For Natasha Gourd, tourism provides a way to preserve and share her tribe’s cultural traditions, so that today’s visitors and future generations—“the children we cannot yet see"—can better appreciate and understand her people’s way of life. In July, IITS researchers met Gourd on a tour of North Dakota Indian Country, where five tribal nations are working to develop their tourism offerings. The five nations— including the Sisseton Wahpeton, Standing Rock, Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Spirit Lake —have recently formed the North Dakota Native Tourism Alliance in an effort to design tourism opportunities together. Each tribe is also developing its own strategy around cultural tourism. For example, Gourd and other members of the Spirit Lake tribe are hoping to attract visitors to their reservation from Devil’s Lake, which is a fishing destination 20 minutes away.
For the IITS researchers, the Bureau of Indian Affairs-sponsored trip provided an opportunity to better understand the challenges that these nations face and to help them develop strategies around cultural tourism, which can provide tribes with a means of generating badly needed income. We listened to tribal elders share the oral histories of their people, watched as a traditional teepee was built and attended a wacipi or powwow, which you can see on our Facebook page. Please be sure to like and share this post with your friends.
