Being Lakota: Identity and Tradition on Pine Bluff Reservation (review)

The promise of Being Lakota, according to its author, Petrillo, is to "deepen our understanding of modern Lakota life and affords a memorable glimpse of the choices and paths taken by individuals in a Native community" (inside jacket cover). Speaking broadly, the promise is delivered by this exceptional yet short volume which incorporates a wellspring of oral history to tell its story. And the story is for anyone interested in both contemporary and traditional Lakota practices, particularly in the Sun Dance.

The book draws its subject from two mindful and engaged individuals, Melda and Lupe Trejo, whose fifty-year marriage imposed a set of cultural and social dilemmas reconciled and reinforced by their mutual participation in the reinvigorated Sun Dance movement of the early 1980s. Born of American Indian and Mexican descent, respectively, Melda and Lupe grapple with the consequences of a mixed marriage but do so within a community predisposed to appreciate cultural differences. This appreciation and esteem for varying ethnic values lies at the heart of Being Lakota.

The book's organizational structure provides an accessible format in which to understand this complex story. Part I is about "Family," both Melda and Lupe's, before and after marriage. It describes their two distinct traditions, ultimately forging a lifelong mutual accommodation. Part II is about forming a bond, an "Identity," that recognizes traditional cultural practices for both. This is where Melda and Lupe begin to participate in the Sun Dance. It is here too where distinct spiritual and religious beliefs interface with Lakota tradition. A sophisticated explanation of mixed marriage is offered by Petrillo, reinforcing Melda's concept of what it means to be Indian. This is perhaps the most intriguing part of the book.

Petrillo argues persuasively that modern Lakota identity and ethnicity is not simply about race. Rather, being Lakota today is primarily the product of imposed pre- and postcolonial political and social structures. Adapting and adjusting to changing times and shifting demographics combined with confirmed beliefs regarding the legitimacy of adoption, in particular, Lakota identity accepts and acknowledges race as something far more sophisticated than just skin color. This helps explain Melda's decision to marry Lupe despite a confirmed commitment to Lakota tradition. This also explains why, in part, the marriage succeeds and even thrives. Petrillo says it quite well later in the book: "While contemporary Lakota identity is often associated with traditional practices, these practices are frequently debated, because an unchanging past is incommensurate with a present that necessitates change" (104).

Part III is perhaps the least and most personal account of the book, suggesting that "Tradition" not only binds a marriage but also assigns an historical link between cultures as distinct as Melda's and Lupe's. Their participation in the modern Sun Dance became a key component to their long and studied relationship. Their account is a marvelous and loving tale of two people finding resolve through a lost tradition brought back to life by the traumatic events of the late 1960s and 1970s. The Alcatraz sit-in (1969-71) and the subsequent rise of the American Indian Movement after the Wounded Knee sit-in (1973) galvanized the Pine Ridge Sioux and brought a renewed interest in the Sun Dance. Melda and Lupe seized the opportunity and became community advocates for this lost but certainly not forgotten tradition.

Melda is particularly cognizant of the historical import of the Sun Dance. In a long stretch of the book, she outlines her family's history of sun dancing combined with traditional religious practices which curiously rejects the Ghost Dance. Melda explains, "... that Ghost Dance in Porcupine, he just had it one year. And he just didn't have it anymore. He tried to bring it back, but I guess it was not meant for people to bring that back. So nobody did. So they got into Sun Dancing" (92).

Through it all, Petrillo allows Melda and Lupe to...