Performances of Power: Indigenous Cultural Festivals as Globally Engaged Cultural Strategy

Abstract

This article situates the phenomenon of indigenous cultural festivals in the context of globalization. It sees indigenous cultural performances as an assertion of rights and a call to recognition, while also embodying performative ethics that at times exceed these liberal discourses. Cultural festivals are one of the few consistently positive spaces for indigenous communities to forge and assert a more constructive view of themselves, both intergenerationally and as part of a drive for recognition and respect as distinct cultures in local, national, and international contexts. Through a comparative consideration of the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hawaii and Garma in remote northern Australia, this article argues that cultural festivals provide a potent space for intercultural accommodations to be negotiated on largely indigenous terrain. These events strengthen indigenous agency and reset the terms of cross-cultural engagements and contested sovereignties for at least the duration of these staged encounters.