png\" alt=\"4\" width=\"865\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/4-3.png 865w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/4-3-500x290.png 500w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/4-3-768x445.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sociologically speaking, there are lots of fascinating directions to go from here &#8212; including the intersection of power, cultural borrowing, and the evolution of artistic vernacular &#8212; and I&#8217;ll try to get to them in future posts.<\/p>\n<span class=\"ft_signature\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/lisa-wade.com\/\">Lisa Wade, PhD<\/a> is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/American-Hookup-New-Culture-Campus\/dp\/039328509X?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0\">American Hookup<\/a><em>, a book about college sexual culture; a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Gender-Interactions-Institutions-Lisa-Wade\/dp\/0393931072?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0\">textbook about gender<\/a>; and a forthcoming introductory text: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/lisa-wade.com\/intro\/\">Terrible Magnificent Sociology<\/a><em>.\u00a0You can follow her on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lisawade\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lisawadephd\/\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday was Super Sunday here in New Orleans, the one\u00a0day each year that\u00a0the Mardi Gras Indian tribes come together to be seen by the wider community. The tradition dates back to at least the mid-1800s, belonging to the African American population of New Orleans. Today there are over two dozen Mardi Gras Indian tribes. Here&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":68647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8070,223,29,15,253,285,1758,1760,23665,133],"class_list":["post-68642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-artliterature","tag-childrenyouth","tag-class","tag-culture","tag-history","tag-raceethnicity","tag-raceethnicity-american-indiansaboriginals","tag-raceethnicity-blacksafricans","tag-raceethnicity-history","tag-violence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/files\/2016\/03\/20160320_134651.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68649,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68642\/revisions\/68649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}