Dancing for Our Tribe

"A simply magnificent coffee-table style volume Dancing for Our Tribe: Potawatomi Tradition in the New Millennium features full page, full color photography of men and women in full and authentic regalia enhancing an impressively informed and informative commentary. A monumental and seminal work of meticulous scholarship, no personal, professional, college or university library Native American Studies collection can be considered comprehensive or complete without a copy of Dancing for Our Tribe: Potawatomi Tradition in the New Millennium on their shelves.”—Midwest Book Review
 

“Over the past decade, Citizen Potawatomi Nation member Sharon Hoogstraten took portraits of Potawatomi people and their relations in their regalia in Oklahoma, Kansas, and around the Great Lakes. Additionally, she collected statements from her subjects. In Dancing for Our Tribe, Hoogstraten offers a print exhibition of those portraits and statements. She has put together a vivid collection.”—Great Plains Quarterly
 

“This is much more than a coffee-table book. While the author eschews the label of artist and prefers storyteller, she is both and more. The powwow regalia beautifully reflect the artistry of the Potawatomi peoples across North America. Her photography is also beautiful, delightful, comforting, and moving. She shares her expertise in photography, which is her profession, and also shares her own ability to listen, inquire, and collect. These skills let her assemble material culture into a work that is about so much more than just regalia, powwows, tradition, innovation, expertise, and experience. It is a remarkable book that allows the reader to gain understanding about individual Potawatomi across North America. We learn who they are; why and how they do what they do; what being Potawatomi and Indigenous means to them; their connections to tradition, family, and mentors, while also expressing their creativity.”—Indiana Magazine of History